So I’ve recently encountered a very strange phenomenon. I had a land line and a cell phone, and decided to disconnect the land line in order to go full-cell. The disconnect seems to have worked, since when I call my old land line number I get a message that the number has been disconnected and my new number is blah blah blah, all as it should be.
But here’s the really weird part. Out of sheer laziness I didn’t disconnect the physical phone / answering machine unit when the phone company terminated service. And since then (a couple days ago), I’ve received 2 messages for different people on the phone’s answering machine. One was a very brief voice message and the other was an automated call that seemed to be from a debt collector.
If I pick up the phone, there is a dial tone, but if I try to call another number (like my cell or even the previously disconnected number) it just rings off the hook but doesn’t actually connect, or cause the phone to ring. How can I still be receiving messages on this phone? I live in an apartment complex… am I somehow receiving calls intended for a neighbor? I will disconnect the phone of course, but I’m really curious as to why this is happening.