Phone numbers to oblivion

May 8, 2009 1:10 PM

PhoneFilter: For testing purposes I need phone numbers in the following categories: No Answer (just rings), Disconnected, Busy.

I need about a dozen each Discon, Busy, No Answer (no answering machine, at least 10 rings). Any area code in the USA.

Preferably phone company test lines that are always guaranteed to be in return this signal, but if you just happen to know some lines that fit one of these categories throw them up here. NONE should actually go to real people. Thanks.

FYI - I am doing internal test for our company's emergency mass notification system... you are helping make sure school children get emergency messages from their schools, not any type of shady phone solicitation deal.

posted by DetonatedManiac to technology (9 comments total)

So, I was writing the below the fold description in a hurry... forgive the utterly bizarre wording.
posted by DetonatedManiac at 1:12 PM on May 8

Have you called your phone company about this? They can probably answer your question quicker.
posted by odinsdream at 1:21 PM on May 8

If you have Google Voice, I believe you can set incoming calls from specific numbers to generate at least some of these statuses; minimum, I'm 99% sure you can set it to return the Disconnected tone/msg.
posted by inigo2 at 1:25 PM on May 8

767-2676 returns a disconnected message in all Northern California area codes (415, 408, 510, 650, 916, to get you started). Until relatively recently, it was the recorded time of day service.
posted by jamaro at 1:30 PM on May 8

Called AT&T Cell (the only phone I own). Fortunately I had a phone numbers so they actually agreed to field my call. Unfortunately everything about phone numbers that were live or dead phone numbers were confidential and they would "neither confirm nor deny" that they did any testing on cell phone numbers.

Not that I blame them.
posted by DetonatedManiac at 1:43 PM on May 8

Call your company's telco. Make sure you're calling their business support, they'd be more likely to help.
posted by ConstantineXVI at 2:14 PM on May 8

Yeah I think you need to contact the real phone company, not the cellular one; might need to look in the yellow or white pages (the actual telco-supplied one) for the local office number. I would lead in with why you want the numbers (the emergency-notification bit) before the request, because otherwise they may not want to talk to you. Telco people are loath to give out information because of decades of dealing with phreakers.

You'll probably get the furthest with the ILEC* that actually operates the lines in your area.

* Former Baby Bell, in most cases. In a lot of regions this now means a subsidiary of Verizon, but that is not the same as Verizon Wireless; they are practically separate organizations. You want the local wireline operator.
posted by Kadin2048 at 5:12 PM on May 8

For what it's worth, you can purchase telephone loop simulators which you can plug your system into and which can be programmed to return any common behavior you wish.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 7:15 PM on May 8

Here is a number that always rings, with no answer: 908-355-9969.

And Here is a list of numbers that always ring busy.

This post is in no way advocating that you use phone company test lines for any purpose whatsoever without the expressed permission of the telephone company who owns them.

posted by crazyray at 9:35 AM on May 10