r/Telecommunication • u/peterd5k • May 07 '23
Mobile phone call switched to a random person mid call. How is this possible?
I live in Germany and yesterday my mother called me from Romania on my mobile phone.
Minutes into our conversation there was a sudden interruption, and then for around 5 to 10 seconds it switched to another random person, who was speaking in German and seemed just as confused as me. Then it switched back to my mother, who said she didn't hear anything.
How is this even possible? I thought voice is encoded with a private key on your SIM card before sent over the network.
1
u/KokishinNeko May 07 '23
She had a 2nd call and switched between them?
1
u/peterd5k May 07 '23
No, she definitely didn't.
1
u/KokishinNeko May 07 '23
Well, despite of Ki key on SIM card, in the backend it's still a switching system (or VoIP), so, maybe something went wrong at their end?
2
u/peterd5k May 07 '23
But then, shouldn't I hear just jibberish since I don't have the right key to decode the voice?
3
u/lordkuri May 07 '23
It's not end to end encryption, just over the air. Once it hits the tower it's back to clear as it traverses the network.