[sdiy] [Way OT] Distinctive ring

[Roy J. Tellason]

For "way OT",  I've established this yahoo group,  "for things that don't seem 
to fit well elsewhere":

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roys-tech-chat/

Stop on by and join us if you like.

On Wednesday 02 January 2008 14:55, Dave Manley wrote:
> mrmike wrote:
> > Sorry for the vary off-topic post, but is anyone here familiar with
> > distinctive ring for telephones? This feature allows a single incoming
> > phone line to be addressed by multiple phone numbers, each with its own
> > ringtone.  I'm trying to figure out how to DIY a device that will
> > recognize and filter the rings.
> >
> > Well, it's analog, and DIY anyway...

I remember at one time thinking that this would be pretty nifty to have,  only 
to find that the phone company didn't offer it.  I suspect that it's offered 
in areas where the demand for additional lines is far greater than the supply 
of them,  and I also suspect that cell phones have cut into that in a big 
way.

> Modern phones use Caller ID for distinctive ringing. The calling phone
> number is sent between the ring bursts at the start of the call.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caller_id

Yup,  if you're paying the phone company not to suppress those in the link 
between them and you -- they do travel the whole rest of the connection.  
I've always had this aversion to paying the phone company to not do stuff...

> P.S. Further off topic - in the old days of party lines the mechanical
> ringers were resonant tuned to different frequencies.  Google decimonic
> or harmonic ringer.  The central office could then ring the phone in
> different houses by changing the ringing frequency.

Coming out of NYC,  after some months and then getting into an apartment,  I 
was surprised when I called to get a phone hooked up to be asked if I was 
okay with a party line,  or wanted a private one.  I lived in a small 
(8-unit) apartment building at the time!  This was in 1978...

-- 
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space,  a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed.  --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James 
M Dakin