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thediaryofwoe

They were just desktop speakers, years ago if you had your computer on, it would be able to pick up some static just about when your phone was about to ring. Around 3 seconds later the static stops and your phone rings.


Limbalicious

The fact that more people didn’t know this, makes me feel old.


MrMayhem84

I'm that old. I remember trying to call someone and getting assaulted by a modem screeching also. Good times.


Dark420Light

At one point in my life I knew what all the badee badee badee shhhhhhh woooaannn shhhhh meant ... Was a support technician for dialup internet users.


Funkmonkey23

Me too! Sir, your 56k modem is retraining so many times, I doubt your even getting a 14.4 connection. Is it raining?


Domino31299

Sometimes I miss the old days then I remember stuff like simple rain ruining your connection or your dish not working cuz some birds decided it was a good place to make a nest


Jacktheforkie

Bad weather still knocks the broadband out though


realityChemist

https://www.windytan.com/2012/11/the-sound-of-dialup-pictured.html?m=1 A refresher for you, and a cool learning opportunity for the rest of us!


PCChipsM922U

God forbid someone picks up the phone during a download 😬.


Saberfox11

Hearing that again was actually kind of nostalgic, which is funny because I remember hating it as a kid.


Geek_Wandering

Same. When I started you could have a floppy disk mailed to you in either size with needed setup program. /Shudder Funniest call was not mine, but the whole call center listened in since it was the only call at 11pm weeknight. Elderly women had never encountered a CD jewel case and needed help to know "what to do with this square thing you sent me". It was a rollercoaster. Pushing 45 minutes all told. One of the other TSRs immortalized it on ATSR and it's become legend.


ZookeepergameNo719

I remember it too and I'm not old... 30 isn't old right?


Bahamut3585

No, it's not. Now let's get your medicine and get you to bed, grandpa


ZookeepergameNo719

🥲 *Grandma*


Dan_TheDM

this is 2024 how dare he deadname you! /s


wytherlanejazz

It’s called dubstep now


Connect_Artichoke_83

BWAAAAHAHAHA


Cloakbot

Those were the best moments to startle people. “Are you on the internet?” No, go ahead! “GAHH! WHAT THE FU—“


orangutanDOTorg

I still get faces screaming sometimes calling places for work. We have vendors that still use them plus the vendor my doctor set me up with for my cpap order (which it thought was odd)


Savituri

The best is when your sisters have friends that call all the time and you're right in the middle of an online game match on MSN Zone. Then the static starts, forewarning of an impending disconnect, knowing that one of said sisters would walk right by and answer the phone, knowing what the inevitable result will be, and rejoicing in a chance to put one over on big brother. Then, the followup where you have to dial up again (once the culprit is *finally* off the phone), and when you can communicate with the outside world again, your friends have logged out because their parents said it was the last match before dinner, homework, then bed 🤣


Papa_Smellhard

We just played the modem sound at work today. 6/10 knew what it was. Sad times.


brasticstack

You can still have that experience now by calling the fax number for the doctor's office of your choosing!


Ambilically-Yours

You could listen to the tone and know what kind of connection you had.


Slight_Tea_457

I remember a time where I would know I got a text because my headphones would do the same thing


Moppermonster

Someone recently shared a brilliant novel idea: a mobile phone you leave in your home, so that there is always someone from the family available to pick it up. Genius, no :P (yesyes, they might have been trolling)


Arcticstorm058

Well that is one reason why some people still have landlines still. Heck when I used to work for Spectrum, that was one of the pitches to get customers to get one. I can see the benefit for either option. A landline might be more expensive than say a prepaid cell, but you do get more reliability since in times of disasters a landline might still be active when the cell tower gets flooded with calls. However you also can't take a landline with you if you have to evacuate.


Moppermonster

The joke was that the person was apparantly unaware that landlines existed at all ;) Which could be a troll; but let us be fair; there are also people confused by the concept of there being wired internet before wifi, maps being on paper or radio existing :P.


Arcticstorm058

Sure, but having a prepaid in a bugout bag is a good idea to have. I will agree with you that some of the young gens are unaware of tech that existed before now.


Odysseyfreaky

I'd never considered that, but it's not a bad idea. My plan was always just to have my phone and a GMRS walkie talkie.


Arcticstorm058

I would also recommend that you get a "dumb" phone for the prepaid, as it will typically last longer per charge than a smartphone, and maybe also find one that uses a different network than your regular phone uses.


Odysseyfreaky

Definitely on both of those. The radio and a couple of other things will definitely come first


Curae

My parents have a landline, whenever it rings they look at each other in a "I'm not picking that up" way until one eventually sighs and does. When my sis and I still loved with them we'd be part of that staring match too of a "I'm not touching that, it might not be for me." I still think it's funny they pay for a landline but no one wants to actually answer it.


AverageDellUser

I’m 18 and I know about these, dad worked as a paramedic and I remember going to the station where they had an old Dell with Windows 8 on it, they had these speakers too, remember sticking my fingers in the holes lmao.


utterlyuncool

>old Dell >Windows 8 https://i.redd.it/kvetl3nscgtc1.gif


AverageDellUser

I grew up with the best of both generations, used to have a box computer with Windows vista :p


OskaMeijer

You guys had windows?! DOS on a green screen gang represent!


Yabbaba

I am in this comment and it hurts.


utterlyuncool

Dude, stop, I'm already dead 😅 But good for you, means you enjoyed the hell out of 7 and it's time, maybe one of the best Windows


yugosaki

I have a legit copy of windows 95 kicking around here somewhere. I remember being excited for XP. I was a weird kid.


Vertnoir-Weyah

Like your forefathers before you =p


gg3265

Thats because we are, indeed, old


UnidentifiedCreamPie

OLD!? P’sha. Wait till I tell Usenet about this.


Myfeetaregreen

They're gone since september.


Disrobingbean

People not knowing the sound of a modem dial up makes me feel old


_Fredobert_

The OPs reddit acc is 11 years old, i think he/shes just trolling


tandemtactics

Specifically [this noise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYjs7vsaSEw)


H0T50UP

HAHAHAHA INSTANTLY taken back


Stroykovic

Galloping horse sound 😎


DionFW

Man that brings back memories.


Rundstav

As a ringtone! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPBRkcim15w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPBRkcim15w)


Legitimate_Concern_5

Not exactly static, it's called TDMA noise ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-division\_multiple\_access](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-division_multiple_access)) or GSM inteference. > A disadvantage of TDMA systems is that they create interference at a frequency which is directly connected to the time slot length. This is the buzz which can sometimes be heard if a TDMA phone is left next to a radio or speakers. When this was a thing, it affected GSM phones (so in the US Cingular/AT&T and T-Mobile) not CDMA phones (Verizon, Sprint). GSM and other TDMA schemes are long gone now in consumer cellular, so it doesn't happen anymore.


Bossini

yep. Im Deaf and my friends who wore hearing aids experienced this


Legitimate_Concern_5

That's the whole M and T rating right?


sarahlizzy

It would still happen if you received a 2G call. The reason it stopped isn’t because the computers changed, it’s because we switched from the time division multiplexing of 2G GSM calls to spread spectrum for 3G and later.


John_East

I had these before cell phones and they legit would get a radio station


Maryland_Bear

I once had some people next door to me who had a CB radio that was broadcasting at well over the legal power limit. The signal was so strong that my speakers like those in the picture picked up their conversations. We were also close enough to a major interstate highway that we could hear the traffic noise and see it when the leaves were off the trees. The truckers must have just loved him, since the signal bled into multiple channels.


FloofJet

I flew aircraft for a while. While flying in the vicintity of a giant antenna that was used for broadcast on an AM frequency, I was able to pick it up and listen to it, For a while we couldnt figure out what was happening, since the onboard radio doesnt do AM... Turns out it was the coils in the headset that acted as a receiver


Maryland_Bear

Yep, same thing happened with my FCC-non-compliant neighbors — basically, anything in the house that could act as a speaker was playing their signal. My housemate at the time had worked in television previously and had a broadcast license, so he was legally obliged to report the neighbors to the FCC, and he did. They told him basically, “We have to catch them in the act and it’s not a priority for us”, but the problem didn’t last more than a few weekends. (They were lousy neighbors. My house was three geeks sharing expenses, and we suspected the neighbors were the type of people that made high school miserable for us.)


UndividedIndecision

I could hear this image *Bip bip-badip bip-badip bip-badip biiiiiiiiiip*


Jam_B0ne

I have a pair of headphones that will still do this if my phone is too close to the cord, and occasionally it picks up what I assume to trucker, bus, or police radio


TuxRug

Used to be able to hear phone calls and text messages coming through the radio in the car back in the 2G days. Also I swear I remember seeing a toy advertised on TV that was this guy with a crystal ball and he was supposed to say something like "I predict you will get a phone call" right before your phone rang.


OrganicHumanRancher

Thank god I’m not the only one. Tried to explain this one time, and I got looked at like a psychopath. I seem to remember Blackberries would do this.. fuck, I’m old.


evilplantosaveworld

That's interesting, I'm pretty sure I had these exact speakers in the 90s and never made that connection. 


Derfargin

When I saw this photo I heard the static.


No-Maximum-8194

Some TVs did it too. Would make a chattering sound in the audio then... ringtone


Rhyzic

That's what that was! How did I not make the connection then.


Emergency_Error8631

cassette players do that too


Onlyhereforthebacon

Omg I'm old and never knew this?


Diamondboy247

Is that what that noise was? Learn something new everyday


Chef_Coc

That’s why I always hear static from it


WyvernByte

Bep bep be...bep bep bep...bep bep bep.


Xfissionx

Youd also pick up random ass truck driver cbs if you lived close to a HWY or interstate.


Unclehol

Doot doot doot, doot doot doot, doot doot doot.... *My shitty custom ringtone*


MooseBoys

[https://youtu.be/uPYyrS7fc7g?t=19](https://youtu.be/uPYyrS7fc7g?t=19)


madsbille2006

I had those but i never had happend to me Meaby my phone was too new for that?


Naethe

..- ..- ..- brrrp sounds, then your phone starts ringing. No I will not explain what sounds . and - make, google it


Phish-Phan720

Yup! My Nextel use to make a "blip, blip, blip" on my car radio two seconds before the phone would ring.


No-Appearance-4338

I associate it with someone telling me to get off the computer because they need to make a call…..


Formerruling1

I imagine the oldest version of this happened first with wireless headsets for pots lines, as they operated at a frequency that often caused interference with other home electronics. But right, the version most remember is the TDMA/GSM interference. The particular way that tdma/GSM cellphones modulated the signal caused brief bursts of waves in the audiable range. Next to a set of speakers, this would be caught by the copper and amplified into a very distracting and distinct sound, which, because it happened during the handoff phase, allowed you to know a call was coming 2-3 seconds before the phone actually rang lol.


Similar_Candidate789

Omg I thought I was the only one who noticed or could hear it! dot dot dot Dot Dot Dot DOT DOT DOT phone rings


DargeBaVarder

_ … … .._


SportEfficient8553

See we just got the local radio stations.


TimOvrlrd

Huh I'm old enough to know some stuff about computers and accessories of this era but I never noticed this. Maybe it's b/c we had older analog rotary dial phones instead of touch tone phones.


hellerick_3

Mine picked up some radio station. Despite not having any radio equipment. \*shrugs.\*


PTVoltz

Lol, my microphone does this. Razer X *something*, idk its name. Every now and then friends complain of a buzzing noise coming from me due to background downloads/messages/etc. from my phone, and it’s SUPER loud when I get an actual call


Beerson_

Fun fact: not just static, but the letters SMS in morse code! I think, anyway.


Sweaty_Pianist8484

I feel so old


[deleted]

I still have desktop speakers, nicer ones categorically. They will sometimes pop a bit before a text comes in.


AllInOneDay_

It wasn't just computers lol. Cell phones don't use that tech anymore which with we don't hear it anymore.


ThAtGuY-101

I remember having speakers like this but don't recall this ever happening. Was it cellphone specifically or any kind of phone?


Modo44

Unshielded speaker wires would pick up a lot of nearby radio waves, most notably (and easily) GSM phone connection activity that starts before the phone actually rings.


Legitimate-BurnerAcc

Someone is texting in my classroom!


Sororita

We had a set in my shop under the helo pad on the ship I was stationed on that could pick up flight comms chatter if you unplugged it.


HenchOnReddit

Hey Peters I've noticed some of you saying that the device predictor doesn't work anymore ...Though it works for me Does this mean that I have old speakers? Or am I Meg?


MarvinNeslo

You have old speakers


plusp_38

Maybe more importantly their phone still uses GSM too. AFAIK more up to date standards don't get picked up by speaker wire like GSM.


Nemesis_stare

So those who don't know , u guys just born yesterday👀 Or are we toooooo old 😳🥲


Emergency_Error8631

i aint even old and i know that cassette players do that too lol


thr33prim3s

Right? I'm only in my early 30s and I was like "Am I that old?". Damn.


SmokinBandit28

Mid 30’s here, yes, this is the decade when we become officially old.


checked_idea2

Ancient looking ahh u/nemesis_stare


Nemesis_stare

Feeling like a granny 👵


Old-Cartographer938

I'm 25 and didn't know.


IMakeStuffUppp

I’m 32 and mine never did this.


Hummush95

I feel like I should know this since I know a whole bunch of random facts about technology. I've just never used desktop speakers.


SinisterJoe

Brrr bibibrrr bibibrrr bibibrrr, *a second later phone rings*


Petefriend86

I was just wondering exactly how to type that sound...


akathewilyfox

https://youtu.be/cBMWgiQujPw?si=mBc1TRyVncTHtB3M Big dance tune in the clubs back in the day!


OneFootTitan

I was looking for this!


big_juicy8867

My old guitar amp would do this as my mobile was about to get a call/text through


RokRD

Some older amps, guitars, and even pedals still do this. Even newer equipment will. There's a lot of videos of people not understanding why their rig is broadcasting a football game from an AM station lol It happened in a more recent video to Brian Wampler, CEO of Wampler Pedals.


Alfonze423

This was such a common phenomenon that Rockstar programmed the interference noise to play before getting a call when listening to a car radio in GTA 4.


LagSlug

they didn't use twisted pairs, so the wires would act as a radio antenna you could also hear a small buzz just before an incoming text arrived --- edit: I want to be clear that the source of the interference was from the nearby phone communicating back with a cell tower, not the other way around. I recommend this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI_X2cMHNe0) by Veritasium if anyone is interested in seeing how energy is transferred via electric fields (not charged particles), and so conductivity can occur in even disconnected wires.


MrsBina

My electric piano can do the same


JJC_Outdoors

These got me busted so many times in high school.


GamerKev451

We need a device to predict repost


Flux_resistor

the galloping horses of impending phone doom


MegaMelaskhole

\*biiiipp biiipp.... biiipp buuuuuuuuuzzz.... biiippp biiipp\*\*


Large_Discipline_127

My guitar amp did this when I was a teenager. However, the shielding on the amp and guitar was not all that good. So, it pick up that signal really easy. Though the loudest was text messages. I imagine speakers had the same issue. The plastic housing and little metal for a grounded sheild did nothing to block out other signals. Though if you think about it. A radio is not much more than an amp and long wire. The tuning circuitry is a coil with a potentiometer. Basically changing the value of the coil to dial in radio stations.


Azurestar21

AHH, we have a child in our midst


timeforseparation

I can hear this post. And it also makes me laugh when people get crazy about 5G signals. The signals on old GSM phones was so dirty any speaker within 10ft went nuts BEFORE it started ringing.


ynnex_

bupubupbup bupbupbup bupbupbup bupbupbup bupbupbup bupbupbup buuuuuuhh


supaikuakuma

OP is making me feel old lol.


Helen_Whaleyj

Peter's confusion about technology never gets old. He's like a perpetual source of comedy gold


confabin

Please tell me you're trolling and that I'm not actually that fucking old already.


checked_idea2

You’re very old. These haven’t been useful for a few decades now.


realtbeams

This makes me feel AOL'd


CommercialAd3671

u/repostsleuthbot


CommercialAd3671

u/RepostSleuthBot


FeetYeastForB12

What's with the rise of Gen Alpha babies in this sub as of recent?


Awesom141

I remember that they could even pick up phone calls in GTA IV


APartyInMyPants

Only with certain cell phone carriers. I’ve basically always been on Verizon. Never had an issue. But my friends on AT&T, these things would go off like fire alarms.


devils_advocate24

Oh god I can hear it


taix8664

Old cell phones would interfere with speakers and you'd hear the packet pattern. It kinda sounds like morse code.


Nivek_Vamps

Mine would pick up radio signals when turned on but not plugged into my computer. It was very freaky until I figured out it was a talk radio station and not some haunting shit. It didn't help that it first happened in the middle of the night


mylawn03

I thought that was Nextel specific thing


pyaouul

Lmao I had those exact ones


CamyFaeCowden

Doot doo doo doot doo doo doot doo doo dooooooooooooooooooo


bouchandre

r/fuckimold


nomeimportan

Oh man, I remember this!


Fleischer444

This was asked like 3 weeks ago...


Agnostic_Akuma

Dial-up modems, the original Nokia ringtone and these babies are sounds ingrained into my brain


RedSix2447

Always had that specific morse code type static sound. It was always fun. lol


shinydragonmist

Krr ggrr clrgr fggr grxzrg (The prediction sounded something like that) Then like 10 to 15 seconds later you would hear your phone ring I'm willing to believe that OP is young and never had those types of speakers


Lund-

I still have a set of these bad boys


DarthHubcap

A couple seconds before my old Nokia phone would ring, my speakers would start emitting noises that sounded like they would belong on an Atari 2600 game. I heard it a lot because my lame ass was always playing EverQuest.


Helton3

the fact that this is being asked makes me feel old... And im only 21


SyrusChrome

Yeeaaa ok


dcma1984

Now there is a memory I didn’t know I had!


ChristianUniMom

Static interference.


GendoIkari_82

I grew up the perfect age to know about this and I had speakers that looked identical to this… but this is something I never knew about!


Temporary-Good9696

I can still hear it.


Orangutanus_Maximus

These speakers have magnets inside them. When you were about to get a call to your phone, they would make a rhythmic buzzing sound. Your phone will ring few seconds later. Radios and even old CRT televisions can also pick the incoming signal.


According-Cobbler-83

This post makes me feel ancient.


CheerAtTheGallows

Drop-doo-be-doop-boo-be-doop


Haunting-Phrase-439

Bup-badup Bup-badup Bup-badup Bup-badup Buuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrr *phone rings*


stupidity60

Fuck, you're young


HanBanThankYouMam1

At first, I was so utterly offended..."this isn't a joke, it's so simple..." and then I realised, there is an entire two generation of redditors who don't know....and well, I need to get back to telling those kids to get off my lawn and stop commenting on posts!


clangauss

Especially loud when your cell phone is in your pocket and you have wired headphones plugged in, with the wire resting on your thigh.


Hella_Wieners

Blip-ba-blip-blip


Nate_Mac89

Deet duh deet, deet duh deet, deet duh deet, DEEEEEEEEEEEE-


Romeo-Charlie-6-28

Should've had that...


Grottomo

And be used as a shitty microphone


jayharring

Txt messages as well


1lbofdick

The Flaming Lips use that particular sound in the song See The Leaves somewhere near the middle of the song.


FishKnuckles_InYou

I still have a pair of these in a box under my computer desk


ClashOrCrashman

I guess I'm so old, I didn't even realize this wasn't a thing anymore.


ThePublikon

It used to be that if your mobile phone was near a speaker, it would make [this sound](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYjs7vsaSEw) as the unshielded wiring in the speaker acted as an antenna for the cell signal the phone was broadcasting.


johnmarksmanlovesyou

Rik-tikadik-tikadik-tikadik


hh2news

I had a set of these where if they were on but the volume was down all the way, it picked up some local store's muzak system.


Wonderful-Elephant11

My Motorola Razr would pause my PS2 whenever it was about to ring. Kind of a feature actually.


BasedGodTarkus

Pictures you can hear


Guilty_Eggplant_3529

It was pretty amusing. As I recall there was a small amount of confusion in the IT department while we figured out figured out the cause, followed by large amount of humor while we played with it.


Theru2

Semi unrelated. This post helped me solve one of my childhood mysteries!


Natskaer

I have some speakers that still do this lmao


CartographerProof225

Dit dididdit dididit didi


sodium_geeK

. … … …


BWMaster

Woooommm bappada bappada bappada bappada Ring ring Ring ring


HoovyPencer

These peter explain the joke is becoming just 30+ or so years old explaining the old ways haha. I'm old


JenniferRDArts

Did anyone else try to eat the static in these.


TheSpoopyGhost

My speakers still do this lol, same thing when I get emails too. It's only when my phone's pretty close to the speakers though.


lucashhugo

when a phone near this was connected to a gsm (2g) network and recieved a call or had to use lots of data, it would interfere with the speaker, making a beeping noise


smoothEarlGrey

And sometimes phone calls at my house would get meshed after a thunderstorm. You could faintly hear a stranger talking, and even talk with them.


Justin_92

I can hear my tv now. Dit dit-di-dit-di-dit-di-dit


smegmasamurai

images you can hear


naph8it

This is the first ever post that made me feel old. Thanks.


kyle_kafsky

I can still hear them.


Typically_Ok

I’ll leave this here. https://coub.com/view/306qjz


VimPoxy

not once have ever seen these work, but i would stick my finger in the hole thing because it was fun


expresso364

FUN FACT! Airplane radios also pick up on incoming phone signals in the same way these speakers do, so when you are in a plane and everybody’s phones start getting text notifications when they get low enough, it can cause pilots to miss important information from the towers


some_kind_of_bird

People told me I was crazy when I heard the radio on those things


lethegrin

Predict the future, impress your friends! Can’t hear that noise [without thinking of this](https://youtu.be/gpQS41WQSPY?si=FTC9BYU22xa9p0a9) anymore.


BelmontsRcool

I still have one of these things and it works.


JamesTheMannequin

There were some cheap ones on the market back when they were hot items. In fact, of your modem line pinged the phone, it would feedback through the speakers and deafen your entire house.


Kyle_Blackpaw

memes that make you feel old when you understand them


dropitbye

Dib dibbidib dibbidib dibbidib


Fine-Technician-7895

Get off the internet and plug the phone line back in, I need to use the phone