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16th May '13 3:53:14 AM lcmortensen

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This is a partly DiscreditedTrope, because the whole urban legend relies on a myth about old analog land lines: the idea that you could, by tapping the receiver button carefully, manage to dial the telephone number of the building/home you were occupying at the time. [[hottip:*:Tapping the switch-hook is electrically no different than what the dial does: It momentarily opens the circuit. Two momentary openings in quick succession registers at the exchange as the digit "2", six momentary openings registers as "6", and so on with ten momentary openings regissting as "0" (except in New Zealand where it is backwards - two openings is "8", six openings is "4", and ten openings is "0"). The dial just does it more conveniently. And if you dial the number of the line you're on, whether with the dial or the switchhook, whether or not there are other extensions on the line, you get a busy signal; that line ''is'' off-hook, after all. Nor is it electrically possible for the exchange to ring the other extensions on a line when one of them is off-hook; the low impedance of an off-hook phone will essentially short out the ring voltage.]] However, in at least some areas of the U.S., it has been and still is possible to dial your home phone number, hang up on the busy signal and get a ring to your own line. The reason the phone company allows this isn't clear, however it has been used by some as a poor-man's home intercom. On a line which does not have caller ID, it could be used to pretend to be calling from outside the house while actually calling from another room.

18th Mar '13 3:12:08 PM duh1177

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16th Mar '13 9:01:07 AM erforce

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3rd Mar '13 4:53:47 PM Ryusui

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21st Feb '13 7:29:02 AM Gregzilla

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17th Feb '13 4:49:53 PM Mullon

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16th Feb '13 9:41:29 PM Mdumas43073

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16th Feb '13 9:38:58 PM Mdumas43073

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14th Feb '13 8:36:03 PM robster2001

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The folders are coming from inside the house!

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12th Feb '13 4:49:34 PM moderator Madrugada

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cut natter hidden in hottips. Verified that the urban legend long predates 911.

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This is a partly DiscreditedTrope, because the whole urban legend relies on a myth about old analog land lines: the idea that you could, by tapping the receiver button carefully, manage to dial the telephone number of the building/home you were occupying at the time. [[hottip:*:In fact, tapping the switch-hook is electrically no different than what the dial does: It momentarily opens the circuit. Five momentary openings in quick succession registers at the exchange as the digit "5", and so on. The dial just does it more conveniently. And if you dial the number of the line you're on, whether with the dial or the switchhook, whether or not there are other extensions on the line, you get a busy signal; that line ''is'' off-hook, after all. Nor is it electrically possible for the exchange to ring the other extensions on a line when one of them is off-hook; the low impedance of an off-hook phone will essentially short out the ring voltage.]][[hottip:*:I can't speak for all carriers, but Verizon in Western Washington as of a few years ago, when you dialed your own number you got a quick recording telling you to hang up the receiver... when the receiver was hung up, they would ring your number with nobody on the other line. So on at least one phone network, at at least one point in time, this urban legend was plausible.]][[hottip:*:When you do same party calling (phone company term) on a land line like this, the carrier will play a similar message when the caller picks up the phone, identifying the call as being from the same number. This is still used commonly in places with multiple buildings on the same phone line.]] However, in at least some areas of the U.S.[[hottip:*:This is confirmed as still possible on an AT&T land-line in Wisconsin]], it has been and still is possible to dial your home phone number, hang up on the busy signal and get a ring to your own line. The reason the phone company allows this isn't clear, however it has been used by some as a poor-man's home intercom. On a line which does not have caller ID, it could be used to pretend to be calling from outside the house while actually calling from another room.

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