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Phone Weirdness

I think everyone here is old enough to know what I mean when I say I keep getting a *no circuts available* signal on my phone, but just in case, *no circuts* is a fast busy signal given when a number dialed is so inundated with calls all at the same time. Like it used to get at Christmas time when you tried to call long distance to your family & friends or when there has been some kind of disaster like hurricane Catrina and thousands (or more) of people try to make a call at the same time. So, in short, no circuts is the signal you get when you dial a number and you can't get through.

Well, all I have to do is pick up the receiver and my own line is giving me a no curcuts available signal. That shouldn't happen. Sometimes when you leave your land line off the hook you will get a no circuts signal for about 30 seconds and then the line will go silent. But otherwise, it shouldn't happen. At first I was pissed because It's my only means of communication. I don't own a cell phone.

After a day, out of frustration, I tried dialing a number and it works. I don't know what's going on. The thing is I am so behind on stuff I have to do because of Covid 19 and not having a vehicle for 9 weeks, that it is just going to have to go onto the list of things I need to do. lol
 
Using a loud sound on unwelcome callers dates back farther than the 1980s. Besides the whistle it was also popular to use one of those handheld compressed air blaring horns. This approach wasn't as tough on the responder's own ears as a whistle, because you could hold it and the phone handset at arm's length.

NOTE: If you wish to try the whistle tactic, do it right ... Obtain an Acme Thunderer - ask for it by name ...

https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/whistles-ill-be-blowed-theyre-the-best.64940/
When I was a teen, me and my best friend used to visit a local video cassette rental shop (Village Video, Barton Under Needwood to be exact but it's an interior decorating hub nowadays) . We turned up one day and the owner told us she was a bit upset because she kept getting heavy breathing phone calls .. enter stage Swifty when if happened while we were in the store again so I signalled for her to give me the phone and I really got into it! .. I would have been 14 or 15 but I joined in subtly at first with his breathing, a few 'girl' fake gasps of shock etc then stated to sync in with his breathing pattern until he put the phone down because he thought some sick pervert woman who was supposed to be his victim was getting off on it instead. This only lasted about 10 seconds and she said he didn't call again :badge:.
 
@GingerTabby, it's alright. Please don't be sad, I was just explaining the weirdness of the phone. For me to get that type of dial tone (no circuts) the phone should be off the hook. I certainly should not be able to dial out and receive calls but, I do/am. It's just weird. :)
 
@GingerTabby, it's alright. Please don't be sad, I was just explaining the weirdness of the phone. For me to get that type of dial tone (no circuts) the phone should be off the hook. I certainly should not be able to dial out and receive calls but, I do/am. It's just weird. :)

It's very weird indeed. It must be annoying that this has happened at the same time as a lot of other things. It's one more task on your to-do list that you probably could have done without. My sad face was intended to acknowledge that unpleasant or odd things seem to happen all at once. I hope the phone will continue to behave itself from now on. Fingers crossed!
 
It's very weird indeed. It must be annoying that this has happened at the same time as a lot of other things. It's one more task on your to-do list that you probably could have done without. My sad face was intended to acknowledge that unpleasant or odd things seem to happen all at once. I hope the phone will continue to behave itself from now on. Fingers crossed!

Oh it's not fixed. It still has the no circuts dial tone and has had it for days. Maybe even longer. I don't use the phone everyday.

You are right. The thing with the phone company is that they make you sit and wait all day for them to show up. Last time they were here it took 4 hours to fix and turned out to be a problem at their end so, while they fixed it, the guy at my end updated all my plugs/sockets and gave me up to date rotors and cables. But still, it took 8 hours that's a whole day gone.
 
NOTE: If you wish to try the whistle tactic, do it right ... Obtain an Acme Thunderer - ask for it by name ...

I have one of these. It was my mother's - she was a teacher - and when I followed her into the trade, she passed on the whistle. Even though I have not been a teacher since 2001, I still have the Acme Thunderer; I used to use it to get the attention of my boys if they were playing on the other side of the field in front of our house.
 
Using a loud sound on unwelcome callers dates back farther than the 1980s. Besides the whistle it was also popular to use one of those handheld compressed air blaring horns. This approach wasn't as tough on the responder's own ears as a whistle, because you could hold it and the phone handset at arm's length.

NOTE: If you wish to try the whistle tactic, do it right ... Obtain an Acme Thunderer - ask for it by name ...

https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/whistles-ill-be-blowed-theyre-the-best.64940/

Unfortunately, phones automatically cut down the volume they transmit so it can’t reach dangerous levels. Little Mr. Hand-Down-His-Pants will hear an unpleasant noise, but it won’t be deafening/harmful.

maximus otter
 
Unfortunately, phones automatically cut down the volume they transmit so it can’t reach dangerous levels. Little Mr. Hand-Down-His-Pants will hear an unpleasant noise, but it won’t be deafening/harmful.

maximus otter
Wasn't always the case though, and I remember a number of cases where employees suffered hearing damage from loud noises on phone lines where irate customers or loonies used the whistle/air horn thing to annoy companies.
 
I don't report them, I just look them up on the WhoCalledMe website and post about it on there. It's anonymous. You can see what other people say about the number.
Yep it's a good system and there are lots of sites giving such information. Ms PeteS phone automatically generates a Scam/Marketing warning when such calls are made to her phone. Damn clever.
 
On Sunday my mobile started to announce whoever was calling me by name.
I hadn't clicked anything and thought it a bit odd.
A friend rang today but it just rang.
 
Unfortunately, phones automatically cut down the volume they transmit so it can’t reach dangerous levels. Little Mr. Hand-Down-His-Pants will hear an unpleasant noise, but it won’t be deafening/harmful.

maximus otter

When the neighbours gave us nuisance calls a few years ago, the police told us to press a particular number on the phone that indicated we were asking the police to trace them, so if they knew that significant noise they'd stop. Which assumes a lot, I thought.
 
On Sunday my mobile started to announce whoever was calling me by name.
I hadn't clicked anything and thought it a bit odd.
A friend rang today but it just rang.
My work iphone has that setting. Its quite useful.
 
I have one of these. It was my mother's - she was a teacher - and when I followed her into the trade, she passed on the whistle. Even though I have not been a teacher since 2001, I still have the Acme Thunderer; I used to use it to get the attention of my boys if they were playing on the other side of the field in front of our house.

The Acme Thunderer was the recommended whistle when I qualified as a football referee around 23 years ago.
Whilst I haven't refereed since the Covid19 restrictions, my original Thunderer is still going strong after somewhere in excess of 1,000 matches.
 
When the neighbours gave us nuisance calls a few years ago, the police told us to press a particular number on the phone that indicated we were asking the police to trace them, so if they knew that significant noise they'd stop.

That’s news to me, and to my wife who’s an ex-WPC and now employed by the police as a civilian.

lt could, of course, be something that’s come in since we retired.

maximus otter
 
That’s news to me, and to my wife who’s an ex-WPC and now employed by the police as a civilian.

lt could, of course, be something that’s come in since we retired.

It was about 20 years ago, the police gave told us to press a particular number on the dial to alert them there was a nuisance call going on, and told us if the prank caller recognised that sound, they'd know they were being traced. The police might have been making it up to reassure us, but I don't think so.

Of course, the calls stopped about the time the phone was being monitored, so when the cops called to ask if there had been anymore, I had to tell them no. After hanging up that call, the phone almost immediately rang, and it was another nuisance call! Obviously the neighbours spend all their waking hours with a glass to the wall (or modern equivalent).
 
A friend of mine has family in Northern Ireland, some of who allegedly had links to the IRA (not her though). That much is fact.

She used to reckon that sometimes when she picked up her phone she would hear a click that indicated that her phone was tapped. I have no idea if this plausible or BS to be fair.
 
A friend of mine has family in Northern Ireland, some of who allegedly had links to the IRA (not her though). That much is fact.

She used to reckon that sometimes when she picked up her phone she would hear a click that indicated that her phone was tapped. I have no idea if this plausible or BS to be fair.

Joan Ruddock said the same. She was involved with CND and believed her phone was tapped. When she picked up the phone and tapped the cradle she would hear her last call played back!
 
Joan Ruddock said the same. She was involved with CND and believed her phone was tapped. When she picked up the phone and tapped the cradle she would hear her last call played back!
That must have been very disconcerting. On the other hand you could I suppose have some fun with a tapped phone if you've got ballsy friends.
 
Hmmm.
Just chatted to my Mum and the extraneous sounds are back, including a short burst of a woman's voice saying something like 'it doesn't rewind'.
My Mum can't hear this at her end.
I've recently bought a higher-security phone, which I thought had cured this problem.
I may have to buy my Mum a better phone now - I think some toe-rag is listening in to her conversations.
 
A friend of mine has family in Northern Ireland, some of who allegedly had links to the IRA (not her though). That much is fact.

She used to reckon that sometimes when she picked up her phone she would hear a click that indicated that her phone was tapped. I have no idea if this plausible or BS to be fair.

Some years ago a close relation of mine was in the lowest military security loop keeping tabs on Irish people living in Britain. His best mate at school was from an Irish family and my relation was able to look up all this bloke's relations and their addresses.
None of them was a suspected terrorist, they were all respectable citizens.

So yup, I could believe your friend's phone was tapped.
 
The thing is, it's even easier to tap phones now most calls are made on mobiles, and no way of knowing! I also don't believe that they can't
unencrypt things like Whatsapp messages they just want people to think that, one can see why there are still number stations around there is no other secure method
 
I remember reading about one Orange customer who used to get automated phone calls from the company. Disconcertingly, on pickup, the automated voice would just say "Goodbye"
Having dealt with live and automated sales calls, that's the result of a really fouled-up handshake between the two platforms. I guess he'd rather know when to just hang up than go thru the process of complaining that he wasn't receiving their sales calls.
 
Had a couple of missed calls on the mobile yesterday.
I looked them up, and one was from Poland and one from Vietnam.
Last night it rang again so I answered but nothing.
Daughter looked it up and it was from France.
Guess the scammers are living all over now.
 
Had a couple of missed calls on the mobile yesterday.
I looked them up, and one was from Poland and one from Vietnam.
Last night it rang again so I answered but nothing.
Daughter looked it up and it was from France.
Guess the scammers are living all over now.
I had two from Zimbabwe, did a bit of research and it turns out the scammers can spoof there location, and they do it quite often
 
I had two from Zimbabwe, did a bit of research and it turns out the scammers can spoof there location, and they do it quite often
Yup, they can make calls appear to come from anywhere. We were tracing calls we'd had and found that there are perfectly legal redirection services that can make your call seem to come from British cities. Like renting an office by the week to give a fly-by-night business an address.
 
I had two from Zimbabwe, did a bit of research and it turns out the scammers can spoof there location, and they do it quite often
But I've never understood what the scamming use of a call with silence on the other end is. I block them anyway.
 
But I've never understood what the scamming use of a call with silence on the other end is. I block them anyway.
Maybe they're hoping you'll say 'yes?' - they'll record it and use it to fraudulently invoice you for something.
 
But I've never understood what the scamming use of a call with silence on the other end is. I block them anyway.

There isn't anyone sitting making calls. The numbers are dialled automatically and the scam starts when someone picks up. The number is then registered as a possible target for a follow-up call.
 
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