automated phone operator-looking for people who remember landlines!

As I recall, it was just a few beeps and then a recorded voice saying "Please hang up."

Maryn said:

I'm pretty old, and I don't remember an automated voice saying anything, just a broken dial tone much louder than the steady one, kind of a Beep-beep-beep alerting you the phone was off the hook. It hurt to hold it anywhere near your ear, that's how loud it was.

Of course, once Ma Bell was broken into Baby Bells, each one could have its own policy on what happened when the call was disconnected but one of the receivers was not back in the cradle.

Maryn, aged like a fine cheese (kind of moldy)

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I thought about that after I posted, and I think that's it. I remember the recorded voice, but I think it came with a specific circumstance: simply picking up the phone and leaving it off the hook didn't trigger it.

I think you're right, it was staying on the phone too long after the other person hung up, and only after you'd ignored the beeps for a while. (I have no idea why I did this; I think I was living at home and getting harassing calls, and my parents didn't have the ability to turn the ringer off on their phones.)

When I had a landline...which was way back in 2005, 2006-ish I think, if I left the phone off the hook you'd get the dial tone for a few minutes. Then there would be an automated recording of a woman saying something like "Please hang up. Please hang up." After a few seconds of that, you'd get the WEE-WOO-WEE-WOO siren-like thingy Maryn talked about.

'Thingy' is too a technical word. Shut up.

Remember landlines? Hell, I remember party lines...

I tried it. I still have a land line because it always gets a connection and I can cradle the receiver in my ear while I interview someone. Plus, the sound is always good and I never have anyone tell me 'You're breaking up...." So, I kept the phone off the hook and here's what the voice said:

If you'd like to make a call please hang up and try again. If you need help, please hang up an call your operator.

shadowwalker said:

Remember landlines? Hell, I remember party lines...

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Party lines? Hell, I remember turning the crank to get the operator on the line....


Richard

"We're sorry but your call cannot be completed as dialed. If you would like to make a call, please hang up and try your call again. If you need help please hang up and then dial the operator."

Or, at least that's what I remember.

ETA: Anybody remember the old Test of the Emergency Broadcasting System script?

"This is a test of the emergency broadcasting system. This is only a test. BEEEEP This has been a test of the emergency broadcasting system. This station, in voluntary cooperation with the FCC and other authorities, has completed a test of the emergency broadcast system. If this had been an actual emergency..."

I can't remember what comes next.

Niniva said:

"We're sorry but your call cannot be completed as dialed. If you would like to make a call, please hang up and try your call again. If you need help please hang up and then dial the operator."

.

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I remember this, too, but I can't recall if it was a more recent addition. I also remember Maryn's claxon beepbeepbeep sound if you left the phone off the hook for a really long time.

Sorry but I don't recall which came first and which came later, but I remember both.

Rachel77 said:

simply picking up the phone and leaving it off the hook didn't trigger it.

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Sure it did. That's why I always took the phone off the hook and buried it in the couch pillows.

Jeff

Wish - yes, wish is absolutely correct.

I remember landlines. We still have one for our DSL. I remember rotary phones. And when cell phones were the huge "car phones." Dang I feel old.

StephanieFox said:

I tried it. I still have a land line because it always gets a connection and I can cradle the receiver in my ear while I interview someone. Plus, the sound is always good and I never have anyone tell me 'You're breaking up...." So, I kept the phone off the hook and here's what the voice said:

If you'd like to make a call please hang up and try again. If you need help, please hang up an call your operator.

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I still have a landline too, for all the same reasons you do, and I just tried it with my ROTARY telephone and I get the same automated message as Stephanie.
PS I'm LOVING Maybell!!!!

The really loud alarm sound is called the 'Howler Tone':
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howler_tone
(Complete with audio)

Although it isn't mentioned in the wiki, I've also seen systems send the DTMF 'D' sound at repeated intervals - which is handy because it can be interpreted without any additional software or electronics.

Mac

*feels like the only person in the world who still has a landline*

Th noise you get depends on whether you picked up the phone without a call, or someone hung up one you.

If you just pick it up you get a dial tone, then, after a few seconds you'll get a series of higher pitched notes, like 'beep, beep, BEep' and a voice telling you 'please hang up. please hang up. please hang up.' if you don't hang up then, after a minute or two, you'll get a really loud alarm tone played down the phone at you - a bit like a muted siren.

If someone hangs up and you are still on the line, you'll get a single 'durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr' for a while, then the beep, beep,beeps and then the voice will come back and tell you to hang up.

Now, this is assuming that they have called you from a mobile or have completely terminated the call - if they have called you from another landline and hang up, you can stay on the line until someone picks up the phone on their end because you are still connected - ah, the hilarity.

shadowwalker said:

Remember landlines? Hell, I remember party lines...

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What the heck are party lines anyway? I'm assuming they aren't as much fun as the name would suggest.

Are there really a lot of people with no landlines any more? I mean I've heard of some people only having a mobile now, but in this country at least it would be normal to have a ladline in your house as well as having your mobile phone. Is it mostly young people setting up home for the first time and not bothering to get a landline, as opposed to older people giving them up?

Becky Black said:

What the heck are party lines anyway? I'm assuming they aren't as much fun as the name would suggest.

Are there really a lot of people with no landlines any more? I mean I've heard of some people only having a mobile now, but in this country at least it would be normal to have a ladline in your house as well as having your mobile phone. Is it mostly young people setting up home for the first time and not bothering to get a landline, as opposed to older people giving them up?

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A party line is a shared line between different homes-if I'm not mistaken.

I have a landline and a know a few other people who do but most just have cells, even those who are my age and I'm pretty old

Ah - I didn't know landlines had gone to the grave already...

parumpdragon said:

Ah - I didn't know landlines had gone to the grave already...

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More and more often. We JUST got rid of ours because we hardly ever used the home phones and I have finally reliably convinced my husband to charge and carry his cell, so we're both pretty much reachable anyway.

We had a party line when I was a kid. Very unnerving when one wanted to make a call and someone else was already on. Accidental eavesdropping, but still felt guilty. I got rid of my landline ages ago because it was ridiculous to pay so much money per month just to have the phone in the house, besides the charges for actual phone calls. Now I have DSL (cheaper than cable internet here anyway) and my cell phone (which is pay as you go). Yes, I'm cheap!