# How many phone rings until you give up?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-phone-rings-until-you-give-up/496589>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 15, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-phone-rings-until-you-give-up/496589 "2009-05-15T23:22:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-phone-rings-until-you-give-up/496589/21 "2009-05-16T21:50:14Z")

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> [@Hari\_Seldon](#):
>
> Decades ago, the phone company suggested 10. But most people didn’t have any extension phones and the phone was typically in the kitchen or hall.

Yep, that’s me (except the current house doesn’t have a hall, so it’s in the front room). Never lived in a house with more than one fixed phone, AFAICR.

So, um, does that make me really wierd by doper standards?

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**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-phone-rings-until-you-give-up/496589/22 "2009-05-16T22:24:58Z")

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Depends on if I know they’re home or not. I’ve waited for about 5 minutes for a friend to pickup.

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**Author:** ![Sine\_Nomine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sine_nomine/32/513_2.png) [@Sine\_Nomine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sine_Nomine)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-phone-rings-until-you-give-up/496589/23 "2009-05-16T23:38:39Z")

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I’m so used to voicemail kicking in that I don’t even pay attention to how many go by at first. All of a sudden I’ll think, “Hmm, it’s been ringing for awhile, hasn’t it? Should I wait for voicemail? Maybe they don’t have voicemail. If I hang up, should I call back? When should I call back?..”

… and so on. I could easily see inattentiveness and indecision leading me to let it ring 15 times.

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**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-phone-rings-until-you-give-up/496589/24 "2009-05-17T15:27:38Z")

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Five. Voicemail kicks in at four; if they haven’t answered it by then, they won’t/can’t answer it.

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