Quote:
Originally Posted by Hermitcrab
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard_FM
I remember the phone books used to have a guide to international dialling, with descriptions of what tones to expect to here & other useful information like regional dialling codes, time differences & different working weeks.
Also my Dad had a diary with a list of international dialling codes before they were standardised, with a note symbol if you needed to hear a tone before completing the number.
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The phone book did used to have a comprehensive listing of international dialling codes including the type of ringing/engaged tones in use etc for each country. However, this seemed slightly unnecessary as I think anyone can tell when a phone is ringing out or not even if the ring is different e.g. a single ringtone (instead of double ringtone as the UK uses).
Also countries change their tones also sometimes e.g. Cyprus used to have a double ringtone in the 1970s certainly, and now has a single ringtone.
And with the advent of mobile telephony I have found you can receive different tones, e.g. when ringing my brother's mobile which is a Germany number starting with 0049 I have sometimes received the British type double ring instead of the German style ringing tone. |
I presume the different tones were mentioned so callers wouldn't get confused by hearing something different.
At one time there were only so many international lines, & the operator would tell you to try calling again later.
I can remember one of my French textbooks mentioning this, which was a few years old & probably no longer relevant.