Call waiting
Call waiting is a telephone service where a subscriber can accept a second incoming telephone call by placing an in-progress call on hold—and may also switch between calls. With some providers it can be combined with additional features such as conferencing, call forwarding, and caller ID. Call waiting is intended to alleviate the need to have more than one telephone line or number for voice communications.
History
Call waiting was introduced to North America in the early 1970s when the first generation of electronic switch machines built by Western Electric, Electronic Signaling System 1 started to replace older mechanical equipment in the old Bell System local telephone companies. At first, some smaller municipalities were able to offer customers call waiting only on a specific phone exchange (e.g., phone customers in Trenton, Michigan initially had to have a phone number starting with 671 to have call waiting, since 671 was at that time the only exchange in that area served by one of the new ESS switches), but as demand for it became more widespread, it eventually became available on all phone exchanges as the older equipment was phased out.
In Europe, call waiting was also introduced in the 1970s with the introduction of the first digital switching systems such as the
Star codes
In North America, the
On most European telephone networks, and GSM or UMTS mobile phones, call waiting is activated by dialing the following codes:
- To activate: *43#
- To deactivate: #43#
- To check status: *#43#
A voice announcement, tone or a message on your phone's screen will confirm the service status.
Call waiting in Europe uses an "R" (recall) button on the phone. This performs a similar function to a North American hook flash button but is much shorter duration, typically 80ms to 100ms, vs. 250ms in North America. In some networks, pressing R toggles between the calls, similar to North America. However, in most countries there are further options:
- R1 – Answer the waiting call and hang up on the current call.
- R2 – Toggle between the calls.
- R3 – Merge the two calls for conference calling.
- R0 – Reject call waiting – This will send the call to voice mail or a busy tone.
Line sharing
Since the waiting call uses a
Call waiting deluxe
Call waiting deluxe is the
This
- Switch: Place the current call on hold to take the second call (not a new feature)
- Hang-up: Disconnect the current call and take the second call
- Please Hold: Send the caller either a custom or telephone-company-generated voice message asking the caller to hold
- Forward to Voice Mail: Send the incoming caller to the recipient’s voice mailservice.
- Join: Add the incoming caller to the existing conversation.
See also
- Vertical service code
- Zip tone
- Analog Display Services Interface
Telephones portal
External links
- Call waiting user manual, and Call waiting product specifications from Bell Canada
References
- ^ Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office: Patents. U.S. Department of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office. 1994. pp. 1–.