telephone question

[zahc]

When I call someone in the modern world and hear the ringing sounds, what am I actually hearing? A sound generated by my own phone based on some signal that confirms a call attempt is being made? A sound generated by their phone? A sound generated by the telephone company?

I seem to remember than in POTS there is a ring signal that comes over the line when someone is calling you and physically runs the ringer on your phone. Does that mean the person calling you actually hears the ringer of your phone? Can't be;no audio should be audible until you pick up.  So what do they hear?

How does the answer change in the following scenarios:

1 cell phone calling cell phone
2 cell phone calling landline
3 landline calling cell phone
4 landline calling landline

[Brad Johnson]

Audio tone to keep the caller engaged. No more.  The system is generating a familiar noise to let you know something is going on, but it could be anything from a ring tone to a bird chirping.

Brad

[RoadKingLarry]

In any case the initiating phone gets connected to a central office (CO) switch either by copper loop as in POTS or by way of the cell tower to a carrier to the CO switch. the CO switch on the calling end recieves the digits dialed and translates that to determine how to connect to the receiving phone.
The area code and 3 digit prefix tells the switch where it needs to "send" the call. Either to a conventional CO or to a cell network CO identified by the prefix as to which carrier it is. Remember that your cell phone is routinely handshaking with the cell network to let it know where your at.
The signals you here on the calling end originate at the CO you are connected to, that includes ringing, busy signal and reorder tone as well as recorded announcements like "The number you have reached is no longer in service".
The destination switch signals back to the origination switch telling it if the line is busy or if it is ringing through.


Fairly basic description-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loop_start

[RoadKingLarry]

Audio tone to keep the caller engaged. No more.  The system is generating a familiar noise to let you know something is going on, but it could be anything from a ring tone to a bird chirping.

Brad

IIRC the European ringing signal the caller heard was just a tone.


About a dozen years ago I was installing what was then new IP based PBX systems. One of the early problems we had was that the calls were too quiet. If no one was talking the other end would think they had been disconnected. The manufacturer inserted a very low level of white noise to keep customers happy.

[Perd Hapley]

1 cell phone calling cell phone
2 cell phone calling landline
3 landline calling cell phone
4 landline calling landline

5 pot calling the kettle black

[RoadKingLarry]

Almost forgot this important feature

[KD5NRH]

1 cell phone calling cell phone
2 cell phone calling landline
3 landline calling cell phone
4 landline calling landline

"Smart" phone calling anything:  the first several seconds of sound are generated by the user cussing at how long it's taking to even really try to make the damn call.

[Tallpine]

Almost forgot this important feature

I remember her.  My mom thought she was a riot 

[Boomhauer]

"Smart" phone calling anything:  the first several seconds of sound are generated by the user cussing at how long it's taking to even really try to make the damn call.

And at the end when you are trying to hang up and the *expletive deleted*ing phone won't respond to you hitting the end button...

[Sergeant Bob]

IIRC the European ringing signal the caller heard was just a tone.

It's the same in Panama, a tone instead of a "ringing" noise.

[KD5NRH]

And at the end when you are trying to hang up and the *expletive deleted* phone won't respond to you hitting the end button...

Don't forget even more fun; since it didn't respond the first time you hit send, you poked it 2-3 more times, and when it finally does hang up, it tries to call back right away from the extra send commands it queued while you were trying to make the first call.

[K Frame]

Ring tone?

Those are the screams of millions of disembodied souls caught in the magnetic flux created by the lines.

[griz]

Try calling a phone close enough that you can hear it ringing.  You might hear three or more "rings" before the phone you're calling actually rings.

[zahc]

So we have established that the ringing sound you hear when you call someone is fake,  even for old phones.  So, did the have banks of tape recorders available to pplay back the ringing sounds for the callers?

If I call a cell phone and its off, I will hear no ringing sound.  If I call a landline that is unplugged, do I hear a ringing sound?

[Scout26]

IIRC the European ringing signal the caller heard was just a tone.

When I was in Germany, some people thought it was the busy signal and hang up.

[grampster]

Ummmm, you have too much time on your hands.  Get a job!!

[RoadKingLarry]

So we have established that the ringing sound you hear when you call someone is fake,  even for old phones.  So, did the have banks of tape recorders available to pplay back the ringing sounds for the callers?

If I call a cell phone and its off, I will hear no ringing sound.  If I call a landline that is unplugged, do I hear a ringing sound?

The ringing tone the caller hears is a signal based on a 20hz tone, pretty much unchanged since we went to automated dialing. And yes if you call a land line that is unpluged at the phone set the network will see an open loop/on hook condition and return a ringing signal back tot he calling station.