GHOST IN THE MACHINE?

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

Phone tech is to be here today with diagnostic equipment and a vast amount of experience.

I hope.

Y'see (pardon me while I scratch my thinning thatch ... I'm less insulated atop my skull, to put it politely, and I'm afraid if I scratch too much it'll wear off what little hair remains!)

Just shy of midnight a polite young deputy beat on my door and allowed as a 911 hangup call came from my hacienda.

News to the wife and I.

I told him no, we'd been stacking Z's window sill deep and had to open the window to let them out so they wouldn't pile up and smother us.

Happened again, not long after midnight.

This time I invited him in, we disconnected the house phone and at his recommend, I called Dispatch on my cell and advised to disregard any further calls from here, we'd use the cell if there was a problem.

Twice this morning it happened again.

Last night before we unplugged the cordless phones, the line had a barely audible dial tone and an immense amount of crackle and hiss.

That hasn't changed.

I reset the computer router, made sure the laptop was actually turned off and not just close-the-lid-go-to-sleep.

As I'm prior law enforcement and past fire/paramedic, I have no patience with prank calls to 911: I was on the horn to Windstream the very first thing this morning and they said they'd be out, TODAY.

SO --

If you hear a muttering, a vague and distant snarl, or the sound of something being beat into little electronic fragments of silicone, plastic and shattered printed circuit boards, that will be me bringing terminal justice to whatever scoundrelly device we find is causing this mess!

Edited January 10 by Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

[Texas Joker]

I used to live in a house that the POTS lines were in an underground switch vault.  If it rained enough I could pick up the phone and hear 2 or 3 conversations from the water in the vault completing circuits that weren't supposed to be.

[Eyesa Horg]

Crosses of that nature aren't uncommon in underground facilities when they get wet and corroded. Those lines appear in numerous locations known as bridge tap. Could be someone in an apartment that just hooked a phone to your line! The fact you are now getting static on the line indicates a cross or corrosion somewhere. The easy fix is to put you on a different cable pair. Odd though that someone would hook up to your line just to pull 911 pranks.

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

Tech was out and found multiple faults in the local phone pedestal.
Cut the connections that were showing the problem, restored my signal to full clarity and thus far no more ghost dials.
Corrosion and cold, he said, bring out all the faults, problems, and corrosion-connection events.

Called Sheriff's Dispatch and advised Windstream said she's fixed, but if it recurs, please advise!

(Still haven't figured out how corroded connections with hash and static on the line can call 911!)

[Eyesa Horg]

9 minutes ago, Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103 said:

Still haven't figured out how corroded connections with hash and static on the line can call 911!)

As a 30 year  phone repair guy, I don't either unless it was crossed with somebody else that was making the calls. Once maybe, but multiple, I'm not buyin'. Once could be total coincidence by the line making and breaking the old days of rotary, if you were good, you could hit the switch hooks a bunch of times and get the operator, but it wasn't easy!!

Been retired from phone work for 20 years this June!

[Burt Blade, #25657]

The reason static on a plain old telephone service (POTS) line causes 911 response, is a mostly forgotten federal law.

 

POTS lines are both tone (beeps) and pulse (clicks). Static essentially is random pulses/clicks.

 

Federal Law on POTS service requires any "interrupted dial" of pulses to be interpreted as an attempt to call 911, a "911 hangup".

 

So if you get unexpected visits from a deputy, fire, etc, and they say it was a 911 call, and your line has static, no prankster required.

 

Spent years dealing with this at my employer, until we switched our POTS lines over to fiber delivered last mile, not copper.

 

Cable TV providers can often deliver POTS on unused/partially used cable TV bandwidth.

 

So now you know. And knowing is half the battle. (Grin)

 

 

[Stump Water]

25 minutes ago, Burt Blade, #25657 said:

POTS lines are both tone (beeps) and pulse (clicks).

 

Telcos stopped supporting pulse dialing years ago.  At least the requirement to did.

[Eyesa Horg]

1 hour ago, Burt Blade, #25657 said:

The reason static on a plain old telephone service (POTS) line causes 911 response, is a mostly forgotten federal law.

 

POTS lines are both tone (beeps) and pulse (clicks). Static essentially is random pulses/clicks.

 

Federal Law on POTS service requires any "interrupted dial" of pulses to be interpreted as an attempt to call 911, a "911 hangup".

 

So if you get unexpected visits from a deputy, fire, etc, and they say it was a 911 call, and your line has static, no prankster required.

 

Spent years dealing with this at my employer, until we switched our POTS lines over to fiber delivered last mile, not copper.

 

Cable TV providers can often deliver POTS on unused/partially used cable TV bandwidth.

 

So now you know. And knowing is half the battle. (Grin)

 

 

Thanks! I honestly have never heard about that 911 law. I learned something for sure!