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They'll know exactly when we stopped interacting with their website. Imagine a phone system that didn't make an audible noise when the other person on the line

They'll know exactly when we stopped interacting with their website. Imagine a phone system that didn't make an audible noise when the other person on the line hung up. At some point you realize that they've chosen to stop listening and you've been talking into to the void, but you don't know for how long.

withinboredom 6y ago
Old phones didn’t tell you when someone hung up. It took a few minutes for the phone to make an annoying beep that there was no longer a connection. This used to happen quite a bit back in the day...
- stevenicr 6y ago
  I remember it take a bit after someone hung up before you got the annoying beep beep beep beep.. but I don't remember it being minutes.. maybe like 30 seconds? 20? you could usually hear the phone rattling into the cradle if it was that type of phone, and if so you would not if they just used thier finger to push down the disconnect/hangup switch.. I seem to remember you would get a dial tone when someone hung up on you too.. not immediately, that might take 8 seconds? and if you just left the phone off the hook listening to the dialtone after a while it would go to that super annoying loud beep beep beep thing.. Kind of like a warning that your phone was 'off the hook' and doing nothing - which meant you should hang it up if you wanted to be able to get a call or call out.
  - eythian 6y ago
    > I seem to remember you would get a dial tone when someone hung up on you too.. not immediately, that might take 8 seconds? It's very dependant on where in the world you were. The dial-tone on hang-up thing that you get all the time in (older) movies and TV shows for example is because that's what happened in California (at least parts of, I forget the details) where movies were made. This didn't generally happen in other places. Where I'm from IIRC you got a rapid beep. And the whole thing about the caller having to hang up was never a thing there either. Different places, different equipment.
  - withinboredom 6y ago
    There was also the cordless phones, some of which didn’t tell you the other person would hang up. I can remember talking to my girlfriend and taking her silence as her wanting a more in-depth description of whatever... only to have a phone ring in my ear halfway through it when she called me back.
- jjav 6y ago
  It started taking longer in the 90s to 00s, I don't know why. But back in the 80s if the other side hung up, they could pick up the handset again in a few seconds and keep talking to you, since it was a physically switched connection. But it didn't take too many seconds (maybe 10?) for the phone company switches to disconnect and throw a busy tone.
aidenn0 6y ago
That's actually how phones used to work for the person who was called; the connection would remain until the caller hung up (or some fairly long timeout after the callee hung up). There were various party-tricks one could do that way (e.g. prep a phone with a friend calling you, hang up, then bet someone that if they give you a name, you can dial a person with that name).
- samatman 6y ago
  Which was useful, if you had more than one phone. You could catch a call in the kitchen, put the phone down, and pick up another phone in the office or bedroom.

withinboredom 6y ago

Old phones didn’t tell you when someone hung up. It took a few minutes for the phone to make an annoying beep that there was no longer a connection. This used to happen quite a bit back in the day...

stevenicr 6y ago
I remember it take a bit after someone hung up before you got the annoying beep beep beep beep.. but I don't remember it being minutes.. maybe like 30 seconds? 20? you could usually hear the phone rattling into the cradle if it was that type of phone, and if so you would not if they just used thier finger to push down the disconnect/hangup switch.. I seem to remember you would get a dial tone when someone hung up on you too.. not immediately, that might take 8 seconds? and if you just left the phone off the hook listening to the dialtone after a while it would go to that super annoying loud beep beep beep thing.. Kind of like a warning that your phone was 'off the hook' and doing nothing - which meant you should hang it up if you wanted to be able to get a call or call out.
- eythian 6y ago
  > I seem to remember you would get a dial tone when someone hung up on you too.. not immediately, that might take 8 seconds? It's very dependant on where in the world you were. The dial-tone on hang-up thing that you get all the time in (older) movies and TV shows for example is because that's what happened in California (at least parts of, I forget the details) where movies were made. This didn't generally happen in other places. Where I'm from IIRC you got a rapid beep. And the whole thing about the caller having to hang up was never a thing there either. Different places, different equipment.
- withinboredom 6y ago
  There was also the cordless phones, some of which didn’t tell you the other person would hang up. I can remember talking to my girlfriend and taking her silence as her wanting a more in-depth description of whatever... only to have a phone ring in my ear halfway through it when she called me back.
jjav 6y ago
It started taking longer in the 90s to 00s, I don't know why. But back in the 80s if the other side hung up, they could pick up the handset again in a few seconds and keep talking to you, since it was a physically switched connection. But it didn't take too many seconds (maybe 10?) for the phone company switches to disconnect and throw a busy tone.

aidenn0 6y ago

That's actually how phones used to work for the person who was called; the connection would remain until the caller hung up (or some fairly long timeout after the callee hung up). There were various party-tricks one could do that way (e.g. prep a phone with a friend calling you, hang up, then bet someone that if they give you a name, you can dial a person with that name).

samatman 6y ago
Which was useful, if you had more than one phone. You could catch a call in the kitchen, put the phone down, and pick up another phone in the office or bedroom.