Correct Telephone Habits

[St. Louis]

This is the only reason I kept the caller-ID feature and one of my modern cordless phones. It's hidden in a cabinet. The rest of the phones throughout my house are all 1930s "Monophones" (with a new sub-unit attached) and a 1940s "Lucy" phone. I do try to retrofit everything, but this is one of those modern inventions I have to keep. In fact I installed a Call Blocker, which has worked wonders to minimize the number of telemarketing calls.

As much as I dislike modern gadgets of all descriptions, I really don't think I could survive without the Call Blocker. Before I installed it I received (no exaggeration) ten to twenty calls a day. Since I work at home at least a couple of days per week, it was absolutely maddening. I don't know exactly why the Call Blocker minimized the number of telemarketing calls , since it only blocks specific phone numbers, but now I only receive a couple of these calls a day. I've been on DNC lists for as long as they've existed, but I don't think they work anyway.

There's not even a question of talking to a live human being: these new telemarketing calls appear to be entirely automated. The few times I've attempted to follow the instructions for being removed from the list I've only been disconnected. It's clearly a scam. I do believe that call blocking is the only way to get off some of those horrible lists.

 

[docneg]

I got a recording of the AT&T three-tone "disconnected line" sound (I think I found it online) and put that on my outgoing voicemail message. When an automated call comes in and hears that, it hangs up. My friends know it's coming and that they didn't get a disconnected number.

 

[Zombie_61]

I got a recording of the AT&T three-tone "disconnected line" sound (I think I found it online) and put that on my outgoing voicemail message. When an automated call comes in and hears that, it hangs up. My friends know it's coming and that they didn't get a disconnected number.

Several years ago I got a copy of the phone company's "number has been changed" recording, the one that goes, "We're sorry, the number you have reached--XXX-XXXX--has been changed. The new number is...", and put it to good use as the outgoing message on our answering machine, except the "new" number was 20 digits long. For the first week or so every incoming message began with someone either laughing or cursing me. lol

 

[dnjan]

Did the phone system in the past "lock-up" a caller's phone if the recipient didn't hang-up?
I seem to remember something like that.

That is a feature that should be brought back/initiated.

I would be glad to leave my phone "off the hook" for 20 minutes or even an hour or so if it tied up a telemarketer's line.
I would imagine that the lost revenue to them would result in me being put on their "do not call" list.

 

[cm289]

I distinctly remember testing this theory out in 1983. My dad told us kids that'd happen if we left the phone off the hook so naturally we had to test it out the next time we were left alone at home. We left it off the hook for at least 30 minutes but it worked just fine afterwards. So, I guess I can't say whether it was an urban legend, or we didn't leave it off the hook long enough, or if the phone company had stopped the practice by then.


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[Zombie_61]

Did the phone system in the past "lock-up" a caller's phone if the recipient didn't hang-up?
I seem to remember something like that...

I recall something like that but thought it had to be the person who initiated the call, not the recipient; i.e. if I called you and didn't hang up, the call wouldn't be terminated and you couldn't use your phone until I hung up.

 

[LizzieMaine]

On our system, if you left your phone off the hook after the other party terminated the call, the line stayed open -- when the other party picked up the receiver to make another call, they'd still be connected to you. Hence "Hello? Hello? Anybody on the line??? Hang up the phone!!"

Our exchange was an electromechanical dial system installed in 1957 -- these didn't work the same way as the modern all-electronic "tone enabled" exchanges. My home town didn't get one of those until the mid-90s.