Weird telephone mystery

[Dale]

Maybe somebody here knows something about telephones. The old-fashioned wired land-line varieties. Because we have some weird deal happening at the Home of the Undisputed.

Several years ago, I had two telephone lines in my house. Several rooms in my home had a double jack. You know, plug the phone into the top jack and you're on line 1, into the bottom jack you're on line 2.

Then, we no longer had any use for the second line (and 2nd phone number), so I called and had the 2nd line disconnected. That was, I dunno, five years ago.

So, tonight my wife is on the phone and says, hey, Dale, Sarah wants to talk to you. The telephone in the room I was in had been unplugged. So, I plugged it in, but accidentally plugged it into the supposedly dead jack--the one that used to have the 2nd line. Much to my surprise, there's a dial tone.

Hm, I think. Surely the folks at BellSouth haven't been charging me for our 2nd line all these years. (I have a tendency not to read my phone bill carefully.) I use the newly discovered line 2 to call line 1 and up on the caller ID comes a number we've never had before and the caller ID identifies the caller as "Pittman Constr." Pittman Construction Company. We get out the phone book and, sure enough, there's a Pittman Construction Company in Birmingham and the number in the book is the same as the number on this line. Their office is across town.

So, my question is: Oh, my goodness! What in the world??

Dale



Phone Studies by Dale Wisely

[djm]

Definitely a connected line if you get dial tone and can call out on it. You could contact your telco and make sure you are not being charged, and that they do a more thorough job of disconnecting the 2nd line.

djm

[Denny]

So, my question is: Oh, my goodness! What in the world??

SNAFU (mil speak for opps)

just a wee wiring error.

[Doug_Tipple]

Squirrels in the attic again, is my guess. They like to chew on telephone wiring. I have a conspiracy theory that has to do with insider switching at the telephone company, getting a kickback for passing on commericial fees to unsuspecting residential customers. The general chaos theory probably explains it better, though.

[Chiffed]

So, my question is: Oh, my goodness! What in the world??

SNAFU (mil speak for opps)

just a wee wiring error.

There's a sliding scale for this stuff:

SNAFU (situation normal, all $%^&ed up)

FUBAR ($%^&ed up beyond all recognition)

CLUSTER$%^& (self-explanitory and only as graphic as your mind is warped)

Quite simply, this may be a low-grade SNAFU. Utilities don't actually lose much if they forget to unhook you or botch it up, so there's no great benefit to dilligence on their part.

[Jack]

Why does the adjective (normal) come after the noun (situation)? Was the term borrowed directly from French?

[Cynth]

Squirrels in the attic again, is my guess. They like to chew on telephone wiring. I have a conspiracy theory that has to do with insider switching at the telephone company, getting a kickback for passing on commericial fees to unsuspecting residential customers. The general chaos theory probably explains it better, though.

Doug, I think you are right on there with the conspiracy theory but why limit it to the local telephone company? Obviously the construction company is involved as well. I would say it is a bit naif on your part not to consider the global aspects of the communications industry in addition to the well-known multinational wheelings and dealings of the construction industry. This is undoubtedly just the tip of a very large iceberg. If I were Dale, I would keep quiet about the whole thing.

[MarkB]

I think it is the dreaded "press zero" button for talking to a live customer service rep for the construction company. You know the one, you call a company and press all the numbers to get to were you want to go and then the dreaded zero button....nothing happens, just a dial tone, which is your place.

I suggest you unplug your phone and back away!

MakrB

[Dale]

You dudes are so missing the point. This mystery 2nd line in my house is NOT the same phone number we had before. It's the current, working phone number of a construction company. That's bizarro.

[Denny]

nope...

Your unused line has gotten switched into the other number.

It's more of a wonder that they get it right as often as they do!

Call repair and explain the issue.

Don't panic...

[Tyler]

Hell, you could always just leave the line where it is and use it to make crank calls!

[TomB]

Why does the adjective (normal) come after the noun (situation)? Was the term borrowed directly from French?

My guess is because NSAFU doesn't roll off the tongue as easily as SNAFU!


Tom

[izzarina]

That's bizarro.

No...this is Bizarro:




Sorry, Dale. I really have no help for you. Although my dad is a phone guy (he's worked for the phone company for almost 40 years now, I think). He might know something. I'll ask.

[Dale]

Hell, you could always just leave the line where it is and use it to make crank calls!

Don't think it didn't occur to me.

[fearfaoin]

Dale, have you tried calling the construction co. from line 1 to see if
line 2 rings, or if the company answers? That company's probably
wondering why noone ever calls...

When they switched off your second line, all they did was invoke a
software routine at the Central Office (which handles all the switching
in the area). This routine would cause the machines that route calls to
ignore your line. Seldom does the phone company physically
disconnect anything anymore. Obviously, there is a software problem
which has caused the switching computers to route your line the same
as the construction company's line. It's a bug, not a poltergeist...