Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with telephones

Telephone tracing an endurance sport?

jefficator — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:02:02 -0800

How did old-fashioned mechanical-relay telephone tracing work? I've just watched Black Christmas for the first time, and a central component of the plot is the race through the telephone switching station to trace a mysterious call. I was intrigued that someone from the phone company had to come put a physical tap on the line and then follow that line somehow at the station. Can anyone explain how this words?

Bonus points if you can explain to me why old phone numbers had a word in front of the numbers. :-) (Fellatio-451, for example)

Voice Dailing Service for Blind/Disabled (US)

blatherbob — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:23:33 -0800

Does anyone know of a voice dial service (like GOOG-411) that works in the US for residential as well as business numbers, on landline phones? It's for a blind person with limited mobility, so the service needs to actually place the call for the user, and not require any dialing or button-pushing beyond the initial call.

Can anyone help me find the unfindable phone jack?

Teira — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:25:48 -0800

The phone jack of myth and legend: I'm looking for "A 4-conductor jack with Type 43A mounting bracket attached." In white, not hideous horrible old school beige. I've been searching for this damn part for about a month now. I'm fairly certain it does not exist in this universe, but just in case one of you has some deep dark telecommunications supply knowledge, I figured I'd ask.

My apartment has old school 4 pronged phone jacks. They have been painted over, they are destroyed. I'm renovating this place by hand. There was ONE updated jack in the entire place, which is why I know this part semi-exists, but this one jack was in ivory, and for aesthetics' sake, I'd kind of like it in straight up white.

The faceplate... it's all one congruous... thing. I'm not about to stick a standard phone jack faceplate next to a horizontal power outlet plate it just would not be right. The hole's 1.406" and the wiring'll work for RJ11/14/25. I already searched granger and mcmaster and leviton and the last one's the closest I got. Except: ivory! ugh! no! white!

Am I just going to have to bite the bullet and ivory it up?

Cat vocalizations

christopherious — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:40:27 -0800

My cat often communicates with me through these short vocalizations made while his mouth is closed. They sound like muffled, abbreviated meows and remind me of a broken telephone (old school telephone -- the kind with the bell). He does it whenever he's lurking around me but usually when I glance in his direction. And he does it all the time.

I have owned many cats, but never one who vocalized so much in such a funny way. Is this actually common? Is it limited to any specific breeds (he's a short hair black cat), or just to certain personality types? Do feline behaviorists have a word for it?

Call Me: Anytime Anyplace Anywhere Anyway

Xurando — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 17:05:26 -0800

Novel Research Filter: Help me describe phone culture/ etiquette in the 70's prior to the advent of answering machines. I'm writing a story set in the 1970's. In the story the protagonist has to call the librarian at his law firm late at night regarding a research question. Would the law firm have had a paid answering service and would the service have passed on the message to the librarian late at night?

If the protagonist had called the librarian directly sometime after 10:30 PM, would a normal person in that era have picked up the call thinking it was important or just let it ring. Would she/he be angry to find the call was work related?

How would you describe in general the phone culture of the time in terms of how important messages were passed on by phone. Was there a cultural conditioning regarding what was important to share and what wasn't. I'm sure it wasn't like communication today, anything anytime. Now I see people talking on their cell phones in the airport at 5AM, on the east coast, and can't imagine such conversations happening in the 70's. Am I wrong about this?

An executive call screener?

Futurehouse — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:00:49 -0800

What is this called: A little terminal (not part of the phone) on an executive's desk that says who is on the line. Recently, on the show Medium, a character had one of these on his desk that showed him who was on the line. This reminded me that they had one of these at an old job. It was not part of the phone, but rather a stand-alone mini-terminal that sat on the bosses' desk. If I recall correctly, the boss' secretary had a matching terminal at her desk, and she would type in who was on the line, or other messages.

What were these called? Are they still in use?

Why Am I Unknown Caller with Cricket Cell Phone?

marxchivist — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 18:43:32 -0800

Why does my cell phone number show up as "unknown caller" or "unavailable" to EVERYONE I call? About two weeks ago I got cell phone service from Cricket. My phone is a Motorola w315. I show up as "unknown" caller with everybody I call. Land lines and cell phones. All different cell phone services. These people have me in their contacts. It's getting frustrating, I'm very happy with the service other than this. I've been all through the phone settings and the instruction book. The Cricket customer service people mumble something about me "not being in the other companies databases yet." I don't believe that.

Does anyone else have experience with this? Is there anything I can do? I don't know if it is a phone issue or a carrier issue. I'd like to eventually port my land line over, do you think that will make a difference? Thanks.

Baby, when you call me...

rachelpapers — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 10:26:11 -0800

Looking for snappy songs about telephones. I have to give a slide show for a policy class. Weirdly enough, I cannot talk during the slide show, so I am planning to use a soundtrack.

The slide show is about Vonage's regulatory troubles as it tries to get a foothold in the telecom market, and I thought that a nice song might help to liven things up a little bit. I tried Googling this with limited results; the only good thing I could find was here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=1334 .

So, Oh Hive Mind, can you help me in my darkest hour? I'd love some old soul/R&B.

I predict a riot

whoojemaflip — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 02:47:02 -0800

I've been asked to look into a predictive dialling system for a small team of outbound telesales agents who're bored of listening to the phone ring for 6 hours a day. Does anyone around here have any experience of the different systems available; implementation pitfalls, advantages and disadvantages of each? We've about 6 guys & galls on the phones in this company, and it seems like they manage to get about 1 1/2 hours of actual talk time in a given day. They're all commission based, go-get-em types and keen to spend more time actually talking to our customers.

Before I get shot down in flames here I should point out that there no cold calling involved - they're selling B2B in a vertical market - but ~80% of these guys day is spent listening to the phone ring out and thats no fun!

I've heard that some systems can end up making endless 'ghost' calls which is no good, to be avoided at all costs I'd say, as this is a small company with a decent reputation among its customer base.

Oh, and what I know about telephony could be written in board-marker on the back of a postage-stamp, as if that wasn't immediately obvious. Any stories, good or bad, regarding peoples experiences with this kinda techology are invited. I'm in the UK if this helps;

Get VoIP for small office?

billsaysthis — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 18:01:13 -0800

Our small US office has four people, growing a bit over the next year to perhaps 8-10, got overequipped with an ATT (nee SBC) office phone system costing several hundred dollars a month based on a different assumption. We'd like to switch to VoIP but Vonage doesn't seem capable of working in our configuration. Is anyone using VoIP in a similar work setup? The problem with Vonage (this is after an hour+ on the phone with people in several different departments) is:

* we're one tenant of 10 in a small office building and so can't physically disconnect from the ATT landline wiring.
* the building shares a T-1 for internet connectivity among the tenants
* so no cable/DSL modem in our office, just a wire coming out of a wall
* we use WiFi not wired ethernet for connecting the computers (use a standard Linksys router).

We need a service that offers the ability to:
* transfer calls between handsets
* allow any handset to answer an incoming call

Frankly I'm not sure this is possible without setting up Asterisk or something similar but am open to suggestions on alternatives that will whack our monthly phone charge.

Landline phone that can be set to ring just once?

dilettante — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 14:27:01 -0800

Is there some model of landline phone available that can be set to ring just once? My cellphone has an option that allows me to set it to ring just once, or even to beep just once. I've been looking (and looking, and looking) for a landline phone that will do the same.

I used to work nights, and was always a night person, so I got in the habit of leaving my ringer off and now I really can't stand to let the phone ring when I don't want to answer it. I don't want something that rings once and goes to voicemail or to an answering machine. I use my caller ID to track who's called, and anyone important has other ways to get in touch. I'd like to be able to hear the phone ring, look at the Caller ID if I'm not otherwise occupied, and decide whether to answer or let it go .

A friend says he has seen one or two like this, but I've never been able to find one. Boxes don't list it as a feature, and attempts to contact a couple of manufacturers got me responses that they didn't make anything like this, although you'd think there'd be some demand for this kind of feature.

All help greatly appreciated!

Prank or not?

interrobang — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 19:40:01 -0800

This happened to my girlfriend in 1987, and for years she's been telling the story as though it was a genuine mistake. The first time she told me the story, I immediately thought it was a prank. She was working in the Carleton College call center at the time, working at a switchboard.

One night, she received a call from an "overseas operator". The operator told her to please wait for an incoming call for a student at the college.

There was a "whooshing" sound--which she describes as being like the sound of lines being connected over great distances--and a man speaking Chinese came on the line. She couldn't communicate with the person to find out who they wanted to talk to, and the overseas operator came back on the line.

The overseas operator told her to please hold, and again she heard the whooshing sound. Then a man speaking German came on the line, and again, she couldn't figure out who they wanted to talk to.

The operator came on again, and told her that if she hung up, it would cost the school 35 dollars. Another whooshing sound, and another indecipherable foreign language. At this point, she was in tears.

The operator came on again several more times, and continued connecting her to people speaking a variety of languages. The "cost to the school"--namely to her--kept going up. At the end, the operator came on the line and apologized.

This sounds to me like a hoax involving something like five people and a vacuum cleaner. Is anyone familiar with this specific kind of prank, or alternately, does anyone know that such things as "overseas operators" have ever existed? I am especially interested in knowing whether this kind of thing used to happen often to call centers, or if anyone has encountered this prank before.

Apologies for the length of this question.

US Cordless Phone in Europe

costas — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 13:53:22 -0800

PhoneFilter: I am thinking of buying a US-sold cordless phone and bringing it back to Europe. Other than voltage and frequency (which I've checked) is there any other reason why an American phone wouldn't work or work less in Europe (different ring-tone signals or Caller ID standards perhaps)?

Special Cell Phone

tomble — Tue, 25 Jan 2005 14:45:09 -0800

I am trying to find a cell phone suited to someone with osteo arthritis and reduced vision [more inside] My partner's mother is reluctant to use her cell phone because the buttons are tiny and hard to press, the display is very small, and it has a thousand and one unwanted functions.

Can anyone recommend a model of phone with larger buttons and fewer functions? Preferably something available in Australia, but any manufacturer and model details will help.

How can I overcome my aversion to using telephones?

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 10:07:43 -0800

I have an irrational aversion to using the telephone, even in the most innocuous and impersonal of situations (like calling to find out if some place is open, if a store sells a certain thing, if a musical venue is selling tickets to a show in advance, etc). I wouldn't go so far as to call it a "fear", though I do get somewhat nervous when forced to use the phone in such circumstances, which makes it inconvenient and somewhat unpleasant for me when I have to use the phone for whatever reason. So how can I overcome my phone aversion?

Phone jack moving know-how

jabo — Thu, 02 Sep 2004 18:25:13 -0800

I'm renovating a room and I'd like to move a phone jack that was originally placed 5 feet from the floor (for a wall phone), down closer to plug height. We're talkin' standard wood frame construction with gypsum board walls. I know that the box is set against a wall stud but I'm unsure the best way to do this with the least amount of tearing up and patching. Any tips, online resources or warnings? I also don't know jack about phone wiring. Get it? Jack? Har dee har.

Recommendations for Internet/Phone/Cell Provider

deathofme — Tue, 06 Jul 2004 08:59:24 -0800

Can anyone recommend a good internet/phone/cell provider? Last year, my place of employment signed an all-inclusive contract with Norvergence for a T1 line, local & long distance phone and cell phone service. Service and support has been less than satisfactory and today, it has become apparent that they are going out of business. We are hoping to find a similar service with a reliable company. Any recommendations and experiences are appreciated. Oh, we are located in southeast Michigan - I guess that could be important.

Help troubleshoot my phone jack replacement

orange swan — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 19:58:34 -0800

I'm replacing a phone jack. Or rather, I'm trying to replace one. I've done same before, but this time I can't get it working and I think some troubleshooting is required. There are more details, and too many wires, inside. First off, this particular jack didn't work when I bought my condo three years ago. I removed the old jack sometime back and have made periodic attempts to install a new plate and get it working, with the help of Google. The problem could therefore simply be improper installation or something more serious for which I will need a technician.

About the installation. Now, I know there are usually four wires in a phone jack, that they should be matched to the corresponding coloured wires on the plate, and that the red and green wires usually "do the work". But in this case there are two sets of four wires, and the two green wires and two red wires are spliced together in two little plastic thingies. Could this be why I can't get it working? If not, how should I hook up the plate given that I have two black wires and two yellow wires to work with?