# Your call gets dropped. Who calls back? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 20, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458 "2012-02-20T21:16:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/1 "2012-02-20T21:16:41Z")
I’m sure that we’ve all been merrily talking away on our phones when we realize that we are now talking to nobody. Who should call back? Poll coming. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/2 "2012-02-20T21:19:48Z")
The first person to figure out that it happened. ETA: In my experience, that is usually the person listening at the time. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/3 "2012-02-20T21:20:55Z")
The person who cares most about continuing the conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/4 "2012-02-20T21:32:23Z")
Both of us. Simultaneously. Repeatedly. Then we both give up. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/5 "2012-02-20T23:54:23Z")
Count me as ‘Other’ because it always seems to me there’s an unspoken feeling about who should call back. For a lot of times it’s “neither party call back” in the case where the conversation was almost over. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/6 "2012-02-21T00:06:39Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Both of us. Simultaneously. Repeatedly. Then we both give up. This. Except for a couple of weeks ago, I had a dropped call go like this: Me: Blah blah blah. Blah blah? Blah blah blah blah! Blah. Hold on, it’s the other line. Hello? Them: It’s me. The call dropped a long time ago. Me. Oh. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/7 "2012-02-21T00:15:08Z")
I usually will call back, since I make calls so rarely. And I don’t like people to think I might have hung up on them. Usually this will happen with me and my mom, because reception is spotty in her rural area. I’ll usually call her back right away, but we both call each other back right away. Since I have call waiting, I notice and pick up the second line. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/8 "2012-02-21T00:21:48Z")
You know how you meet a stranger in a doorway who is going the opposite way, so you do this dance where each of you dodges to the left and right a few times? Yeah, like that. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/9 "2012-02-21T03:01:18Z")
The person on whose end the fault occurred, if it’s known, since that person knows when the fault is fixed. Maybe one was going through a tunnel, or is in a backwoods place with poor reception, or their battery died. I find that these cases cover the majority of dropped calls. If it’s not obvious whose end the fault was on, then whoever first realizes that the call dropped should call back. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/10 "2012-02-21T03:05:50Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Both of us. Simultaneously. Repeatedly. Then we both give up. This. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/11 "2012-02-21T03:46:34Z")
Neither, unless one party still has something they need to say in which case that person calls back. If neither calls the other back, then the call was over anyway. I’ve had this crazy situation happen more than a few times: Call drops, takes me a second or two to realize it, I shrug my shoulders and put the phone down since I didn’t have much else to say anyway. Then the phone rings and it’s the other person. > [@](#): > > Him: what happened? > Me: I guess the call got dropped. > Him: oh, weird huh? > Me: Yeah. > Him: OK well, talk to you later. Oh yeah that callback was really necessary. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/12 "2012-02-21T04:52:48Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > The first person to figure out that it happened. > > ETA: In my experience, that is usually the person listening at the time. > [@DianaG](#): > > The person who cares most about continuing the conversation. > [@Eve](#): > > Both of us. Simultaneously. Repeatedly. Then we both give up. All of these. In other words, it just depends on the situation, not some rule based on who called who. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/13 "2012-02-21T04:59:18Z")
See this is why we need to start a new convention right now: If you made the call, then… If it unexpectedly terminates, you call back. You’re the one that wanted to talk in the first place. Our new slogan: “You make the call? You make the callback.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Universe_Lashes_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/14 "2012-02-21T05:15:23Z")
Whoever wants it more. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/15 "2012-02-21T05:21:21Z")
Other. I don’t think this is a situation that warrants rules. At least half the time, neither of us bother. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/16 "2012-02-21T11:09:53Z")
I never thought about it before. I think it does tend to be the person who has the initiative, either the person who made the call or the person speaking or the person who experienced the fault, but usually both. What really, really annoys me is if someone calls back immediately, but because the reception is still patchy for whatever reason, or because the other person’s phone is still reconnecting to the network, or because the other person has just dialed them, it goes to voicemail, and they spend five minutes saying “Oh hi! I guess your phone still isn’t working. You’re probably frantically calling me RIGHT NOW but rather than hang up so we can talk in person, I’ll let MY phone go to voicemail as well and spend five minutes trying to talk to your voicemail. It was nice talking to you, if we don’t get the call back I hope you have a nice week…” It’s a really nice gesture, but also, I’m sorry, my phone took two and a half seconds too long to reconnect, but I tried to reconnect immediately, can’t you just _wait_ and only leave a voicemail message if it’s clear the other person can’t ring you back? ---
**Author:** ![polar\_bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@polar\_bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/polar_bear)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/17 "2012-02-21T11:12:31Z")
Very easy, because of the simultanuous thing, I will wait a couple of minutes and then call back. Ninety percent of the time I get called back first - which means it wouldn’t have worked if I redialed immediately as well. Withe some people I never call back (that’s you sis), because they always call me from a train/bike/car and dropped calls always turn out to be because of a tunnel or some such. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/18 "2012-02-21T15:51:23Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > The person who cares most about continuing the conversation. Yes, but that’s almost always the person who made the call, in my experience. I.e., not me. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/19 "2012-02-21T20:45:19Z")
> [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](#): > > Whoever wants it more. Debatable. On one hand, you really want to talk to them for your own enjoyment. On the other hand, they want your $1.99/minute. I find that the latter party still never manages to call back. And I thought she loved me. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458/20 "2012-02-22T09:50:47Z")
It depends entirely on the person. Some people will call back right away so it’s best to let them. Others won’t, so I usually go ahead and call. Plus, there are some people who talk so much that they will take five minutes to figure it out, so obviously I call them back ASAP. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-call-gets-dropped-who-calls-back/613458.md?page=2)