I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

On Jun 12, 11:18�pm, Metspitzer wrote:
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. �She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. �I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

you could probably disconnet the touch pad to prevent outgoing calls,
think inside the phone.
there are outgoing call restrictors but most permt 911 calls

call your phone company but i bet they will charge a lot per month

On Sat, 12 Jun 2010 20:48:15 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Jun 12, 11:18?pm, Metspitzer wrote:
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. ?She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. ?I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

you could probably disconnet the touch pad to prevent outgoing calls,
think inside the phone.
there are outgoing call restrictors but most permt 911 calls

call your phone company but i bet they will charge a lot per month
Being inside a convalescent center they LIKELY have their own PBX
system - MOST of which can be programmed not to accept outgoing calls
without a special code - or at all. SOME can even be programed to
allow only calls to specified numbers from a given extention.

wrote:
On Sat, 12 Jun 2010 20:48:15 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Jun 12, 11:18?pm, Metspitzer wrote:
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. ?She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. ?I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.
you could probably disconnet the touch pad to prevent outgoing calls,
think inside the phone.
there are outgoing call restrictors but most permt 911 calls

call your phone company but i bet they will charge a lot per month
Being inside a convalescent center they LIKELY have their own PBX
system - MOST of which can be programmed not to accept outgoing calls
without a special code - or at all. SOME can even be programed to
allow only calls to specified numbers from a given extention.

And we have a winner! Other than places with independent apartments with
call buttons, most 'homes' do not have private lines, just extensions of
a PBX, as an 'optional' (aka profit center) extra. (Lotsa hospitals now
charge extra for a phone as well.) Talk to the manager there.

--
aem sends...

"Metspitzer" wrote in message
...
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

If your original question does not get a reply, you can easily disable any
push button phone from making outgoing calls by simply reversing polarity.
By this I mean that you usually have a red and a green wire that are in a
typical phone jack and if these leads are reversed, then the phone can ring,
it will give you a dial tone but the push buttons on the phone will not
work.


--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

On Jun 13, 2:35*am, "Roger Shoaf" wrote:
"Metspitzer" wrote in message

...

I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. *She has dementia..
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. *I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

If your original question does not get a reply, you can easily disable any
push button phone from making outgoing calls by simply reversing polarity..
By this I mean that you usually have a red and a green wire that are in a
typical phone jack and if these leads are reversed, then the phone can ring,
it will give you a dial tone but the push buttons on the phone will not
work.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

I wish I knew that 40 years ago, I hooked up extra phones and a few I
now know were backwards

Roger Shoaf wrote:
"Metspitzer" wrote in message
...
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

If your original question does not get a reply, you can easily disable any
push button phone from making outgoing calls by simply reversing polarity.
By this I mean that you usually have a red and a green wire that are in a
typical phone jack and if these leads are reversed, then the phone can ring,
it will give you a dial tone but the push buttons on the phone will not
work.


At least in this part of the country, only true for early Ma Bell
touch-tone. More modern ones don't care. Don't think it has ever been
true for the cheap throw-away phones like you buy at Wally World, since
all their brains are on a chip.

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the hook
lever as a telegraph key....

--
aem sends...

On Jun 13, 6:37 am, aemeijers wrote:

At least in this part of the country, only true for early Ma Bell
touch-tone. More modern ones don't care. Don't think it has ever been
true for the cheap throw-away phones like you buy at Wally World, since
all their brains are on a chip.

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the hook
lever as a telegraph key....



Andy comments:
Yes, I did that a lot as a kid. However, I was under the
impression that
if "tone" service is the one provided by the company, then pulse
calling
can't be done. Damn, I only have one phone line and am now using the
puter
on it, so I can't go and test this before I send this. But I'm going
to try in a
few minutes. I just haven't done that in 40 years......

I don't have a single phone, or modem, in my house that won't work
properly if the wires are reversed. In fact, I've never seen or used
one
that required definite polarity for operation, and I've been tapping,
installing,
wiring, and messing with phones since I was 10 years old --- a long
long
long time...... that being said, I haven't tried them all, so it might
be
accurate for specific systems....... somewhere.

Anyway, I'm off to see if my phone here can access the line with
pulses.
I suggest that others who endorse this method actually try it for
themselves , as there may be differences in the phone services......

However, even if it can, I doubt that a senile old lady in a
nursing
home would be able to figure it out.

Andy in Eureka, Texas


Eureka, where local law requires all foreclosed houses to be towed
back
to the lot withing 30 days.

On Sun, 13 Jun 2010 09:35:28 -0700 (PDT), Andy
wrote:

On Jun 13, 6:37 am, aemeijers wrote:

At least in this part of the country, only true for early Ma Bell
touch-tone. More modern ones don't care. Don't think it has ever been
true for the cheap throw-away phones like you buy at Wally World, since
all their brains are on a chip.

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the hook
lever as a telegraph key....



Andy comments:
Yes, I did that a lot as a kid. However, I was under the
impression that
if "tone" service is the one provided by the company, then pulse
calling
can't be done.

I just finally switched my line from pulse service to tone - and pulse
phones still work just fine.


Damn, I only have one phone line and am now using the
puter
on it, so I can't go and test this before I send this. But I'm going
to try in a
few minutes. I just haven't done that in 40 years......

I don't have a single phone, or modem, in my house that won't work
properly if the wires are reversed. In fact, I've never seen or used
one
that required definite polarity for operation, and I've been tapping,
installing,
wiring, and messing with phones since I was 10 years old --- a long
long
long time...... that being said, I haven't tried them all, so it might
be
accurate for specific systems....... somewhere.

MANY electronic phones will not work with tip and ring reversed.

Anyway, I'm off to see if my phone here can access the line with
pulses.
I suggest that others who endorse this method actually try it for
themselves , as there may be differences in the phone services......

However, even if it can, I doubt that a senile old lady in a
nursing
home would be able to figure it out.

Andy in Eureka, Texas


Eureka, where local law requires all foreclosed houses to be towed
back
to the lot withing 30 days.

On Jun 13, 2:35*pm, wrote:
On Sun, 13 Jun 2010 09:35:28 -0700 (PDT), Andy
wrote:





On Jun 13, 6:37 am, aemeijers wrote:

At least in this part of the country, only true for early Ma Bell
touch-tone. More modern ones don't care. Don't think it has ever been
true for the cheap throw-away phones like you buy at Wally World, since
all their brains are on a chip.

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the hook
lever as a telegraph key....

Andy *comments:
* Yes, I did that a lot as a kid. * However, I was under the
impression that
if "tone" service is the one provided by the company, then pulse
calling
can't be done.

I just finally switched my line from pulse service to tone - and pulse
phones still work just fine.





Damn, I only have one phone line and am now using the
puter
on it, so I can't go and test this before I send this. *But I'm going
to try in a
few minutes. I just haven't done that in 40 years......

* *I don't have a single phone, or modem, in my house that won't work
properly if the wires are reversed. In fact, I've never seen or used
one
that required definite polarity for operation, and I've been tapping,
installing,
wiring, and messing with phones since I was 10 years old --- a long
long
long time...... that being said, I haven't tried them all, so it might
be
accurate for specific systems....... somewhere.

MANY electronic phones will not work with tip and ring reversed.





* Anyway, I'm off to see if my phone here can access the line with
pulses.
I suggest that others who endorse this method actually try it for
themselves , as there may be differences in the phone services......

* However, even if it can, I doubt that a senile old lady in a
nursing
home would be able to figure it out.

* * * * * * * * Andy in Eureka, Texas

Eureka, where local law requires all foreclosed houses to be towed
back
* * to the lot withing 30 days.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

As an AT+T retired employee, I can guarantee that the early Touch-Tone
telephones were polarity sensitive as far as generating signals to go
to the central office. Newer telephones have a diode bridge that
overcomes the polarity sensitivity problem.

wrote:

I am sure you will be able to break dial tone and you may eventually
call someone ("Moa'ula Iki Beach Side"?)....

Oh man, I always wondered what they were saying in that commercial.

Thank!

Jon

aemeijers wrote:


And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the
hook lever as a telegraph key....

Used to be able to get the Operator that way, at least. Now you can't even
get the Operator by hitting '0'.

And they call it progress.

Jon

Jon Danniken wrote:
aemeijers wrote:

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the
hook lever as a telegraph key....

Used to be able to get the Operator that way, at least. Now you can't even
get the Operator by hitting '0'.

And they call it progress.

Jon

Here is what gets me. It's hard to keep up with what area codes need to
be dialed (ok, toned). If I get a recording telling me not to use the
area code, they could have just as easily made it ring through either way!

On Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:29:03 -0400, Tony
wrote:

Jon Danniken wrote:
aemeijers wrote:

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the
hook lever as a telegraph key....

Used to be able to get the Operator that way, at least. Now you can't even
get the Operator by hitting '0'.

And they call it progress.

Jon

Here is what gets me. It's hard to keep up with what area codes need to
be dialed (ok, toned). If I get a recording telling me not to use the
area code, they could have just as easily made it ring through either way!

I complained about that a long time ago.

Also the recording says......you need (or don't need) to dial a 1
before making this call. They could just ask to confirm you want to
make a long distance call, and put the call through anyway. It would
keep you from having to redial the number.

Tony wrote:
Jon Danniken wrote:
aemeijers wrote:

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the
hook lever as a telegraph key....

Used to be able to get the Operator that way, at least. Now you
can't even get the Operator by hitting '0'.

And they call it progress.

Jon

Here is what gets me. It's hard to keep up with what area codes need
to be dialed (ok, toned). If I get a recording telling me not to use
the area code, they could have just as easily made it ring through
either way!

Beginning this year they made us add the area code for a *local* call!
Dialing my neighbor across the street I now have to punch in 10 digits.

*******s.

Jon

On Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:29:03 -0400, Tony
wrote:

Jon Danniken wrote:
aemeijers wrote:

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the
hook lever as a telegraph key....

Used to be able to get the Operator that way, at least. Now you can't even
get the Operator by hitting '0'.

And they call it progress.

Jon

Here is what gets me. It's hard to keep up with what area codes need to
be dialed (ok, toned). If I get a recording telling me not to use the
area code, they could have just as easily made it ring through either way!

Here, they added a second (overlay) area code. AFAIK no numbers have
been assigned to that code, but we're still required to dial all 10
digits even to call someone next door.

BTW, I want to an appliance store recently (an old local store, not
one something like Lowe's) and the (old) salesman was writing
customers phone numbers down with 5 digits (5-digit dialing ended
about 20 years ago, when we got ESS).
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"Death is an experience best avoided, as it makes reliable internet
access difficult to obtain."

On 6/13/2010 3:35 AM, Roger Shoaf wrote:
wrote in message
...
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

If your original question does not get a reply, you can easily disable any
push button phone from making outgoing calls by simply reversing polarity.
By this I mean that you usually have a red and a green wire that are in a
typical phone jack and if these leads are reversed, then the phone can ring,
it will give you a dial tone but the push buttons on the phone will not
work.


That won't accomplish anything. TT phones will work normally if you
swap tip and ring.

In article ,
wrote:


You can find them pretty cheap on Ebay or in a garage sale. They are
bullet proof.

I never thought it hyperbole when they used to say Western Electric
telephones and cockroaches were the only things likely to survive a
nuclear war.

--
I want to find a voracious, small-minded predator
and name it after the IRS.
Robert Bakker, paleontologist

On 6/12/2010 11:18 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

I went through this with my father years ago. We took away his phone as
he could not differentiate between day and night and called at all
hours. Afterwords he used phones in facility and we even started call
blocking numbers. Somehow numbers rotated so even blocking 10 numbers
did not prevent calls. I wish I knew of this solution but doubt it
would have completely stopped the problem.

Metspitzer wrote:
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

Does it have to be a land line? What about a children's cell phone like
Firefly? I don't know much about kids' cell phones, but apparently they
have "parental controls" that would allow her kids to restrict outgoing
calls to certain numbers, like theirs.

On 6/13/2010 9:33 PM, Lee B wrote:

Metspitzer wrote:
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

Does it have to be a land line? What about a children's cell phone like
Firefly? I don't know much about kids' cell phones, but apparently they
have "parental controls" that would allow her kids to restrict outgoing
calls to certain numbers, like theirs.
Many nursing homes will not allow cell
phones because of loss and "theft" ....
theft being loss by a resident, but
telling that it was stolen. There are
probably 2 reasons for the no cell
phones, bother to the staff and as
someone mentioned, their phone is a
profit center for them. When my mother
was in a nursing home a few years ago,
they charged $25 per month for a phone
and you provide the phone. And, the $25
is whether the resident used it or not.