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Ringback numbers

Started by WesternElectricBen, January 04, 2013, 05:49:27 PM

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WesternElectricBen

I've heard of the ringback number the bell system used back in the day. Is it just a myth now? Meaning that they aren't around anymore? I live in an area in Minnesota where it is a new area code, will that mean I'm completely out of the question? Thanks
Ben

Phonesrfun

Back in the day, the ringback was common because the revertive ringing was the only way for party line parties to call another party on the same line.  The numbers were well known by the public and even published in directories.  It was somewhat standard, but varied a bit from place to place.

Phone companies now have numbers that they do not publish and are for calling in for testing levels and I believe it includes a ringback.  Several years ago I tried to no avail to get the number from a phone company tech who had used such a number when I had my phone line equipped with DSL and he had to come out to the house to check it out.

-Bill G

WesternElectricBen

Ah, do you think if I talked to a tech he would tell me the number?
Thanks
Ben

HarrySmith

Way back when I was 16 years old and getting my first phone installed in my bedroom I had a very friendly installer who I dogged through the entire install. The new phone required a whole new line from the pole in the street all the way to my room. I asked a few thousand questions which he happily answered. He showed me the test numbers he used, one for ringback and one that reported back the number it was dialed from. This was in SNETCO territory in the early 70's, I used those numbers a lot back then. Both were 3 digits, 966 & 969 I think. Not working here in South Florida. He also gave me his dial removal tool which I had for many years but cannot find since I got into phones.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

AE_Collector

See this thread under switching:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=4055.0

I'll merge this into that thread soon.

Terry

xhausted110

Call 847-765-1008, it will recite your phone#, hang up, and it will call you back.
- Evan

WesternElectricBen

xhausted110's explanation works on my cell. Though on my land line it doesnt. It adds on the area code, what should I do? Thanks

xhausted110

hmm... it works on my landline..
- Evan

WesternElectricBen

Should I use an area code first? When I used my cell I don't know if it used my area code? I got someones answering machine.

xhausted110

oh, yeah call the full number 1-847-765-1008
- Evan

WesternElectricBen

Quote from: xhausted110 on January 04, 2013, 10:51:51 PM
oh, yeah call the full number 1-847-765-1008
Ahhhh, thank you very much!

AE_Collector

#11
Yeah it isn't like a code from your telco that will ring you back. It is a service that calls the number back that it gets from your call display info when you call it. Only possible glitches that come to mind is sometimes people have a different number that displays rather than their actual tel number so it would call the wrong number back in that scenario.

Terry

gpo706

174 used to be the GPO/BT ringback number, doubt it is now though
"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

twocvbloke

Quote from: gpo706 on January 05, 2013, 05:03:18 AM
174 used to be the GPO/BT ringback number, doubt it is now though

We have the engineer test number for BT, 17070, though some reports say it's either not working or it's had features stripped from it that used to be there, though at last check, Ringback still worked, but that was a year ago when I last tried... :D

Contempra

this number works very well in my area ( Québec ) so I imagine it works anywhere in Canada.