General Question

Jeruba's avatar

Why does the phone make that little poot sound when a spam caller connects?

Asked by Jeruba (56034points) July 19th, 2018

Why any sound, and why that particular sound?

Or doesn’t that happen for everyone?

When I answer, first there’s silence, and then that sound. Sort of like an electronic pop, but sticky, as if popping through syrup. The caller does not seem to have heard me answer.

What is going on, what kind of signal, between the caller’s place and mine to produce that sound? It doesn’t happen when real people call me.

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10 Answers

janbb's avatar

My understanding is that they are making several calls at once electronically and that the sound and delay are showing them that someone has answered.

Jeruba's avatar

But why do I hear it? And why that particular sound?

janbb's avatar

That’s beyond my technical expertise. Perhaps it’s to tell you that it’s pootentially a spammer.

stanleybmanly's avatar

Is this on your cell phone or land line? If we’re talkin land line, lately mine is deluged with robo calls, and I thought I was signed up on the “do not call” list.

Zaku's avatar

I don’t know for certain, but the sound channel going to you (whether it was a recorded message or a blank line) is being switched to a connection to a different audio feed that lets you hear them and the background noise (or the filtered background noise) where the representative is. Your ears hear the difference in the background noise between the channels as their system switches over.

rebbel's avatar

Did you do that accidentally, @janbb; pootentially?
Would that be a(n) (accidental) portmanteau?

janbb's avatar

@rebbel You should know by now I never do anything accidentally!

rebbel's avatar

I like it :-)

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