Last time I heard a busy signal....

[Mitchell Andrus]

Funny the stuff you think about while sitting on hold...

With just about everyone having call waiting, an answering machine or voice mail, when was the last time you made a call and got a busy signal?

I honestly can't remember the last time I heard that ...beep...beep...beep....
.

[Jack Wilson]

Busy, signal? What are you talking about? Does anyone else here know what he's talking about?:)

[Rick Moyer]

OK, how about party lines. You picked up the phone to make a call and someone was already in conversation. (I'm 'only' 52!)

[Jack Wilson]

OK, how about party lines. You picked up the phone to make a call and someone was already in conversation.

Happens at my house all the time!

[Art Mulder]

All the time, when I call my friends who live in the country and still have dial-up for their internet.

[Mitchell Andrus]

All the time, when I call my friends who live in the country and still have dial-up for their internet.

Well, of course.... you're in Canada. You get talkies at the moving picture shows yet?


BTW Art, my sis and BIL live in Paris, Ont. about an hour west of Toronto. Anywhere near you?
.

[Bruce Page]

This afternoon at 4:22

[Augusto Orosco]

A couple of weeks ago, calling my daughter's pediatrician office on a Tuesday morning after a long holiday weekend. There are only so many parent calls an answering system can handle at the same time!

[David Freed]

OK, how about party lines. You picked up the phone to make a call and someone was already in conversation. (I'm 'only' 52!)
I was on a party line until 1981. I'm 49.

[Tom Veatch]

I'd rather hear the busy signal than that recorded announcement that says, in effect, "That number's busy, but press <some number> and we'll complete the call and let you know when it's available. (Oh, by the way, it'll cost you!)"

[paul cottingham]

My wife refuses to use it. So phone my house and you will get a busy signal...especially if she is talking to her mother.

[Jim Koepke]

I remember the old days in some of the older telephone systems kids could call themselves to get a busy signal and other kids could be on the line at the same time and you could actually all talk between the beeps and everyone could hear if they were all on the same prefix. Too many kids doing this got them to fix that one.

Another was when kids would learn the "ringback" number and make their phones ring and tell their folks that a friend needed help with homework and be able to get out on a school night. Some even tried it in the summer saying their friend was in such need of help they got stuck in summer school.

Then there was all the ways to make free calls at a coin phone.

jim

[David Freed]

Another was when kids would learn the "ringback" number and make their phones ring and tell their folks that a friend needed help with homework and be able to get out on a school night.

jim
When I was on a party line, all you had to do was dial your own number and hang up. It started ringing immediately.

[Chris Padilla]

Funny. Last weekend I was wiring up some RJ-45 jacks for internet connection in my house. I prewired the house a while ago but only wire up jacks as the need arises.

One jack had a blue Cat5e wire in it and those are normally for the network (there is also a green one and that is usually phone/landline). So I wired it up as a network line and plugged a cable into and into the back of my DVR (for remote/online programming). I also have a wiring closet where all the wires terminate and I can hook up stuff as I need...I had just added an 8-port switch to handle the increased load in the house (cable modem was full).

Later that day I called my house...and got a busy signal: beep beep beep beep....

Ok, not that strange...except that the line was busy for the next 1 1/2 hours that I kept trying to call it. So I get home...no one is there...phones all sitting in their respective spots. I call it again (from my cell phone, obviously): beep beep beep beep.... I pick up the phone: dead. Lovely.

It took me a while but I finally figured out that the network cable I had just wired up and plugged into my DVR was actually paralleled off another phone line that was hooked up. I finally remembered that a few years ago that I had done this this way (dunno the reason...maybe I was low on wire?) and it was all done under the house/within the walls. I also now understood the markings on the piece of paper I keep in the wiring closet:

Living Room Corner Wall: line 5A blue || 3B

3B was the phone line in the kitchen!!! A lines are always blue and network and B lines are always green and phone...except in this case!! Funny that I looked at the notation earlier and nothing special registered in my brain about it...getting old SUCKS!!!

[Rod Sheridan]

Well, of course.... you're in Canada. You get talkies at the moving picture shows yet?


BTW Art, my sis and BIL live in Paris, Ont. about an hour west of Toronto. Anywhere near you?
.

Yes, London is only an hour away from Paris Ontario.

I spend Fathers Day in Paris every year. There is a big vintage motorcycle rally at the Paris Fairgrounds.........Beautiful small town, wish I lived there.

Regards, Rod.

[Harry Hagan]

I read somewhere, years ago; that we spend over 80% of our time on the phone waiting: On Hold, wading through a computerized menu, dealing with an answering machine, etc. Probably worse now.

[Frank Guerin]

I remember that our phone was three longs and a short. I don't have that very phone on my wall but one that looks just like it.

[Tom Winship]

Had a friend who when she travelled, would call her parents collect. They would refuse to accept the charges. It was the signal that she had arrived at her destination.
Wonder if you can even call collect nowadays.

[paul cottingham]

Funny. Last weekend I was wiring up some RJ-45 jacks for internet connection in my house. I prewired the house a while ago but only wire up jacks as the need arises.

One jack had a blue Cat5e wire in it and those are normally for the network (there is also a green one and that is usually phone/landline). So I wired it up as a network line and plugged a cable into and into the back of my DVR (for remote/online programming). I also have a wiring closet where all the wires terminate and I can hook up stuff as I need...I had just added an 8-port switch to handle the increased load in the house (cable modem was full).

Later that day I called my house...and got a busy signal: beep beep beep beep....

Ok, not that strange...except that the line was busy for the next 1 1/2 hours that I kept trying to call it. So I get home...no one is there...phones all sitting in their respective spots. I call it again (from my cell phone, obviously): beep beep beep beep.... I pick up the phone: dead. Lovely.

It took me a while but I finally figured out that the network cable I had just wired up and plugged into my DVR was actually paralleled off another phone line that was hooked up. I finally remembered that a few years ago that I had done this this way (dunno the reason...maybe I was low on wire?) and it was all done under the house/within the walls. I also now understood the markings on the piece of paper I keep in the wiring closet:

Living Room Corner Wall: line 5A blue || 3B

3B was the phone line in the kitchen!!! A lines are always blue and network and B lines are always green and phone...except in this case!! Funny that I looked at the notation earlier and nothing special registered in my brain about it...getting old SUCKS!!!

You're lucky, if it rings while plugged into a nic, the 90 volts will often blow up the nic. I've done it enough that I bought a tester that tells me if the jack is plugged into my phone "bus" or the network.

[Matt Meiser]

You'd get one if you called our house and we were on the phone. We've got the bare minimum phone service on our home line. My work line has all the bells and whistles though.

[Jim Becker]

I get that sometimes when I call the 'rents....they don't have voice mail or an answering machine, so if one of them is yaking...I get a busy signal.