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Wrong Number

Thursday, June 19, 2008 1:25:19 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Please, someone, tell me what you get if you dial "0044" from your home phone in Noblesville, IN?

It was this morning; the boys had finished breakfast and were playing nicely while I quickly checked email and blogs and stuff before we made a little trip to the Prairie.

Some idiot had left the phone on the end table. (That would be me, I'm afraid.) I didn't remember it was there; I try to put them back in the chargers when I'm done with them.

Suddenly, I heard Mark giggle very loudly. Then I heard a woman's recorded voice speaking in another language. Maybe Spanish. I didn't listen long enough to try to translate.

Not only had Adam retrieved the phone, he had dialed numbers (0044, to be exact) and pressed the "Speaker" button for maximum fun.

Military school?

A very large box?

I'm open to suggestions (beyond the obvious, which is, idiot, put the phone away!).

U.K. readers, can you enlighten me? I found this website which might answer the question... or not...

Posted in Travel |Comments [2]     

Monday, June 23, 2008 4:37:40 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
From the UK - it's going to be different. For us (and most Europeans I believe), dialing two zeros is the prefix to international dialing, and 44 is of course the country code for the UK. The website you linked is intended for UK mobile phone users who find themselves frequently dialing 0044 as a prefix to make calls back home (and thus heavily charged for using their phones).

One possiblity (that may be out of date now) is that dialing 00 can get your long-distance operator rather than your "standard" operator. This was true for pay phones, where it was not always clear who the long distance carrier was (thus dialing 00 enabled you to speak with an operator to verify charges).

http://forums.dealofday.com/general-chit-chat/18971-anyone-know-number-find-out-what-your-long-distance-service.html#post95027

see page 3 of this FCC document
http://www.scribd.com/doc/1119264/Federal-Communications-Commission-DOC247864A1

So I bet he dialed your long distance operator but first received an automated menu, with choice #4 = Spanish.
Dunce
Monday, June 23, 2008 10:39:33 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
Hm, my previous comment seems to have been lost in the ether.
In short, he probably dialed your long distance operator directly (google 00 + "long distance" + provider) and got the Spanish option of an automated menu.

UK system is different, here, as in other parts of Europe, "00" is the prefix for international calling, like 011 in the US (and hence 00 44 = calling the UK from other parts of Europe).
Dunce
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