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Don't Pick Up: Missed calls in India

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Re: Don't Pick Up: Missed calls in India

#51

Post by aembleton »

When I was a teenager in the 90s in the UK, if I wanted my parents to collect me from somewhere then I could let them know by calling the operator from a payphone and asking for a reverse charge to my parents landline. Calls to the operator were free but reverse charged calls cost a lot to those who accepted them.

When asked for my name I would usually use my first name and use my last name as the place to pick me up from. If that gave them enough information then they could reject the call, which would cost them nothing.

Re: Don't Pick Up: Missed calls in India

#52

Post by avinoth »

Some memories with those time. We used missed calls for varying reasons depending on the people we interact with.

* When going to meet someone, first missed calls says you've started, then the second missed calls says you've reached. This will be informed before hand while scheduling the meet.

* You're supposed to reject when you're expecting a mutually agreed missed call, and if the call comes the 2nd time immediately, then you should pick up.

* During meets, there usually is one organizer who everyone gives missed call to update their status and they'll follow-up with another missed call to those who didn't update. I know it sounds complicated, but it surprisingly isn't.

* Before mobile, landline was pretty common and caller IDs were almost non-existent, missed calls with a pattern are the way to denote that its you that's calling to make sure her parents does not pick up the phone :). One ring, then two rings, and she should be near the phone for the next call to pick (you hope and pray its not her dad, again.) and pretend to talk with a friend.

Re: Don't Pick Up: Missed calls in India

#53

Post by karimmaassen »

aembleton wrote: post #51

When I was a teenager in the 90s in the UK, if I wanted my parents to collect me from somewhere then I could let them know by calling the operator from a payphone and asking for a reverse charge to my parents landline. Calls to the operator were free but reverse charged calls cost a lot to those who accepted them. When asked for my name I would usually use my first name and use my last name as the place to pick me up…

"John Starbucks at Mainstreet"

Re: Don't Pick Up: Missed calls in India

#54

Post by kwent »

numlock86 wrote: post #42
kstenerud wrote: post #33

I wrote a "ring knocking" tool back in my college days so that I could connect to my Linux box at home from the labs at school since I was on dial-up. I'd go to the payphone, put in a quarter, call my line and let it ring the requisite number of times, hang up, get my quarter back, then go to the lab and check my school email account. The ringconnectd daemon would detect the rings, wait a few seconds, connect to my I…

I tried to do something similar not too long ago. Different application really, but I wanted to do something on the other end depending on how often it rang. Sadly I discovered that apparently in all-digital "modern" phone networks (SIP, VoIP etc.) the ringing tone you hear as a caller is simply ingested by your network operator and the tone you hear as the one getting called is basically just some audio file that pl…

This is also true with silences. When we switched from analogue phone calls to digital phone calls in the 90's, SIP began to ingest white noise during silences due to discomfort perceived by the users thinking they got hung up or the network has been disconnected.

Re: Don't Pick Up: Missed calls in India

#56

Post by B1FF_PSUVM »

numlock86 wrote: post #42
kstenerud wrote: post #33

I wrote a "ring knocking" tool back in my college days so that I could connect to my Linux box at home from the labs at school since I was on dial-up. I'd go to the payphone, put in a quarter, call my line and let it ring the requisite number of times, hang up, get my quarter back, then go to the lab and check my school email account. The ringconnectd daemon would detect the rings, wait a few seconds, connect to my I…

I tried to do something similar not too long ago. Different application really, but I wanted to do something on the other end depending on how often it rang. Sadly I discovered that apparently in all-digital "modern" phone networks (SIP, VoIP etc.) the ringing tone you hear as a caller is simply ingested by your network operator and the tone you hear as the one getting called is basically just some audio file that pl…

> simply ingested by your network operator

That's an amusing typo - I suppose that should be 'injected', but Pac-Man pops to mind ...

Re: Don't Pick Up: Missed calls in India

#57

Post by punnerud »

TL;DR

Before smartphones, apps and easy access to Internet in India, SMS and calls did cost a lot of money. To lower the barriers for response to billboard ads customer would call a hotline, the phone would ring twice and automatically disconnect, and the system would reply within seconds with dynamic content, through a call or texts.

Re: Don't Pick Up: Missed calls in India

#58

Post by jedberg »

My grandma did this back in the 80s here in the US. Back then if you wanted to call someone more than about 10 miles away, it cost money. She lived in downtown LA and we were in a suburb, so it was a toll call.

If she wanted to talk to us, she would call and hang up after one ring. That was our signal to call her. There was no call-ID at the time, so we had to guess if it was her. It still cost us money to call, but she was fine with that!

Re: Don't Pick Up: Missed calls in India

#59

Post by jedberg »

aembleton wrote: post #51

When I was a teenager in the 90s in the UK, if I wanted my parents to collect me from somewhere then I could let them know by calling the operator from a payphone and asking for a reverse charge to my parents landline. Calls to the operator were free but reverse charged calls cost a lot to those who accepted them. When asked for my name I would usually use my first name and use my last name as the place to pick me up…

When I went to sleep away camp one summer when I was 11, it required me to take an airplane by myself. To let my parents know I had arrived, they told me to call collect, use my regular name, and they would reject the call.

If it was an actual emergency, I was to immediately call back again and then they would accept the call. It was a great way to get free messages.

Re: Don't Pick Up: Missed calls in India

#60

Post by climb_stealth »

aembleton wrote: post #51

When I was a teenager in the 90s in the UK, if I wanted my parents to collect me from somewhere then I could let them know by calling the operator from a payphone and asking for a reverse charge to my parents landline. Calls to the operator were free but reverse charged calls cost a lot to those who accepted them. When asked for my name I would usually use my first name and use my last name as the place to pick me up…

Out of curiosity, how did you know whether they got the call or not? Or would the operator tell you that it was rejected?
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