Help! Did they wiretap me, or was it an innocent "line check?"

[The Cleaner]

Weird. Just a few moments ago I went to dial up on my computer (yes, I still use dialup but can't seem to justify the extra $$ for broadband just yet). Well it goes to dial, then quickly says it cannot find a dial tone. Then something strange happend. I swore I heard voices coming out the monitor speakers. Am I going nutso?

Then I quickly pick up the phone. Sure enough there were two guys talking back and forth to each other in what sounded like a line test. After 30 seconds or so they hung up and said "onto the next one."

I've never experienced this before where they do a live line test without you knowing it. The phone didn't even ring. I just picked up and woah - two guys were on the other end talking.

Anyone have any clue as to what the hay I just experienced? Is the NSA after me now or am I being paranoid?

:shrug:

[Buzz Clik]

1. That would be an amazingly clumsy and incompetent wiretap. Must be true.

[Duer 157099]

2. Whenever I hear voices in my computer speaker

(I mean, unexpected ones), it's a local HAM/CB radio operator.

Don't know if that can bleed into a phone line too -- unless it's a cordless, in which case, yes, it can.

[Kelly Rupert]

3. You are certainly not being traced by the NSA.

There would be absolutely no reason for the NSA to devote manpower to you in particular--and if they did, it wouldn't be in such an amateur fashion. More likely it was either a line test or something else bleeding onto your line.

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. Could just be the phone company guys checking the main service boxes

Have seen them many times checking connections at neighborhood main junction boxes, usually doing checks on optic lines and/or line updates.

More than likely you probably haven't been wire tapped.

[IDemo]

9. That is no doubt what happened

Very common to look for a dialtone in a box and use it for a quick call to the test center, etc.

[mtnester]

5. I can pick up Nextel calls all the time on my computer speakers

not Cingular, not Verizon, not TMobile...Nextel....full conversations. I am pretty certain when we get our new office IP phones, I bet I get some reception on that baby too.

As far as a line test, most likely or they are repairing a line cut, small strand by small strand.

[AndyA]

6. I don't think humans actually listen in until you've been identified as someone

worth surveillance. I was under the impression that computers monitor for specific words, phrases, terms, etc., that identify a call as being suspicious. If enough of those red flags wind up on your line somehow, then you may need to worry.

It takes more than just talking to your Aunt Martha about terrorism, and you likely ARE in big trouble if your Aunt Martha lives in the Middle East somewhere. :tinfoilhat:

[Poll_Blind]

7. Wiretaps long-ago reached a level of subtlety which makes all...

...but very sensitive equipment able to detect a tap. Even then, most of the tapping is at the CO (central office) or higher level where the transmissions, which are then turned to digial signals, are neatly split from the original signal. So your copy of the signal isn't even the one being tapped. If that makes any sense.

PB

[ms liberty]

8. Most likely answer...

The phone company probably had a trouble report on someone's phone in your area. The repair people might have been checking various lines to see if others were affected, or trying to narrow down the problem lines. This happens a lot more than people realize - after all, unless you pick up at the exact couple of minutes they're on your line you'd never know it. The same thing has happened to me a few times over the years...as the daughter of a phone man I understood what was going on, and didn't think twice about it.

[mitchtv]

10. As an ex Maintenance Administrator for Pac Bell

sounds like they were working at the terminal or cross connect box. A call to the Maintenance Center can probably tell you if they were working in your cables.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

13. I Noticed That As Well, But Conluded It Was Just An Error In How It Was Stated.

It did stick out as glaringly illogical, but I quickly gave the mental benefit of the doubt that the poster in fact meant an intention of "then they said onto the next one as they were hanging up".

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

12. Oh My God Tell Me This Isn't A Serious Question.

Are you just being sarcastic about the whole NSA thing? You couldn't possibly be asking this sincerely right? I don't mean this as overly sarcastic, just honest from the top of my head: Do you really think that when they wiretap your phone they start having audible two-way conversations? Do you really think you are of even the slightest significance to them that they'd put the effort into wiretapping your phone?

Like I said, I don't mean this to be overly sarcastic, but I can't help being honest in my admission of thinking that you actually know perfectly well it had nothing to do with your phone being wiretapped, but found the experience to be unusual and something you wanted to share, but had to give it that extra flair to make it worthy of posting a thread on. You may not admit to such, but I'm holding onto that faith in my heart that it was in fact the reason for your question, as opposed to you truly believing what you heard was consistent with wiretapping.

[originalpckelly]

14. No, unless you live in a place with an old fashioned switch system...

that's not the way wiretaps are conducted. Most people do not know that telephones are not analog anymore past a certain point on the transmission network.

Now that doesn't mean someone who's not a professional is somehow tapping into your lines, if it continues report it to the phone company.

[bluetrain]

15. A few months after the 04 election...

I had a similar problem with my dial-up. No connection. I checked the phone and instead of a dial tone I had Rush Limbaugh under a thick layer of static. I'm not kidding. I called the phone company on my cell phone and they came out within about two hours. I found it strange that they were able to come so quickly, but was glad the problem would be taken care of so soon. While waiting for them, I checked the phone a few times and it was always the staticky Limbaugh. I checked the phone less than five minutes before the repairman came and it was still Limbaugh. When the repairman got in the door, I raised the phone so he could hear for himself and it was a dial tone. There was nothing for him to do. He said maybe it was caused by rain (!?). I don't tell this story to too many people because I realize it sounds nuts, but I swear it happened. I don't know if it was rain (!?) or something else, but it totally weirded me out. A few weeks previous to this occurring, I had been engaged in some strange phone conversations with a guy in Florida regarding election fraud. Again, I have no way of knowing if these two things are related, but I've never had the problem before or after -- rain or shine.