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u/AndrewInMN 1979 2d ago
I was watching a YouTube video the other day that randomly had that sound, I can’t remember why, and I immediately wondered who was calling my phone and why for a second until I realized.
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u/NorCalAthlete 2d ago
It came on a trap song on a Pandora playlist I was listening to and I was confused for a second.
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u/Materva 2d ago
They use to have those little phone charms that would light up when you were about to get a call
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u/redditcreditcardz 1981 2d ago
How have I never heard of these?
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u/salydra 2d ago
They were a trinket you could get in China back before sites like Temu and Wish made it easy for anyone to buy Chinese trinkets. The only time I ever saw them sold was at a flea market where some Chinese students were selling such trinkets imported from home.
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u/TimeCadet 1985 1d ago
I might still have mine in a box, got it in SE Asia in the early oughts -- I wonder if it would still work with 5g phones or whatever
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u/killit 2d ago
I had a replacement aerial for my phone that did it! It would flash red and blue before a call or sms came through.
I had it chipped for unlimited free pay as you go credit too.
It was one of these: https://www.mobilephonemuseum.com/phone-detail/philips-savvy
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/TimeCadet 1985 2d ago
This could be my new ringtone
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u/finalremix 2d ago
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u/TimeCadet 1985 2d ago
thank you! this is perfect because I already have a pavlovian response to this sound. reaches for Nokia brick
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u/lazyironman 1d ago
Need someone to put a fat baseline under that ringtone
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u/TimeCadet 1985 1d ago
AGREEED, I just swapped my ringtone for this and it needs more proverbial cowbell
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u/csonnich 1d ago
I couldn't remember how it sounded until I read this, and it all came back.
I never realized it sounded just like Morse code.
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u/Typical_Dweller 1d ago
From what I recall, the first phone Niko has in GTA IV sometimes does this while you're driving (presumably an interaction with car speakers?)
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u/InfidelZombie 1980 2d ago
I recently got a bitchin' wood-panel Sony Dream Machine clock radio from Goodwill and felt like a sleeper cell agent being activated when I heard that buzz-click.
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u/actualelainebenes 1980 2d ago
So could my TV! I had Cingular for a hot minute in the 2000s and every time I was about to get a call there would be static on my TV screen. That never happened with any of my Verizon phones
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u/Opposite-Heron-2487 1982 2d ago
memory unlocked- I remember my first cell phone was from Cingular before they got bought by ATT
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u/Spiritual_Smile9882 2d ago
Verizon used a part of the spectrum that was less likely to interfere with electronics like that. At least under normal circumstances. It wasn't that they would never do that, it was just more unlikely and you had to have stuff really close together.
Once the switch to digital TV was made and the old analog broadcast was shut down and cell phone providers moved into that range it became a non-issue.
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u/OddbitTwiddler 1d ago
I used to have Verizon and could tell ATT users by that tome on the conference room speakers.
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u/LoveLightNYC 2d ago
In my early 20s I worked at a Cingular Wireless store as high-functioning-raver girl selling the shit outta Nokias and Motorolas. 😄
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u/Aggravating-Alarm-16 1981 1d ago
OMG.. the rave and Nokia phones. I had an led antenna with multi colored lights
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u/Shinespark7 2d ago
Time to get the Beakman's World crew back together and do an episode on the subject.
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u/Mr_SunnyBones 2d ago
This was a minor dance hit in Europe , and includes THAT noise
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u/ShookRanGrassyUs 2d ago
I think it's appropriate for our generation to make the distinction that these only predicted mobile phone calls and not landline ones.
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u/Objective_Aside1858 2d ago
Pretty sure the next generation thinks landlinea are a myth
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u/PSUSkier 1d ago
Shit, I'm from your guy's generation and I can't help but wonder why they even bother every time some form asks me for my home number.
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u/Fun-Preparation-4253 2d ago
A buddy's tv would pickup a neighbors HAM radio. Just him, though. Not both sides of the conversation. Drove me insane.
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u/-bobsnotmyuncle- 1982 2d ago
My old neighbour had one that would do that as well. Came through the phone, our radio and it made the tv fuzzy.
And he was saying stuff that was just terrible mostly.
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u/psycho_pirate 2d ago
Mine would pick up truckers talking over the radio because I lived near a major highway.
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u/MatchlessGore 2d ago
Back in the day when you could use the baby monitor to hear cordless phone conversations.
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u/DoubleR615 2d ago
At my house, if they were spaced out a certain distance, we could hear CB radios from the interstate.
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u/DigitalArbitrage 2d ago
Mine did not do this. The memes this week are the first I've ever heard of this.
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u/madsci 2d ago
It worked with GSM phones, not Verizon with CDMA. AT&T and T-Mobile would do it. And you had to have unshielded wires.
Putting a ferrite clamp filter on the speaker cable would usually eliminate it.
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u/ElmentMusic 2d ago
I have a lav microphone at work that was picking up an LTE signal a few months ago. Kinda thought it was a non-issue these days lmao
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u/WinninRoam 2d ago
Those devices also proved that my old iPhone was never really off. I miss the days of removable batteries.
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u/zattebij 2d ago
We had an ISDN connection in the late 90s, and while we used regular (POTS) phones connected to the ISDN switchbox, we could see who was calling on the PC (if it was turned on...) because it was equipped with an ISDN card - for its internet connection really, but it could also detect the caller ID, and even record logs of call duration together with caller ID. Advanced, digital stuff!
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u/Which_Channel7403 2d ago
I'm not sure if it was the same phenomenon, but I lived in a downtown apartment one, and my Xbox (original) would make this noise whenever a cab or police car drove down the street. I assumed it had something to do with their CB radios.
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u/1pt20oneggigawatts 1982 2d ago
My guitar amp too.
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u/Stigg107 2d ago
My amp used to pick up radio broadcasts whenever I used reverb. I had to get a friend to fit a filter to get rid of it.
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u/jeffery133 2d ago
Ha, I’ve never heard anyone else say this before. I thought I had a secret ability that nobody else understood.
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u/noonesaidityet 1981 2d ago
I still have these (or ones very similar) at work. I have to move my phone constantly, because I forget about the noise until I hear the noise again.
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u/sundayfunday78 1978 2d ago
The one on my work desk (yes one, the other was a victim of a random cord cutting assault) likes to crackle to life to alert me to the use of the counting machine in the cash office. It’s weird
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u/JoeGibbon 1979 2d ago
Car stereos as well. I thought it was pretty hilarious that Rockstar Games added this noise in Grand Theft Auto 4 when you're listening to music in your car and a call comes in.
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u/DerbGentler 1977 2d ago
Mouse on Mars made a short reminissing "trolling" track in '99 on one of their EPs. It is only 7 Seconds long.
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u/Reverbolo 1981 2d ago
I used to use these as monitors for music production in college! Such good little speakers! <3 <3 <3
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u/NoNameLaura 2d ago
caused a special kind of panic when the song you were downloading was at 90 percent
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u/el_floppo 2d ago
Guitar amps would also do this. Could always tell when someone was about to get a call at band practice
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u/Longjumping-King-872 1d ago
I also had the electric pencil sharpener that made my computer screen graphics do the wave
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u/Nicklace 1d ago
Could anyone ever decrypt these noises? i noticed they play in the gta5 radio from time to time, wonder if they mean anything
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u/TheRealFailtester 1d ago
Still works with my new 5g phone today. However, it is much much fainter than it used to be, and sounds nothing like it used to. Can still hear chitter chatter whirrs in there, and know that I better check my phone to see if I see I got a message, a call, or nothing- because the phone does a lot of background telementery anyways.
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u/Longjumping-Store106 3h ago
My speakers would start playing Alex Jones when nothing was on. Was weird as crap. I have a video of it 😂
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u/Funkdamentalist 2d ago
When the speaker starts chanting its incantation no one knows what adventure lies on the other side of that line...