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In fact you had to be on a call, otherwise the dial tone would drown out your voices.
by anamexis 6y ago
In fact you had to be on a call, otherwise the dial tone would drown out your voices.
- Triv888 6y agoYou could dial just 1 digit and the dial tone would stop. You could tap the off switch to do pulse dialing too (a bit like morse code).
- werdnapk 6y agoI forget the exact details, but as a kid, I'd tap the switch and hang up the phone I think and then that would cause the phone to ring in the house so that you could "call" somebody.
- daniellarusso 6y agoI remember you could dial your own number, and it would call you back with a recording. I also remember dialing a three digit number (maybe 118), and an automated voice would reply with the number you are calling from.
- jaywalk 6y agoWhat country was this in? I distinctly remember dialing my own number resulting in nothing but a busy signal.
- colejohnson66 6y agoI’ve also (a decade ago) called my own number (a cell line) and it gave me my voice mail as if I had just “speed dialed” “1”
- buckminster 6y agoIn the UK bitd (~1980) the test number was 174. It just rang you back when you hung up. There was no message. The exchanges weren't that sophisticated.
- Bobbylongpocket 6y agoOn mine, it was 981 followed by the last 4 digits of my phone number that would result in a "callback," and a constant tone would play when you answered.
- Animats 6y agoYou can still do that on hard-wired AT&T land lines. The hardware at the CO end supports it, and it's still enabled.
- colanderman 6y agoYep, I forgot this step.