WeirdyOne
Member
This sort of falls under Occam's razor. Occam's razor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I've been a telecommunications engineer for a long time, and run a large PBX. I started off a long time ago as a field tech. I've been on thousands of trouble calls. I've seen and heard weird stuff, and I've had more than a few that were hoaxes/jokes.
I'm not doubting anything you said. I, probably more than most people here, would actually believe you. I had to treat all customers with respect, and one thing I learned is that if I ever started getting cocky and not listening to what they were telling me, it almost always bit me in the rear.
The "logical" explanation here is that someone close to you was messing with you. May seem unlikely, but everything you've said points that way.
As for #3:
It's very rare for a central office to be "manned". The days of having guys in the CO are long gone, but it's not unheard of it larger offices. It's unlikely any of those guys would have the time to sit around and do this sort of stuff. The amount of time you are actually on the phone is pretty slim. Someone sitting around for days on end waiting for you to get a call would be very unlikely. Also, CO's are pretty noisy, so there probably would have been lots of noise in the background. I can also tell you that it's really not that much fun, not that I've tried it, but I've certainly had the opportunity. Many services are often multiplexed out of the switch, especially with cable tv sourced phone service. There just are not that many places to tap into your circuit to cause these sorts of issues. VoIP can be harder/easier depending on how you look at it.
I honestly think someone close to you is messing with you.
Indeed. I'm familiar with Occam.
So, on this point, relevant question: could someone outside, like, right outside, have the same kind of phone (in the case of the DECT 6.0 phones at least, though I don't know how this explains the cell phone aspect) in an expandable DECT 6.0 phone system, and without the indoor user's knowledge or input, be somehow on the line? Is that possible at all? And keeping in mind that in at least one point everyone in the actual family was present and accounted for, along with both hand sets?