Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucsd!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!gryphon!vector!telecom-gateway From: john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Amazing, but True Message-ID: Date: 19 Nov 89 18:44:46 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Lines: 39 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 522, message 4 of 7 This is a story that could only take place in the '80s. Yesterday while picking up incidentals to install my KX-1232 (had to get that in), I had occasion to call a business associate in Victorville. Got off the bike, reached into the saddlebag and used the trusty handheld. When I was finished I put it back, apparently forgetting to turn the unit off. After that call, I went to the hardware store, an electronics store, etc., etc. Then I decided to hit the expressway to go to the office to pick up the mail. The trip is about 8 miles on a big freeway-like road but with traffic lights. When I arrived, I checked my pager (looked at the display) since I can't hear it over the noise of the motorcycle. The number of Mr. Talbot in Victorville was on the display so I went upstairs a gave him a call. He was having trouble containing himself. It seems that he had, about twenty minutes earlier, received a strange call. It was a big noise. There were sounds of the phone jostling around, as well as car noises. There were sounds of speeding up and slowing down, as if driving from one light to another. Then the DTMF came. Single tones and tone bursts, as if from someone's speed dial. Among one of the bursts was what Mr. Talbot recognized as his own number! It was a cellular phone! But whose? He tried yelling to get the caller's attention, but no luck. Then while this was going on the noise on the line suddenly went away and he received a call via call waiting. It was the wayward mobile again, using three-way! Finally figuring out whose cellular phone was calling him, Mr. Talbot called my mobile number. He call-waited into his own auto-harassment call, already in progress. Then he paged me. After splitting my sides over his account of the previous twenty minutes, I went down to my bike and checked the phone. In the cold saddlebag, the unit was warm to the touch (and very much on). So trust me folks. Whenever you drop your handheld in the saddlebag, make sure it's off. You'll be glad you did. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !