Eavesdropping by cellphone

I call a friend from my land line to his Cingular cellphone.
I let his phone ring once or twice, then hang up and he
calls back (no long distance charge for him). Occasionally
when I call, there will be no ring--a few seconds of silence,
then his voicemail kicks in. One time this happened and I
was about to hang up before getting his voicemail when I
heard him say something. I spoke back because I thought he'd
answered his phone, but then I get his voicemail. Upon
connecting on the next call, he tells me his phone had
rung several times and he had said something out loud to
himself before calling me back. That's what I heard. He
did not answer the phone at all, yet I heard what he said.
Can someone explain how this happened?

Cingular has since had him upgrade his phone and this has
not happened again (so far).

//Zino

---

› See More: Eavesdropping by cellphone

On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:19:53 -0400, Rae Almozino <[email protected]>
wrote in <[email protected]>:

>I call a friend from my land line to his Cingular cellphone.
>I let his phone ring once or twice, then hang up and he
>calls back (no long distance charge for him). Occasionally
>when I call, there will be no ring--a few seconds of silence,
>then his voicemail kicks in. One time this happened and I
>was about to hang up before getting his voicemail when I
>heard him say something. I spoke back because I thought he'd
>answered his phone, but then I get his voicemail. Upon
>connecting on the next call, he tells me his phone had
>rung several times and he had said something out loud to
>himself before calling me back. That's what I heard. He
>did not answer the phone at all, yet I heard what he said.
>Can someone explain how this happened?
>
>Cingular has since had him upgrade his phone and this has
>not happened again (so far).

Probably hit the voicemail timeout just as he answered, so you very
briefly had a connection before voicemail kicked in.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

In article <[email protected]>,
John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:19:53 -0400, Rae Almozino <[email protected]>
> wrote in <[email protected]>:
>
> >I call a friend from my land line to his Cingular cellphone.
> >I let his phone ring once or twice, then hang up and he
> >calls back (no long distance charge for him). Occasionally
> >when I call, there will be no ring--a few seconds of silence,
> >then his voicemail kicks in. One time this happened and I
> >was about to hang up before getting his voicemail when I
> >heard him say something. I spoke back because I thought he'd
> >answered his phone, but then I get his voicemail. Upon
> >connecting on the next call, he tells me his phone had
> >rung several times and he had said something out loud to
> >himself before calling me back. That's what I heard. He
> >did not answer the phone at all, yet I heard what he said.
> >Can someone explain how this happened?
> >
> >Cingular has since had him upgrade his phone and this has
> >not happened again (so far).
>
> Probably hit the voicemail timeout just as he answered, so you very
> briefly had a connection before voicemail kicked in.

Okay, except he did not answer. He never answers when I call. I just
let it ring once or twice as a signal for him to call me back, so I
can avoid long distance charges. On this particular occasion, he said
it rang 4 or 5 times, at which he commented--out loud, to himself--
about why I let it ring so long. He never touched the phone.

This "eavesdropping" happened once or twice more (with his old phone--
I'm guessing it was one of the old TDMA phones that Cingular is having
customers exchange for GSM models, which he has done recently). He
never said anything those times, but I could hear the muffled sounds
of his TV in the background. He can't tell when this happens because
at his end, the phone rings normally--just 4 or 5 time instead of the
usual once or twice on my calls; I can tell because I hear no rings
but can hear some background noises for a few seconds (I'd guess
however long 4 or 5 rings take) before getting the voicemail greeting.

It is a little disconcerting to think that someone might be able to
listen in on you (only for a few seconds) without you being aware of
it. I am wondering if others have experienced this and how it happens.

//Zino

Rae Almozino <[email protected]> wrote:

> It is a little disconcerting to think that someone might be able to
> listen in on you (only for a few seconds) without you being aware of
> it. I am wondering if others have experienced this and how it happens.

Yes, I have. Sometimes when I call a particular person, I hear background
audio from their end in between the rings.

This is in an area where the connections sometimes only provide one-way
audio. Either I can hear, or the other party can hear, but it's not
two-way.

I presume this has something to do with the poor signal quality, and
handoff between Cingular and a roaming network.

The one-way audio often happens with Cingular users from out of the area
calling my home phone. I can hear them, but they can't hear me.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5

dOn Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:05:01 -0400, Rae Almozino <[email protected]>
wrote in <[email protected]>:

>In article <[email protected]>,
> John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:19:53 -0400, Rae Almozino <[email protected]>
> > wrote in <[email protected]>:
> >
> > >I call a friend from my land line to his Cingular cellphone.
> > >I let his phone ring once or twice, then hang up and he
> > >calls back (no long distance charge for him). Occasionally
> > >when I call, there will be no ring--a few seconds of silence,
> > >then his voicemail kicks in. One time this happened and I
> > >was about to hang up before getting his voicemail when I
> > >heard him say something. I spoke back because I thought he'd
> > >answered his phone, but then I get his voicemail. Upon
> > >connecting on the next call, he tells me his phone had
> > >rung several times and he had said something out loud to
> > >himself before calling me back. That's what I heard. He
> > >did not answer the phone at all, yet I heard what he said.
> > >Can someone explain how this happened?
> > >
> > >Cingular has since had him upgrade his phone and this has
> > >not happened again (so far).
> >
> > Probably hit the voicemail timeout just as he answered, so you very
> > briefly had a connection before voicemail kicked in.
>
>Okay, except he did not answer. ...

He might have answered by accident (hit a button, dialing a call) or the
phone might have answered on its own due (to a firmware bug).

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

In article <[email protected]>, spamfilter0
@navasgroup.com says...
>
> He might have answered by accident (hit a button, dialing a call) or the
> phone might have answered on its own due (to a firmware bug).
>
>
Or not a bug--my phone can be set to auto-answer after a user-set number
of rings. I think every model I've owned had something similar although
some may not have let the user set the number of rings. If it answered
after the system had already started the transfer to voice mail...
--
Jud
Dallas TX USA

In article <[email protected]>,
John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:

> dOn Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:05:01 -0400, Rae Almozino <[email protected]>
> wrote in <[email protected]>:
>
> >In article <[email protected]>,
> > John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > > On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:19:53 -0400, Rae Almozino <[email protected]>
> > > wrote in <[email protected]>:
> > >
> > > >I call a friend from my land line to his Cingular cellphone.
> > > >I let his phone ring once or twice, then hang up and he
> > > >calls back (no long distance charge for him). Occasionally
> > > >when I call, there will be no ring--a few seconds of silence,
> > > >then his voicemail kicks in. One time this happened and I
> > > >was about to hang up before getting his voicemail when I
> > > >heard him say something. I spoke back because I thought he'd
> > > >answered his phone, but then I get his voicemail. Upon
> > > >connecting on the next call, he tells me his phone had
> > > >rung several times and he had said something out loud to
> > > >himself before calling me back. That's what I heard. He
> > > >did not answer the phone at all, yet I heard what he said.
> > > >Can someone explain how this happened?
> > > >
> > > >Cingular has since had him upgrade his phone and this has
> > > >not happened again (so far).
> > >
> > > Probably hit the voicemail timeout just as he answered, so you very
> > > briefly had a connection before voicemail kicked in.
> >
> >Okay, except he did not answer. ...
>
> He might have answered by accident (hit a button, dialing a call) or the
> phone might have answered on its own due (to a firmware bug).

Aha! He answered it accidentally using his telekinetic powers.
Awesome!

//Zino

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:

> Rae Almozino <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > It is a little disconcerting to think that someone might be able to
> > listen in on you (only for a few seconds) without you being aware of
> > it. I am wondering if others have experienced this and how it happens.
>
> Yes, I have. Sometimes when I call a particular person, I hear background
> audio from their end in between the rings.

Does it only happen with this one particular person?
I have not encountered this problem with anybody else,
Cingular or otherwise. And I'm assuming it *is* a cellular
issue, rather than anything to do with my phone, as I'm
using a land line.

> This is in an area where the connections sometimes only provide one-way
> audio. Either I can hear, or the other party can hear, but it's not
> two-way.
>
> I presume this has something to do with the poor signal quality, and
> handoff between Cingular and a roaming network.

Yes, my friend and I sometimes have bad connections, so this
sounds like a reasonable assumption to me, along with the
firmware bug suggestion by John Navas in another post in this
thread. Whatever causes it, it's strange and a little creepy.

> The one-way audio often happens with Cingular users from out of the area
> calling my home phone. I can hear them, but they can't hear me.

//Zino

Rae Almozino wrote:

> John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > He might have answered by accident (hit a button, dialing a call) or the
> > phone might have answered on its own due (to a firmware bug).
>
> Aha! He answered it accidentally using his telekinetic powers.
> Awesome!
>
> //Zino


Anybody know how much that feature costs?

--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

Rae Almozino wrote:
> Aha! He answered it accidentally using his telekinetic powers.

I really really doubt it. Telekinetic powers are CDMA based.

decaturtxcowboy <[email protected]> wrote in news:ZXV_g.22996
[email protected]:

> Rae Almozino wrote:
>> Aha! He answered it accidentally using his telekinetic powers.
>
> I really really doubt it. Telekinetic powers are CDMA based.
>


Yep- a $5/month add-on for 50 uses. $10 for unlimited, but it requires a 2
year contract.

Scott wrote:
> decaturtxcowboy <[email protected]> wrote in news:ZXV_g.22996
> [email protected]:
>
>> Rae Almozino wrote:
>>> Aha! He answered it accidentally using his telekinetic powers.
>> I really really doubt it. Telekinetic powers are CDMA based.
>>
> Yep- a $5/month add-on for 50 uses. $10 for unlimited, but it requires a 2
> year contract.

I stand corrected.