# Get off my phone! GET OFF MY PHOOOONE! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 19, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744 "2005-11-19T01:07:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/1 "2005-11-19T01:07:20Z")
Fifteen minutes ago, I got a call from some recorded message about “tax reform.” I hung up immediately. A couple minutes later, I picked up the phone to make a call, and the recorded message was still running! I though, “Crap, I didn’t hang up the phone properly,” so I hit the button. Still running. Hit the button again and held it. Still running! Now I’m afraid to pick it up again to discover that I can no longer make outgoing calls, that I will forever just have a recorded message about tax reform. On the plus side, my MIL can’t call. Who are these bastards, why are they calling, and why don’t they get off my phooooone?! What with the… things on my trash bags and the tax reform on my telephone, I’m having a rough night. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/2 "2005-11-19T01:12:41Z")
Try listening to the message clear through in it’s entirety (as in, have the phone off the hook for a minute or two, then check to see if it seems to be done or repeating) and see if you can hang up then? It might be that it won’t break the circuit until it registers that the phone has been off the hook for the entire message, or maybe it’s glitching? I might be way off base too, but it’s worth a shot isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/3 "2005-11-19T01:23:11Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > I might be way off base too, but it’s worth a shot isn’t it? It was worth a shot. Er, it doesn’t seem to have worked. The message appears to be looping after about twenty seconds. Everyone who would have gotten a call from this machine if not for this screw up has me to thank! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/4 "2005-11-19T01:25:56Z")
Have you tried unplugging the phone, and plugging it back in? ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/5 "2005-11-19T02:09:25Z")
Have you tried complaining to the phone company? I think things that monopolize your phone line like that are actually illegal. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/6 "2005-11-19T02:11:00Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Have you tried complaining to the phone company? I think things that monopolize your phone line like that are actually illegal. No, because they were on my PHOOOOONE! 😃 But they’re gone now. I walked away for about twenty minutes and they finally hung up. Maybe it was actually just a really bored guy with a mechanical sounding voice. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/7 "2005-11-19T02:21:16Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Maybe it was actually just a really bored guy with a mechanical sounding voice. This made me laugh harder than it probably should have. Thank you. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/8 "2005-11-19T04:42:50Z")
I’ve noticed this phenomenon as well. Apparently calls have to be terminated from the originating end. Fortunately, I’ve never had a looping automated call. ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/9 "2005-11-19T05:37:40Z")
One of my exes could never get it into his head that he was my ex. Being the mature person he was, he often called only to hang up when I answered. One day he apparently never noticed that he hadn’t put the phone properly in its cradle, because I was unable to call out for eight hours. Sucked more for him, though - it was long distance. :wally ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/10 "2005-11-19T05:46:06Z")
Yeah, the caller has to hang up for the circuit to be broken. I remember once when I was about five or six, my dad went away overnight to a hunting camp. Someone called early in the evening, but there was no one on the line and all my mom could hear was highway noises, like the call was made on a payphone next to a busy road. Nothing we did could hang the phone up. She was scared to death, at first because she thought it might be my dad, like he was accidentally shot and just managed to get to a phone and dial before he passed out. Then because she thought it might be someone who knew Dad was away and deliberately tied the phone up so we couldn’t call out. She spent the night in her bedroom, in the rocking chair, with both of us on her lap, and an unloaded shotgun she wouldn’t have known how to shoot even if it had cartridges, just in case it WAS someone looking to keep a young woman and a couple of kids incommunicado while they did their dirty work. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/11 "2005-11-19T08:07:28Z")
I once couldn’t use my cordless phone for most of the day because every time I picked it up I heard other people having a conversation and I couldn’t call anyone. Now what was up with THAT? :\ ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/12 "2005-11-19T08:15:38Z")
> [@csharpmajor](#): > > I once couldn’t use my cordless phone for most of the day because every time I picked it up I heard other people having a conversation and I couldn’t call anyone. Now what was up with THAT? :\ It must have been picking up another phone’s frequency. It used to happen fairly often when the cordless technology was newer. I THINK they’ve managed to just about eliminate the problem by using more sensitive receivers. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/13 "2005-11-19T13:39:02Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Yeah, the caller has to hang up for the circuit to be broken. I remember once when I was about five or six,… Damn, this is a creepy story, evocatively told. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/14 "2005-11-19T14:57:06Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Yeah, the caller has to hang up for the circuit to be broken. I remember once when I was about five or six, my dad went away overnight to a hunting camp. Someone called early in the evening, but there was no one on the line and all my mom could hear was highway noises, like the call was made on a payphone next to a busy road. Nothing we did could hang the phone up. She was scared to death, at first because she thought it might be my dad, like he was accidentally shot and just managed to get to a phone and dial before he passed out. Then because she thought it might be someone who knew Dad was away and deliberately tied the phone up so we couldn’t call out. She spent the night in her bedroom, in the rocking chair, with both of us on her lap, and an unloaded shotgun she wouldn’t have known how to shoot even if it had cartridges, just in case it WAS someone looking to keep a young woman and a couple of kids incommunicado while they did their dirty work. You should script that and make it a short story, I agree with **twickster** - that is one creepy story. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/15 "2005-11-19T15:01:34Z")
Yup that’s me. Downtown this weekend for the big school conference - administrators, vendors, and board members from all over the state. First time I ever came to this I was all business, attending meetings and such. Now it’s a party, nothing else. I woke up this morning and told the wife to ask me how much beer I drank. She asked. I said “ALL OF IT” and started giggling. I might actually even still be kind of buzzed. Time to shower, get some breakfast and pick up free shit on the exhibit floor before the Shopping Fest on Michigan Avenue, then I believe a quick nap before it all begins again. Yes moms and dads, this is what your public school officials do each third weekend in November. We’re just like you deep down. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/16 "2005-11-19T15:08:28Z")
> [@Mr Bus Guy](#): > > So? I’m really hungover, ok? That would explain why you’re posting this in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/17 "2005-11-19T15:10:05Z")
Holy shit, that was supposed to be a new thread, yup. Coffee. Now. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/18 "2005-11-19T15:56:52Z")
The phone system _should_ terminate the connection when either end hangs up. By design there is no way for somebody to monopolize your line with an incoming call. Having said that, sometimes the computer glitches (“failure of supervision” in the jargon) and your line remains occupied until the incoming caller hangs up. There are a number of practical challenges to making this work well every time, and even a .005% failure rate is a lot of jammed lines. IIRC there is a legal requirement (at least in the USA) that outgoing commerical dialing systems must be built to detect (as best they can) a hangup at the other end and terminate their connection as well. Typically that doesn’t work real well; they’re relying on the intermediate telephone infrastructure to give the hangup signal, and that’s the part that dropped the ball. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/19 "2005-11-19T16:10:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The phone system _should_ terminate the connection when either end hangs up. By design there is no way for somebody to monopolize your line with an incoming call. > > Having said that, sometimes the computer glitches (“failure of supervision” in the jargon) and your line remains occupied until the incoming caller hangs up. Surely there’s more than a glitch. It happens to me almost daily, and every time The Insurance Brotherhood of America calls. I always disconnect the phone and it goes away, but just hanging up never works. It also happens when I get this call that says “Please hold for a very important message”. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744/20 "2005-11-19T21:58:40Z")
**Rushgeekgirl** , you should report that to your phone company so they can look into it and maybe those people will get prosecuted or at the least, made to stop doing that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-off-my-phone-get-off-my-phoooone/331744.md?page=2)