Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site olivee.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!lll-crg!ucdavis!ucbvax!decvax!decwrl!Glacier!oliveb!olivee!gnome From: gnome@olivee.UUCP (Gary Traveis) Newsgroups: net.consumers Subject: Re: Phone-line-grabbing junk callers (release time) Message-ID: <437@olivee.UUCP> Date: Wed, 6-Nov-85 17:40:00 EST Article-I.D.: olivee.437 Posted: Wed Nov 6 17:40:00 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 9-Nov-85 07:02:48 EST References: <29f04efc.a51@apollo.uucp> Organization: Olivetti ATC; Cupertino, Ca Lines: 23 > From (Mark Rosenthal @ Adaptive Optics Assoc., Cambridge, Mass. USA) > > These machines are especially obnoxious since they refuse to release your > > phone line until they are done with you... > > This practice is not only obnoxious, but also potentially dangerous. One night, > I got such a "junk" call during my Girl Scout meeting. The recorded caller > did not relinquish my phone line for over six minutes. (I timed it.) I had > nineteen kids in the house. What if I had to call the paramedics or the fire > department? Six minutes can be a LONG time in an emergency. > > w. christensen If you live in an area that has relatively modern central-office equipment, all you have to do is leave your phone on the hook for over 15 seconds and the calling party will get disconnected from your line. This applies to all CO's other than step-by-step, which are very old and cannot accept Touch-Tone phones (one way of telling). The other way of telling is to call a friend and have 'em hang up for 15-18 seconds. None the less, those machines do suck. Gary