Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!netsys!vector!nobody From: cantor%evetpu.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (David A. Cantor) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Ringback as intercom Message-ID: Date: 3 Feb 89 23:43:00 GMT Sender: chip@vector.UUCP Lines: 23 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-Submissions-To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 48, message 8 In Vol 9 Iss 38, James Harvey (jbh@mibte.uucp), referring to ringback codes, writes: >...More frequently, people use the ringback numbers as an intercom, (call >ringback, wait till somebody upstairs picks up extension, talk). In the bad old days (mid-50s, Everett, Mass.), I recall the phone book had a paragraph which said to call the business office for instructions for calling another party sharing your party line. I had a friend who had a party line, and did just that. Guess what code they gave him. Ringback (911-wait for tone-6-hang up). (That's how I learned about the ringback code and how I got interested in this sort of thing.) Years later, when moving from one part of Arlington to another, I had "duplicate service" (same phone number at two addresses simultaneously) for a few days. I talked the phone company representative into giving me the code I could dial so that I could speak to a roommate at the other residence. They gave me the ringback code and asked me not to use it except for the purpose of calling someone at the other residence. Dave C.