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starman · May 18, 2007, 09:30 AM

In this day and age of call waiting and voice mail, do we hear busy signals anymore?

design219 · May 18, 2007, 09:36 AM

I hate call waiting. I have a client that is constantly saying "hang on while I get rid of this call" and puts me on hold while he has another conversation, or if I call and he is already on another call, I know he has someone else hanging.

But you are right, I haven't heard a busy singal in a long time.

Laminar · May 18, 2007, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by design219

I hate call waiting. I have a client that is constantly saying "hang on while I get rid of this call" and puts me on hold while he has another conversation, or if I call and he is already on another call, I know he has someone else hanging.

Next time he takes a call and makes you wait, hang up and call him back and make him take your call waiting, and act like nothing happened.

ort888 · May 18, 2007, 09:49 AM

You still get them occasionally. But it's usually some sort of network error.

My parents also do not have call waiting. They refuse to pay for it, even though my dad makes more money in a year then many professional athletes.

My parents are weird.

Dakarʒ · May 18, 2007, 09:52 AM

The last time I dialed someone as they were dialing.

zro · May 18, 2007, 09:54 AM

I **** you not, last night in a dream.

Dakarʒ · May 18, 2007, 09:55 AM

That's cheating

design219 · May 18, 2007, 09:56 AM

Originally Posted by Laminar

Next time he takes a call and makes you wait, hang up and call him back and make him take your call waiting, and act like nothing happened.

Damn, I should have thought of that.

Mac Write · May 18, 2007, 10:11 AM

Quite often. Last night, Sunday just off the top of my head. Not as many people as you think have Telco VM and call waiting.

GSixZero · May 18, 2007, 11:30 AM

I was thinking about this the other day. Everyone I know has a cell phone with call waiting. I haven't heard a busy signal in years.

mac128k-1984 · May 18, 2007, 12:00 PM

Yesterday
and I hate call waiting. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I think its rude to put someone on hold. we have call waiting on our phone. I see my wife using it all of the time, she'll put someone on hold because she's got another call. She starts talking and talking and forgets about the other person.

If people hate being put on hold for a tech support call or a business call why would they not hate having it done to them when calling a friend/family member.

edit: addition
I do what laminar does, I just hang up. I don't get angry or anything. I figure if they want to continue a conversation they'll call me back.

Dakarʒ · May 18, 2007, 12:02 PM

The way I use call waiting is I see who is calling. If it's important, I end the call I'm on. If it's not I ignore it.

Rare is the case when they're both important. If they are, chances are the calls are interrelated anyway.

design219 · May 18, 2007, 12:20 PM

Originally Posted by mac128k-1984

I do what laminar does, I just hang up. I don't get angry or anything. I figure if they want to continue a conversation they'll call me back.

The problem with that is, if they drop their new call because they want to talk to you, come back to you and you're gone, you look like a jerk.

andi*pandi · May 18, 2007, 12:43 PM

Originally Posted by Dakarʒ

The way I use call waiting is I see who is calling. If it's important, I end the call I'm on. If it's not I ignore it.

this is what I do.

Dakarʒ · May 18, 2007, 12:47 PM

How does it feel to be awesome like me?

mac128k-1984 · May 18, 2007, 12:58 PM

Originally Posted by design219

The problem with that is, if they drop their new call because they want to talk to you, come back to you and you're gone, you look like a jerk.

I don't see it that, I figure they'd realize they I got tired of listening to dead air and decided to hang up. I think the person coming off like a jerk would be the person who put me on hold and left me on hold

I generally don't hang up right off the bat, but after a minute or two.

design219 · May 18, 2007, 01:02 PM

I agree, being on hold for more than a minute is a waste. I thought he meant hanging up right away.

Dakarʒ · May 18, 2007, 01:05 PM

Those rare times I am on hold I put it on speakerphone and just meander.

SSharon · May 18, 2007, 01:34 PM

I follow the dakar-andi route and I see who is calling and end the current call if necessary. It is hard to ignore the call waiting though because every time it beeps at me the call I am on drops the audio for a split second.

Dakarʒ · May 18, 2007, 01:35 PM

High five!

TheoCryst · May 18, 2007, 06:53 PM

I do the speakerphone thing too. Makes it easier to wait longer without your ear going numb.

alligator · May 19, 2007, 08:05 AM

We don't have busy signals, just some lady who comes on the line and tells us for only $0.95 they can automatically keep trying the line and call us back.

I set up call waiting so I can get my wife, she's always on the phone and I can't ever get through when I'm at work.

osiris · May 19, 2007, 09:52 AM

I haven't heard a busy signal in years, not that I miss them.
The call waiting thing is sometimes great/sometimes rude, depending on which end of the call you're on. If on hold, I usually hang up after about 30 secs. Then to get back their attention, I have their residence leveled to the ground.

pheonixash · May 19, 2007, 03:45 PM

Originally Posted by ort888

You still get them occasionally. But it's usually some sort of network error.

My parents also do not have call waiting. They refuse to pay for it, even though my dad makes more money in a year then many professional athletes.

My parents are weird.

Ummm, you have to pay for call waiting? Wow, those operators really rip you guys off there!

indigoimac · May 19, 2007, 04:13 PM

I've made sure that I don't have call-waiting on the home phone, if you need to reach me, you'll have my cell phone number, otherwise, you can call back.

As for my cell phone, I just send everyone to voice mail, screw call waiting, I hate it, and I hate when people use it on me...

But yeah, I haven't heard a busy signal in ages.

Jim Paradise · May 19, 2007, 04:38 PM

Last weekend.

Angus_D · May 20, 2007, 05:35 AM

A lot of PAYG mobile users in the UK don't use voicemail because they have to pay to pick it up. If you don't get through, send a text (SMS).

Last time I heard a busy signal was probably due to an unusual collision where someone was in a call, someone else was already leaving them a voicemail, and so there was nowhere for my call to be diverted to.

Thorzdad · May 20, 2007, 09:10 AM

I get busy signals occasionally when calling landline phones, especially to homes. Of course, I also get that ad from the phoneco wanting me to use the callback service.

imitchellg5 · May 20, 2007, 10:16 AM

Yesterday.

LegendaryPinkOx · May 20, 2007, 11:47 AM

Thursday night

torsoboy · May 21, 2007, 12:50 AM

I hear it fairly frequently when I call home from work. I hate spending money for a phone so I have the cheapest plan possible; just the basic service with no whistles or bells. It costs me $10/month for the service and $11/month in taxes and fees... so $21 a month. We have a pay as you go cell phone that we load up with $100 once a year and we always end up with about half of it remaining. For long distance at home we use Skype (we have a cordless dualphone) and if we can't use skype for some reason the long distance carrier we use is some no-name company with no monthly fee that costs $.05/minute.

People spend WAY too much money on phone service I think.

Oisín · May 21, 2007, 06:31 AM

Originally Posted by starman

In this day and age of call waiting and voice mail, do we hear busy signals anymore?

Daily. We don’t generally have (or use, at least) call-waiting over here, so when you’re on the phone, you’re on the phone.