Number that makes your phone ring?

[kiesterfeaster]

Back in the 80's I remember using a number that you dialed, you hung up and it made the phone ring.  Sometimes it wouldn't stop ringing.   I think it was 200-XXX-XXXX (I think you could use any variation of 3,6, or 9 and it would work, like 200-333-3333 or 200-369-3693 or 200-393-3969 or.....well, you get the idea).  Maybe it was a south Florida thing?  Is there any equivalent these days?   It would be fun to drive my partner crazy with it!

I'm really enjoying the forum, the website, notla.com and the youtube channels.  I found the PLA by accident from doing as web search for something unrelated and have been sucked into this world since Thursday night. I'm more of a pranker than a hacker...actually I'm not a hacker at all.  Alot of this stuff is over my head but it's good to expand your horizons! 

[chriskraus]

Yeah, You're talking about a ringback number.
According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ringback_number&oldid=514083464), *5505 might do it.
But since you mentioned So. Florida, they said 305-780-6095 for Miami.
Now I have to go try some numbers.
You will start to see how this accidental hobby starts to consume your time - welcome.

[chriskraus]

After some testing, None of those numbers work.
Call 847-765-1008, it will recite your phone#, hang up, and it will call you back.

[rbcp]

I lived in Illinois Bell territory in the 80's and our ringbacks were 571 and then the last 4 digits of your number, but that was only for our prefix.  Other prefixes had a different 3 digits to dial, like 574, 576, 579.  You hung up, picked up, then hung up again and it would ring forever.  It was a free call from pay phones too, so I would always make pay phones ring.

In the 90's, a small town I lived in (GTE was the phone company) all you had to do to make your own phone ring was dial your own phone number and then hang up.  I don't think I ever tried it from a pay phone there though.

Welcome to PLA.  I look forward to meeting you when you reach the 11th inner ring.

[ravenmaddox]

In 80's and 90's Mississippi, South Central Bell territory, you would dial 77x-xxxx, the x's being the rest of your phone number, then flash hook, you'd hear a solid tone, then hang up. After a moment your phone would ring. If you answered you would hear a short repeating tone where you could flash hook again for a solid tone, hang up, and the phone would ring again.

I amused myself hours with this...

[Arox!]

I remember back in 1998 there was a pretty cool test number that was that had a ring back feature as well, it was called the "proctor test set"

I can't find any good information about it online except for that there was a certain outdated switch it worked with. 

[kiesterfeaster]

Thanks for the welcomes and cool stories.   I've been playing around with some numbers...really takes me back. 

[xhausted110]

I remember back in 1998 there was a pretty cool test number that was that had a ring back feature as well, it was called the "proctor test set"

I can't find any good information about it online except for that there was a certain outdated switch it worked with.

here is a proctor test set. recorded in summer 2012: https://soundcloud.com/xhausted110/proctor-test-set