Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!ll-xn!mit-eddie!bloom-beacon!NADC.ARPA!prindle
From: prindle@NADC.ARPA (Frank Prindle)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Continuously ringing telephone (on VHF)
Message-ID: <8805111234.AA29347@NADC.ARPA>
Date: 11 May 88 12:34:09 GMT
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Approved: telecom@xx.lcs.mit.edu

Ten or eleven channels on VHF would appear to be the old (pre-cellular days)
mobile phone system.  I ran into this many years ago with a home-brew VHF
set (vacuum tubes no less!).  If you would call a mobile number (they all had
the same exchange), the call would be signalled out through the lowest
unused channel (presumably the remote was scanning or listening on the lowest
unoccupied channel too).  Because so few channels were available, and had to
cover a very large area (i.e. all of Philadelphia and it's suburbs), subscribers
had to be severely limited and prices per unit of time were very high.  The
land-line signal was very strong because of the wide area coverage required.

I've wondered what became of this service now that cellular is the standard.
The constant ringing sounds like a remote tried to place a call to a land-line
and it never answered; perhaps this is just a test signal generated by the
mobile-phone company so the FCC won't take away their license or reassign
those channels; perhaps they still have some customers?

Frank Prindle
Prindle@NADC.arpa