Wierd phone connection

[xoggoth]

Twice recently my phone has rung, I picked it up and it was my father in law but he says he didn't ring, he just answered his own phone that was ringing. He's 90 but not senile.

Is there some weird fault in his/my phone that could cause that?

[OwlHoot]

Could it be you originally asked for a conventional "wired" phone connection, but some muppet at BT misspelled that as "weird" connection, and the engineers have just set it up how they think you want?

[VectraMan]

It's just aliens checking to see when you're at home. They can't abduct you for anal probing if you're out.

Nothing to worry about.

[OwlHoot]

Seriously, didn't someone here recently mention a sort of supervisory facility BT now provide whereby old timers' phones can be linked to another designated phone to keep tabs on them? Maybe someone (his carer?) has requested that for your father in law.

[d000hg]

Technically you can do a ringback, where the phone provider will ring you both when the other party stops being engaged. So in theory their software could have a bug - if you report the exact time and both phone numbers to your provider, they could perhaps check their logs what they think happened in terms of who called who?

[xoggoth]

Cheers. Talked to my bro in law and he thinks maybe the old chap got a cold call when not wearing his glasses and hit the speed dial button. Sounds most likely.

Next question. Will be going to see the old bloke this week, always difficult talking to an ancient in law who is nearly deaf. As he has short term memory loss I thought I might get away with saying the same thing over and over but does it need to be 1min long, 5mins or what?

[NickFitz]

Cheers. Talked to my bro in law and he thinks maybe the old chap got a cold call when not wearing his glasses and hit the speed dial button. Sounds most likely.

Next question. Will be going to see the old bloke this week, always difficult talking to an ancient in law who is nearly deaf. As he has short term memory loss I thought I might get away with saying the same thing over and over but does it need to be 1min long, 5mins or what?

Many years ago I had a job visiting housebound elderly people, just chatting, making sure they were OK, and reporting back to a supervisor at Age Concern about any problems. In my experience, you're more likely to have to listen to the same thing over and over again, rather than having to worry about saying anything yourself

[bless 'em all]

Many years ago I had a job visiting housebound elderly people, just chatting, making sure they were OK, and reporting back to a supervisor at Age Concern about any problems. In my experience, you're more likely to have to listen to the same thing over and over again, rather than having to worry about saying anything yourself

That's lovely, all your own teeth you say!

[mudskipper]

Cheers. Talked to my bro in law and he thinks maybe the old chap got a cold call when not wearing his glasses and hit the speed dial button. Sounds most likely.

Next question. Will be going to see the old bloke this week, always difficult talking to an ancient in law who is nearly deaf. As he has short term memory loss I thought I might get away with saying the same thing over and over but does it need to be 1min long, 5mins or what?

How about we hook him up with my mum? They can not hear each other and repeat themselves to their hearts contents.

Took her for a memory test the other day - she passed with flying colours. The irony being that she didn't remember doing the same memory test under a different doctor a few months ago (which she also scored full marks on).

[NickFitz]

That's lovely, all your own teeth you say!

I used to visit a 91-year-old chap who'd been in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War! Sadly, he tended to talk a lot more about his later career at a local engineering firm