Truck Backing Up Beep and "We're Sorry" Beep

Is the first tone of the “We’re Sorry, that number is not longer in service” three-tone beep also the same tone as the truck-backing-up beep, specifically that of a dumptruck?

It seems that they are the same general note but might be some hertzes off each other.

What you need to do is start backing up one of those trucks yourself while you’re on your cel phone calling an inactive number, and then you can solve this mystery for the rest of us. It probably couldn’t hurt if you were also eating a sandwich at the same time.

A liitle more seriously, I’m going to go out on a limb and say they are NOT the same note.

I don’t know, but the notes on the DC Metro are the first two notes of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.

Speaking of which, the air conditioning in the main UCF admin building used to make notes like the beginning of the first movement of Beethoven’s 9th when starting up.

They don’t sound the same to me. I think the truck back up tone is higher.

The normal one, yes, but there is a dumptruck that uses a distinctly lower tone. Perhaps all trucks use a different tone, in which case that invalidates the theory right there.

The lady on the “We’re sorry” message seems to have been on there for a very long time. Yep, just dialed a 555 number and she’s still on there, but the quality of the clip has really degraded.

FWIW, the 3 beep tone is the Special Information Tone. The first tone is 900-950 Hz.

The first tone in the three-tone sequence you hear on the phone is B-flat(approximately), whereas most trucks with backup beepers I have heard are in the key of D.

wow, the Dope strikes again, now I know the frequency of the first Information tone…thanks!

That lady would be Jane Barbe. She first started recording messages for the phone company in the 70s.

ETA: I just read the entire article, and was actually saddened to learn she died a few years ago.