landlines are interesting anachronisms

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > YOSPOS > landlines are interesting anachronisms

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Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

They finally decommissioned the octel voicemail here last month in favor of cisco unity. Comically the Octel email integration was more reliable than unity has been so far.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 05:05

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# ? May 14, 2024 15:13

A Pinball Wizard: Mar 23, 2005; I know every trick, no freak's gonna beat my hands; College Slice

as long as we're doing pbxchat anyone familiar with shoretel wanna answer a q for me over pm

# ? Nov 21, 2015 05:38

spankmeister: Jun 15, 2008

thehustler posted:

You know years ago in the UK some freephone numbers didn't have a number to call, you just dialled the operator on 100 and asked for "Freephone <company name>" - what the hell was that all about?

The United Kingdom is an interesting anachronism.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 08:54

Captain Foo: May 11, 2004; we vibin'
we slidin'
we breathin'
we dyin'

Qwijib0 posted:

They finally decommissioned the octel voicemail here last month in favor of cisco unity. Comically the Octel email integration was more reliable than unity has been so far.

I have found that Cisco's email integration for email is a piece of poo poo

# ? Nov 21, 2015 19:45

goddamnedtwisto: Dec 31, 2004; If you ask me about the mole people in the London Underground, I WILL be forced to kill you; Fun Shoe

thehustler posted:

You know years ago in the UK some freephone numbers didn't have a number to call, you just dialled the operator on 100 and asked for "Freephone <company name>" - what the hell was that all about?

short answer - british telecom payphones had no other way of bypassing the coin-request apart from calling the operator - freephone calls were actually just reverse-charge calls to a fixed number at a discounted rate

the longer answer is basically that but also throwing in the advanced state of decrepitude of large parts of the old gpo network meaning that quite a lot of large companies outside of london were unable to run their own automatic pbx so these were actually station-to-station calls to an operator at the destination who would then connect to an available agent - the discount on the freephone system was cheaper for bt to give than to actually fix this.

there was also a rumour that bt were deeply suspicious of automatic freephone systems because they were the entry point for an awful lot of phreaking activities in the us when they were introduced there - certainly this would match with the software (possibly too grand a word as most of them were still electro-mechanical) in payphones that locked out dialling of any number not beginning 1 or 9 without cash going into them, and the local exchanges that similarly would only allow 1- or 9-prefixed numbers nowhere but the local operator.

# ? Nov 23, 2015 09:17

Asymmetric POSTer: Aug 17, 2005

goddamnedtwisto posted:

short answer - british telecom payphones had no other way of bypassing the coin-request apart from calling the operator - freephone calls were actually just reverse-charge calls to a fixed number at a discounted rate

the longer answer is basically that but also throwing in the advanced state of decrepitude of large parts of the old gpo network meaning that quite a lot of large companies outside of london were unable to run their own automatic pbx so these were actually station-to-station calls to an operator at the destination who would then connect to an available agent - the discount on the freephone system was cheaper for bt to give than to actually fix this.

there was also a rumour that bt were deeply suspicious of automatic freephone systems because they were the entry point for an awful lot of phreaking activities in the us when they were introduced there - certainly this would match with the software (possibly too grand a word as most of them were still electro-mechanical) in payphones that locked out dialling of any number not beginning 1 or 9 without cash going into them, and the local exchanges that similarly would only allow 1- or 9-prefixed numbers nowhere but the local operator.

lol this owns

# ? Nov 23, 2015 15:15

Captain Foo: May 11, 2004; we vibin'
we slidin'
we breathin'
we dyin'

phone phreaking was cool and good

# ? Nov 23, 2015 15:20

Shaggar: Apr 26, 2006

goddamnedtwisto posted:

short answer - british telecom payphones had no other way of bypassing the coin-request apart from calling the operator - freephone calls were actually just reverse-charge calls to a fixed number at a discounted rate

the longer answer is basically that but also throwing in the advanced state of decrepitude of large parts of the old gpo network meaning that quite a lot of large companies outside of london were unable to run their own automatic pbx so these were actually station-to-station calls to an operator at the destination who would then connect to an available agent - the discount on the freephone system was cheaper for bt to give than to actually fix this.

there was also a rumour that bt were deeply suspicious of automatic freephone systems because they were the entry point for an awful lot of phreaking activities in the us when they were introduced there - certainly this would match with the software (possibly too grand a word as most of them were still electro-mechanical) in payphones that locked out dialling of any number not beginning 1 or 9 without cash going into them, and the local exchanges that similarly would only allow 1- or 9-prefixed numbers nowhere but the local operator.

lol @ bt

# ? Nov 23, 2015 15:35

infernal machines: Oct 11, 2012; we monitor many frequencies. we listen always. came a voice, out of the babel of tongues, speaking to us. it played us a mighty dub.

back when pay phones were still a thing here we had two common types, bell owned and third party, privately owned. in theory the old bell centurion phones could be redboxed for free calls, in practice it didn't really work because the line was very finicky about the tones, and with the bell phones it was a specific type of line so you couldn't just make calls willy-nilly even if you had a dial tone.

the third-party phones were great though, they were on a standard line and all the payphone logic was in the phone itself. all you had to do was dial a toll free number that would disconnect you and you had unrestricted access on the line.

# ? Nov 24, 2015 17:02

ate shit on live tv: Feb 15, 2004; by Azathoth

the thing I hate the most about phone/telecom history is that the capitalistic anti-investment scheme was rewarded.

neglected infrastructure vulnerable to phreaking or high winds? let's criminalize and reward their innovation!

# ? Nov 27, 2015 01:23

Jimmy Carter: Nov 3, 2005; THIS MOTHERDUCKER
FLIES IN STYLE

Remember: if you want someone who has your phone number to never be able to call you, all you have to do is completely change your number and reach out to every single one of your contacts and have them update their own personal database.

this is clearly the superior system design.

# ? Nov 27, 2015 01:38

Jimmy Carter: Nov 3, 2005; THIS MOTHERDUCKER
FLIES IN STYLE

on the other hand,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uMbpaFp3i4

# ? Nov 27, 2015 01:40

ahmeni: May 1, 2005; It's one continuous form where hardware and software function in perfect unison, creating a new generation of iPhone that's better by any measure.; Grimey Drawer

Jimmy Carter posted:

Remember: if you want someone who has your phone number to never be able to call you, all you have to do is completely change your number and reach out to every single one of your contacts and have them update their own personal database.

this is clearly the superior system design.

that's why we've replaced it with Facebook

# ? Nov 27, 2015 07:17

Alereon: Feb 6, 2004; Dehumanize yourself and face to Trumpshed; College Slice

so i learned a major carrier is backing out of their voip interconnects and switching back to whatever legacy telco thing they did before because voip companies overseas are even more poo poo than in the us. im not privy to the details but i guess it took a huge dedicated team wrangling peering partners just to keep call success rates in the barely acceptable range (instead of totally unacceptable) and they decided it wasnt cheaper enough to justify the effort. ss7 supremacy, diameter can suck it

Alereon fucked around with this message at 07:45 on Nov 27, 2015

# ? Nov 27, 2015 07:39

Asymmetric POSTer: Aug 17, 2005

Alereon posted:

ss7 supremacy, diameter can suck it

awwww yeeeeah

# ? Nov 27, 2015 15:58

Mr. Apollo: Nov 8, 2000

infernal machines posted:

back when pay phones were still a thing here we had two common types, bell owned and third party, privately owned. in theory the old bell centurion phones could be redboxed for free calls, in practice it didn't really work because the line was very finicky about the tones, and with the bell phones it was a specific type of line so you couldn't just make calls willy-nilly even if you had a dial tone.

the third-party phones were great though, they were on a standard line and all the payphone logic was in the phone itself. all you had to do was dial a toll free number that would disconnect you and you had unrestricted access on the line.

i remember back the 80s you could do a thing to bell payphones where you dial 879 (or something like that) and then the last 4 digits of payphone number, hang up the receiver, and the phone would ring after like 15 seconds

# ? Nov 27, 2015 16:27

Chris Knight: Jun 5, 2002; me @ ur posts; Fun Shoe

the ring back test was a common feature all across north america. we used to do in on agt lines in calgary both home lines and pay phones

# ? Nov 27, 2015 20:29

Captain Foo: May 11, 2004; we vibin'
we slidin'
we breathin'
we dyin'

Alereon posted:

so i learned a major carrier is backing out of their voip interconnects and switching back to whatever legacy telco thing they did before because voip companies overseas are even more poo poo than in the us. im not privy to the details but i guess it took a huge dedicated team wrangling peering partners just to keep call success rates in the barely acceptable range (instead of totally unacceptable) and they decided it wasnt cheaper enough to justify the effort. ss7 supremacy, diameter can suck it

# ? Nov 27, 2015 23:46

spankmeister: Jun 15, 2008

protip: ss7 is also bad

# ? Nov 28, 2015 00:17

thehustler: Apr 17, 2004; I am very curious about this little crescendo

ring back in the uk was available on the older lines with 17070. Also can get a line measurement to your exchange which I thought was really cool when I tried it the first time

does 17070 still work?

# ? Nov 28, 2015 00:34

Alereon: Feb 6, 2004; Dehumanize yourself and face to Trumpshed; College Slice

spankmeister posted:

protip: ss7 is also bad

yeah but it at least has the excuse of being designed before we knew how to do it right.

# ? Nov 28, 2015 00:53

Powerful Two-Hander: Mar 10, 2004; Mods please change my name to "Tooter Skeleton" TIA.

thehustler posted:

ring back in the uk was available on the older lines with 17070. Also can get a line measurement to your exchange which I thought was really cool when I tried it the first time

does 17070 still work?

yes 17070 still works and you can use it to run a quiet line test which is the only way apart from posting on BTs customer forums (which has weirdly helpful mods who can escalate fixes) to get them to fix their poo poo because the minimum adsl speed is like 256kbps but there is a legal requirement for clear voice comms.

So you tell them there's noise on the line and they'll send an engineer out who will either a)bill you for wasting his time or b) when he actually turns up look at the line to the pole and go "yeah that's 40+ years old and is probably busted, I'll see about getting it replaced". if you're lucky he also won't report the fact that you have no actual BT socket because it got busted and you rewired your own using cat5e and a 3rd party nte5 you bought off the internet.

Powerful Two-Hander fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Nov 28, 2015

# ? Nov 28, 2015 02:35

Rufus Ping: Dec 27, 2006; I'm a Friend of Rodney Nano

Powerful Two-Hander posted:

posting on BTs customer forums (which has weirdly helpful mods who can escalate fixes)

It's really kind of amazing. Once escalated I had a proper bt engineer who knew what he was taking about phoning me up and handling everything till it got fixed. Never using the outsourced phone support again

# ? Nov 28, 2015 03:14

atomicthumbs: Dec 26, 2010; We're in the business of extending man's senses.

Powerful Two-Hander posted:

yes 17070 still works and you can use it to run a quiet line test which is the only way apart from posting on BTs customer forums (which has weirdly helpful mods who can escalate fixes) to get them to fix their poo poo because the minimum adsl speed is like 256kbps but there is a legal requirement for clear voice comms.

So you tell them there's noise on the line and they'll send an engineer out who will either a)bill you for wasting his time or b) when he actually turns up look at the line to the pole and go "yeah that's 40+ years old and is probably busted, I'll see about getting it replaced". if you're lucky he also won't report the fact that you have no actual BT socket because it got busted and you rewired your own using cat5e and a 3rd party nte5 you bought off the internet.

llol @ your cpe inside the house

# ? Nov 28, 2015 10:18

ChickenOfTomorrow: Nov 11, 2012; god damn it, you've got to be kind

in the land of ATT I actually miss BT

# ? Nov 28, 2015 20:58

Panty Saluter: Jan 17, 2004; Making learning fun!

ChickenOfTomorrow posted:

in the land of ATT I actually miss BT

Sounds like some dirty commie telco thay actually has oversight instead of just subsisdies :clint:

# ? Nov 28, 2015 22:55

ahmeni: May 1, 2005; It's one continuous form where hardware and software function in perfect unison, creating a new generation of iPhone that's better by any measure.; Grimey Drawer

Alereon posted:

so i learned a major carrier is backing out of their voip interconnects and switching back to whatever legacy telco thing they did before because voip companies overseas are even more poo poo than in the us. im not privy to the details but i guess it took a huge dedicated team wrangling peering partners just to keep call success rates in the barely acceptable range (instead of totally unacceptable) and they decided it wasnt cheaper enough to justify the effort. ss7 supremacy, diameter can suck it

as someone who did a year as one of the dudes on the peering teams: gently caress every telecom

# ? Nov 29, 2015 02:33

ahmeni: May 1, 2005; It's one continuous form where hardware and software function in perfect unison, creating a new generation of iPhone that's better by any measure.; Grimey Drawer

there are probably about 50 people in the republic of Congo who hate me because of a hardware issue where call routing would randomly flip bits in their msisdn and all my test calls would go to angry, angry people

# ? Nov 29, 2015 02:39

Captain Foo: May 11, 2004; we vibin'
we slidin'
we breathin'
we dyin'

ANACs are cool and good

# ? Nov 29, 2015 02:44

Mootallica: Jun 28, 2005

ahmeni posted:

there are probably about 50 people in the republic of Congo who hate me because of a hardware issue where call routing would randomly flip bits in their msisdn and all my test calls would go to angry, angry people

almost as good as the guys in our helpdesk on international faults. standard troubleshooting is to replicate the fault - don't worry about the fact it's 3am in bosnia - ring the loving number anyway! Multiple times from multiple carriers!

# ? Nov 29, 2015 09:46

goddamnedtwisto: Dec 31, 2004; If you ask me about the mole people in the London Underground, I WILL be forced to kill you; Fun Shoe

neatly tying up "misfiring phone calls" and "remember when isps sent out cds", back in the days of free dialup isps in the uk (free as in no subscription fee, you paid through the phone bill) one of them put an install cd on the cover of a magazine. unfortunately they'd not actually bothered to test it apparently, because they (in an attempt to add 1470 as a prefix to the dialup to force clid to be passed by customers who withhold it, because that was the only way they could actually id users without a billing relationship) actually managed to add 00147, leading to some poor fucker in the states getting thousands of modem calls a day, as well as of course a bunch of users having to pay international call rates

# ? Nov 29, 2015 11:17

Captain Foo: May 11, 2004; we vibin'
we slidin'
we breathin'
we dyin'

goddamnedtwisto posted:

neatly tying up "misfiring phone calls" and "remember when isps sent out cds", back in the days of free dialup isps in the uk (free as in no subscription fee, you paid through the phone bill) one of them put an install cd on the cover of a magazine. unfortunately they'd not actually bothered to test it apparently, because they (in an attempt to add 1470 as a prefix to the dialup to force clid to be passed by customers who withhold it, because that was the only way they could actually id users without a billing relationship) actually managed to add 00147, leading to some poor fucker in the states getting thousands of modem calls a day, as well as of course a bunch of users having to pay international call rates

lmfao

# ? Nov 29, 2015 23:22

Quebec Bagnet: Apr 28, 2009; mess with the honk
you get the bonk; Lipstick Apathy

non-pity bump, this thread is v interesting and cool and i want to read more about phones now

# ? Jan 4, 2016 07:31

fishmech: Jul 16, 2006; by VideoGames; Salad Prong

goddamnedtwisto posted:

neatly tying up "misfiring phone calls" and "remember when isps sent out cds", back in the days of free dialup isps in the uk (free as in no subscription fee, you paid through the phone bill) one of them put an install cd on the cover of a magazine. unfortunately they'd not actually bothered to test it apparently, because they (in an attempt to add 1470 as a prefix to the dialup to force clid to be passed by customers who withhold it, because that was the only way they could actually id users without a billing relationship) actually managed to add 00147, leading to some poor fucker in the states getting thousands of modem calls a day, as well as of course a bunch of users having to pay international call rates

this couldn't have gone to the states, unless this happened very recently.

area code 470 activated in 2010
471,472 have never been used
area code 473 has been used by Grenada since 1997
area code 474 was initially to be assigned to Saskatchewan in Canada, but instead has never been used
area code 475 was assigned in 2003
476,477 have never been used
478 in 2000
479 in 2002

# ? Jan 4, 2016 15:54

Panty Saluter: Jan 17, 2004; Making learning fun!

an impedance mismatch in a line (say one conductor longer than the other) can turn your phone into an am radio :science:

# ? Jan 4, 2016 16:22

Mootallica: Jun 28, 2005

fishmech posted:

this couldn't have gone to the states, unless this happened very recently.

area code 470 activated in 2010
471,472 have never been used
area code 473 has been used by Grenada since 1997
area code 474 was initially to be assigned to Saskatchewan in Canada, but instead has never been used
area code 475 was assigned in 2003
476,477 have never been used
478 in 2000
479 in 2002

it's possible that the local carrier just routed +147* out to international and let their international supplier deal with it

# ? Jan 4, 2016 22:58

Hugh G. Rectum: Mar 1, 2011

fishmech posted:

this couldn't have gone to the states, unless this happened very recently.

area code 470 activated in 2010
471,472 have never been used
area code 473 has been used by Grenada since 1997
area code 474 was initially to be assigned to Saskatchewan in Canada, but instead has never been used
area code 475 was assigned in 2003
476,477 have never been used
478 in 2000
479 in 2002

this is some purestrain fishmech right here. the good stuff.

# ? Jan 4, 2016 23:08

BangersInMyKnickers: Nov 3, 2004; I have a thing for courageous dongles

Panty Saluter posted:

an impedance mismatch in a line (say one conductor longer than the other) can turn your phone into an am radio

my uncle had to troubleshoot an old thinnet backhaul between two buildings that were adjacent to some AM station and the line was flooded with noise really bad for a couple hours a day in the afternoon and the intermittent behavior was driving him crazy. then one day he looked outside and paid attention to the AM antenna that sat adjacent to the property, gave a rough measurement of the distance between the buildings and the wavelength of the tower and sure enough they matched up. threw an extra 100' loop on the line and the problem went away. turns out AM stations crank up their broadcast power in the afternoon to really pump out their blowhard talk radio assholes

# ? Jan 4, 2016 23:24

Panty Saluter: Jan 17, 2004; Making learning fun!

Am stations use low power at night and raise it during the day. Not sure why, maybe to reduce interference? I suppose signals go further when it's cooler.

My mom used to have a local christian radio station on in the morning and it would magically get clearer at 7am iirc

# ? Jan 4, 2016 23:29

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# ? May 14, 2024 15:13

Sham bam bamina!: Nov 6, 2012; ƨtupid cat

# ? Jan 4, 2016 23:35

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > YOSPOS > landlines are interesting anachronisms

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