quote:Originally posted by chinrublovingdegu: ...until you took the phone of the reciever and pressed the reciever in for several seconds.
Wouldn't picking the phone up and then hanging up right away do the same thing? What's the advantage of holding the button in, as opposed to just hanging back up?
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I honestly dont know but it always worked, now that I'm starting to remembering more I think the code was along the lines of (something)-(the last 4 numbers of your phone number), after doing that you would press the reciever twise quickly then hang up, it would not always work though
To stop in incesant ringing, you would have to pick the phone and hold down the reciever. as to why this worked, I dont know, as the ringing would not 'ring' while you were holding it down, while it was doing this if you picked up you would hear a busy signal and it would not stop until you made it stop.
quote:Originally posted by chinrublovingdegu: Does anyone rememr this trick? What was the purpose of such a number?
I remember the same thing as a kid although I don't know what the trick was anymore. At the time, I was told the trick number was created so you could call someone on the same party line as you. Which meant you could call your own number, as well, but that wasn't really why the number was implemented (or maybe that was just an urban legend ;o). I do remember that there were party lines in those days - I remember a couple times picking up the phone as a kid, and someone else was talking - and I got in trouble for listening to someone else's conversation. If we still used party lines today the poor sap who shared my modem line would never get to call anyone!
posted
"The number you have dialed is a party on your line, please hang up and allow the called party phone to ring. recording number 315-655-2."
Had so much fun with that as a kid. I do not think it works any more in most places (dialing your own number).
There is a number to dial to see who your long distance carrier is (althogh I cannot remember it now). I was slammed a couple of times and used to call it every day to make sure I still had MCI or whatever. Now I have a line lock.
There are other numbers, of course, known only to line techs and the like, for various testing purposes. I remember one guy gave me a number for line testing and I told another line tech about it and he said "he shouldn't have told you that!".
Of course I didn't write them down or anything smart like that.
posted
In the UK when I was a child (pre-digitalisation), you just dialled a single number - I think it was 8. My mother taught us to do it so that if there was someone at the door she didn't want to talk to we could make the telephone ring after a minute or so and give her an excuse to end the conversation at the door.
At one point the wiring in our house got so dodgy that you could make the telephone ring simply by standing on a particular part of the drawing room floor. Looking back, I suppose that was rather dangerous ...
quote:Originally posted by Dogger: I remeber there was a number u'd call that would then recite the number you dialed, but i don't remeber what it was hmmm
Mario "can't remeber much" Lopez
Most local phone companies won't do that anymore (at least in the US). It used to be that when you had new phone service hooked up, you could call the operator, and they'd tell you what number you were calling from.
The last couple of times I moved, though, when I tried it, the operator told me she couldn't give me the number (although when I read back the number I'd been assigned, she did confirm it). The first time this happened, I asked why not. She told me that it was for security reasons. I guess if someone breaks into your house, they can wreak havoc if they get your phone number. It didn't make a lot of sense to me, but I don't know much about telephony.
Cat"ring ring!"InHat
[edited because I type faster than I think - sometimes I think real slow]
[This message has been edited by CatInHat (edited 11-14-2000).]
posted
If memory serves correctly, in the Kalamazoo, MI area it used to be 1211 for a normal ring. 1411 would give you a double ring, 1611 a triple, etc. These numbers didn't work in other areas, and they stopped working in Kalamazoo sometime in the 70s. As I remember, they were said to be for line testing of some sort. I'd use them to freak out friends--one had a rarely locked basement door with a phone near it. I'd go to his house, call him from his own basement, tell him I'd come right over, then run around to the front door. (No caller ID back then, fortunately.)
posted
I always assumed it was so you could self-test to see if your phone was ringing correctly. For the longest time, we only had one phone in the house (not just one line, but one actual phone) and occasionally we'd have trouble with the line -- people would complain that they couldn't ever reach us (this was before I discovered the online world, too ). My father'd dial the number then hang up to see if the phone was ringing correctly.
Sometimes it wasn't. The phone was from the 40s and sometimes the little bell would be out of place.
posted
Yes, I remember it now. One of the numbers (and it was something simple like "611" or something like that) would tell you what number you were CALLING FROM. This came in handy on occasion. The phone tech told me I wasn't supposed to know that one.
Phone wires are sometimes not disconnected at the service entrance when you disconnect service - they just disconnect it electronically at the "switch". If the tech needs another "twisted pair" at the pole, he may reuse your line for somone else. Both end up connected, as the trunk may have multiple connection points, and the tech may not realize that that pair is connected to your phone system.
I had a fax line I ordered disconnected, but it was still physically connected to my phone system. The neighbors were connected to this line (as a fax line too, oddly enough) and the phone company did not unplug it from my phone - sort of an unofficial and illegal party line.
I thought it was OK to use this line until I used the dial-up code to find out the phone number and realized it wasn't my line (I thought the phone company "forgot" to disconnect my line or something). When I got my phone bill, I realized that They had not forgotten. So I called Ma Bell and told them to pull the plug.
posted
I live in Nebraska, and have pulled off this trick plenty of times. All you do is replace the first 3 digits of your # with "321" and then dial the last 4 numbers of your phone #. Lastly, hang up the phone 3 times and it will ring. It's a great way to trick your family or whoever. Also, I do not have a party line if that matters. I don't know if this is a local thing or what, but that's how I do it.
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Banquet_Bear
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
quote:Originally posted by honeylaser: In New Zealand it's 137.
honey "many hours of fun" laser
Yes, 137. It seems so much easier to do over here than it seems elsewhere...
Sara at home
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
When I was a kid in the 50's and 60's we had a party line. If we dialed 1191, the phone rang in our house and at the other party's house. Because our families were friendly, we used this often. You couldn't dial the other party's regular number on a party line.
There are no longer party lines around here. I've tried the old 1191 a few times just to see if I could make my own phone ring but it doesn't work.
Sara "ah, the good old days when you shared a phone line with another family or three"
Posts: 8317 | From: Reading, PA | Registered: Mar 2004
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Elfant
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
I remember calling a number you knew would be busy, like the local radio station during dedications hours or something (why we didn't just call our own number is beyond me). If you listened hard enough and hollered loud enough, and anyone else happened to be doing the same thing, you could hold a very faint conversation with people in between the busy beeps. Anyone else do that?
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Alias_Rex
The Red and the Green Stamps
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As a kid, growing up in West Los Angeles with General Telephone, 11-99-55 would get your phone to ring pretty much like an outside call coming through. As you increased the last two digits (to 66, or 77 or 88), the interval between rings would become shorter. Of course, this was back in the days of rotary-dial phones.
I also remember a little trick one could use back then to make free phone calls from a pay-phone. You'd take a piece of wire (stretched paper clips would work perfectly), place one end into the mouth piece of the handset and touch the other end to the phone's metal cash-box door. Once this was done, you were able to "tap out" a number using the switch hook... for instance, if you wanted to dial the number one, you'd quickly do one tap. for the number two, two quick taps, and so on. Pausing briefly between each set of taps, you could dial an entire phone number. I don't know why it worked, but it did.
quote:Originally posted by chinrublovingdegu: I remember as kind fooling arround with a 'magic' phone number that would make your own phone ring uncontrolably until you took the phone of the reciever and pressed the reciever in for several seconds.
Does anyone rememr this trick? What was the purpose of such a number?
I remember doing this, especially to drive the babysitters up the wall. Can't remember the number, tho'...
posted
Ah yes, this still works at my grandparents home, which is STILL on a party line believe it or not! You dial your own phone number and the neighbors will pick up... of course, since they're on a line with 3 families, when they pick up you have to specify who you'd like to speak with. It's totally archaic for this day and age. (yes, they're in the USA)
We used to do this as kids as well at home. We lived in a two story house with a phone on each level, if one of us kids were upstairs and the other downstairs, we'd call each other. What a bunch of lazy bums we were. We were able do do this by calling our own home phone number.
Haven't tried it recently to see if it still works... something tells me it doesn't, or our 13yo daughter would have done it already to drive us crazy, I'm sure.
posted
in New York City, number to dial in order to find out your own phone number is 958. (easiest to memorize if you picture it on the keypad.)
doesn't ring.
here usually operator will tell you your phone number but only if it is not unlisted/unpublished. this is important to if when page someone from an unknown phone, especially from a residence. contractors, freelancers this comes up.
now probably with many office phones (PBY is it called?) neither 958 nor operator will help but typically those are well labled, unlike residential phones.
posted
I remember this from being a kid. Over here in Blighty it WAS 1471, but these days that tells you who just called. In America isn't that *69? [giggle]
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In the Dallas area it was 44011.
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Legg
The Red and the Green Stamps
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Sara, that was the number we used too. We used to dial it and then run out of the house. With four sisters it was fun seeing them dash to the phone.
Show me a telephone operator and I'll show you a call girl.
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Well, I asked my landlord last night and he said 11707 (I think, genious that I am I didn't write it down). Only works for BT, though.
Posts: 16061 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2000
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JK Will
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
Why would you ring yourself?
JK "WOndering why I ever did it when I was a kid..." Will
quote:Originally posted by redscares: in New York City, number to dial in order to find out your own phone number is 958. (easiest to memorize if you picture it on the keypad.) . . .
now probably with many office phones (PBY is it called?) neither 958 nor operator will help but typically those are well labled, unlike residential phones.
Hey, glad to hear "958" still works in NYC! I used to use it when I had to straighten out modem lines (my co had a "bank" of em). I never found out what it is here in Chi. An office system is a PBX (private branch exchange). A PBY was a floating plane in WWII - just in case you're ever on Who wants to be a $millionaire!
posted
At my house in Ohio, I always dialed our own phone number. My parents bought this contraption that was supposed to turn your phone into a speaker phone. Then my dad made the mistake of showing me this trick so I could call him downstairs. Anyhoo, ever after I would dial it and then wait for that little change in tone of the silence that indicated the call was being connected. I would then run like mad to get up/down the stairs to the other phone and answer it. (Who was going to be there?) I think my dad regretted that quickly. I have tried it recently at my current residence but it doesn't work. You immediately get the busy signal (it's you).
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posted
In Australia it used to be 199, but because Telstra likes to "make life easier", they changed it to 12722199. Technicians use it to check that the phone itself works.
If you want to know the number you are calling from (unless it's a silent number) you dial 12722123.
And to check the long distance carrier you are with you dial 12711.
Lulu(knows these things, wish I didn't)
Posts: 2153 | From: Northern NSW, Australia | Registered: Feb 2000
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--Dial 550 + last four digits of the phone you're using.
--There will be silence. Push the hang-up button quickly, like you're switching to call-waiting. You'll hear a high pitched whine.
--Hang up the receiver, and it will ring.
In college we used to use that as an "escape call" to end awful dates.
------------------ BeowulfGirl ("Wulfie")
Posts: 1790 | From: New Jersey | Registered: Jan 2001
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Mycatateit
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
We used to do this with the pay phones in our school. We had three phones in the high school. One near the caffeteria, one in the main lobby, and one in the South lobby near the gym. We'd have all three phones ringing constantly. I can't remember the number after all these years, but it was alot of fun to watch from a distance as kids would be picking up the phone, realising there wasn't anyone on the other end of the line, hanging up, only to have the phone continue ringing after they've hung up.
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posted
Originally posted by JK Will: Why would you ring yourself?
I had a friend with a tree house with a phone in it- honest!!! Her parents would do this if they wanted to talk to her, or vice versa.
Kitap
Posts: 3878 | From: Tucson, AZ | Registered: Jan 2001
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Megan Flanders
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
in Southern California, if you just dial your own number there's a little "bloop" noise that goes 3 times, once you hear it, hang up and walk away. the phone will ring withing 6 seconds of you hanging up. I do it.....uh I mean I USED to do it to drive my parents nuts. or so I've heard....
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). My father'd dial the number then hang up to see if the phone was ringing correctly. 
" Flanders
