[comp.misc] Phone Clamp-Down

mp1w+@andrew.cmu.edu.UUCP (08/15/87)

I was my impression that no phone could be kept connected by an outside
originated call for longer than about 30 seconds if it the called-to phone
was on hook.  An outgoing call from your phone *can* be disconnected if you
hit *your* switchhook for a few seconds, but the person you are talking to
has to hold their switchhook for 30 seconds to disconnect the call.

Besides the annoyance factor, isn't this a safety risk if you have to dial,
say, the fire department?  It would be very counter-intuative to leave the
phone on hook for a long time while waiting for a dial tone if it was a panic
situation.  Further, if you happened not to wait long enough, the 30-second
cycle would resume and the time you did let it sit on hook before would have
been wasted.

I think this topic has been covered on the internet RISKS group, but it would
have been a while back.

Marc Pawliger

Internet: mp1w+@andrew.cmu.edu
Usenet:   seismo!andrew.cmu.edu!mp1w+
Bitnet:   mp1w@cmuccvma

beede@hubcap.UUCP (Mike Beede) (08/16/87)

in article <AV9=vay00Vs3xS40Aj@andrew.cmu.edu), mp1w+@andrew.cmu.edu (Marc Russell Pawliger) says:
) 
) 
) I was my impression that no phone could be kept connected by an outside
) originated call for longer than about 30 seconds if it the called-to phone
) was on hook.  An outgoing call from your phone *can* be disconnected if you
) hit *your* switchhook for a few seconds, but the person you are talking to
) has to hold their switchhook for 30 seconds to disconnect the call.

According to a discussion in mod.telcom a while back, this is a feature
intended to make it possible for you to move to a different phone to carry on
a conversation.  I imagine that in this day of digital switches some code
could be arranged to allow nearly instant disconnect from the callee's end.
Someone, of course, would have to make it advantageous (read: raise hell).
-- 
Mike Beede                      
Computer Science Dept.          UUCP: . . . !hubcap!beede
Clemson University              INET: beede@hubcap.clemson.edu
Clemson SC 29634-1906           YOUR DIME: (803)656-{2845,3444}