Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Sun, 19 May 91 21:07:56 EDT From: Rick Broadhead Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Ringing Tones Around the World Message-ID: Organization: TELECOM Digest Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 379, Message 10 of 10 Lines: 42 For those of you who are interested, another source for telephone ringing and busy signals is Telecom Canada/Teleglobe Canada's "International Calling Guide. " It contains essentially the same information as British Telecom's international phone guide. I've also noticed that busy signals and ringing signals can vary WITHIN a country. For instance, in Canada and the United States, these tones vary depending on the exchange dialed. At least that's what I've found here in Toronto, and when calling various directory assistance numbers throughout the United States. The difference lies not in the length of these tones, but in their sound. What determines what exchanges will have what tones? Why should different numbers in the same city, Toronto for example, behave differently? Can anyone provide an explanation? I've tried to get an answer from the folks at Bell Canada, but the typical resp onse to my assertion that ringing signals differ from exchange to exchange is: "They do? -- I've never noticed that." I was told by a very helpful person at Teleglobe Canada that a non-technical discussion of telephone tones can be found in a publication called "Notes on the Networks." AT&T has informed me that this book has been discontinued. It apparently discussed issues such as "line-signalling" and "register signalling, " among other things. The libraries around here have never heard of this book. Could anyone suggest an equivalent publication today, or one that deals with topics such as line and register signalling? (anyone ever heard of *Notes on the Networks* before?) Rick Broadhead [Moderator's Note: 'Notes on the Network' is a well-known publication which has been mentioned here in the Digest many times. As to the difference in ringing/busy signals here in the USA, the difference is due purely based on the manufacturer of the equipment used in the office in particular. One sounds one way, another some other way. PAT]