According to the internet search engine Google...
The older telephone exchanges were much more prone to mis-routing calls than the modern digital systems, so answering with your telephone number would avoid a wrong number conversation.
We should also note that 'party lines' were very common years ago. These were literally shared telephone lines where two or more neighbours were connected to the same telephone line. Each would have a different number and calls were routed to the correct party at first by the operator sending a coded ring (short bursts for Party A and long bursts fior Party B). This was replaced by special equipment positioned just prior to the junction which could differentiate between ringing signals.
Users of Party lines could listen in on each other's telephone conversations by simply lifting the reciever.
Posted By: Vivid Data Shark on July 10th 2014 at 13:50:14
Message Thread
- "Reepham 875" said with rising intonation towards the end. (General Chat) - malkybarkid, Jul 10, 13:39:18
- Yeah, but mine had six digits. (General Chat) - Garry Brooke, Jul 10, 14:18:38
- According to the internet search engine Google... (General Chat) - Vivid Data Shark, Jul 10, 13:50:14
- Crossed lines can be ordered if required (n/m) (General Chat) - strap_on sally, Jul 10, 13:48:47
- "A-hoy-hoy" (n/m) (General Chat) - Arizona Bay, Jul 10, 13:46:16
- Yes (General Chat) - Tricky Hawes, Jul 10, 13:44:16
- They used to have shared lines too, say with a neighbour. (General Chat) - CB41, Jul 10, 13:42:30
- I used to do that (General Chat) - duke of york, Jul 10, 13:40:26
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