Very weird connection problem

[Anonymous]

Tonight at about 7:30pm my phone rang and it said my girlfriend was calling, it stated her name and her number. I answered the phone there was a woman on the other end of the line whos voice i didnt recognise.The conversation went something like this..

me: "Hello?"

unknown person: "There isnt anything on hinterland.com"

me: "What?"

unknown person: "There isnt anything on hinterland.com"

me: "Who is this?"

unknown person: " You know who it is, Its me!"

me: "No sorry ive no idea who you are, I think you have the wrong number"

unknown person: "Oh! Really? Are you sure? I dont think so i was just talking to my husband"

me: "Well.. my phone just said my girlfriend was calling but i dont recognise your voice"

unknown person: " Can you put my husband back on the line please and stop messing about?

me: "Err.. No really i dont know you husband, im on my own here"

Then the call ended. My phone rang once more stating that my girlfriend was calling so i answered it and this time it really was my girlfriend, asking me who i was talking to. Apparently she could hear me talking to this other unknown woman, but could only hear my voice and not the unknown woman, all the time my girlfriend was shouting down the phone "its me, its me! who do you think it is!!"

Can someone explain what on earth has happened here??

Bit late for Halloween tricks!

[Cleoriff]

Hi @Anonymous  to be honest I have absolutely no idea...

Back in the day we had shared lines (they were called party lines) for some landline phones and we got all sorts of funny mixed calls then....

I googled Hinterland...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinterland

Other than the WiKi link...I do know there was a BBC 4 mini series called Hinterland....

On that I have exhausted any other explanation...Sorry...:smileywink:

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your reply. I have been doing some googling and apparently this 'crossed lines' problem was quite prolific in 2013, theres quite a lot of news articles and discussion. They say its a security issue as people can hear into your conversations etc

[Anonymous]

Hi @Anonymous and Welcome to the forum.

I've not had this 'crossed line' event happen to me fortunately, and judging by the lack of posts reporting so it could be one of those rarities 😄

I'm not convinced about a Security Issue for a consumer as tapping of a line is illegal without the correct authorities consent.

I wouldn't be worried and out it down to a one off (hopefully) if this does happen again then you can always speak to O2 Customer Services. 202 for Contract. 4445 for PAYG. 8002 for Business.

[viridis]

Had a few last year tbh with one bloke talking about getting a refund on some shoes.
While a rarity, it does happen, which I thought it couldn't with digital phones and was a part of marketing digital over analogue

[Cleoriff]

---

@viridis wrote:
Had a few last year tbh with one bloke talking about getting a refund on some shoes.
While a rarity, it does happen, which I thought it couldn't with digital phones and was a part of marketing digital over analogue

---

Well I wasn't far off the mark with my 'party line' experiences then Viridis...:smileywink:

Even though the reason THAT happened was completely different from the digital/analogue one you describe.

Either way it was a crossed line as it were...

I thought with the OPs mystery caller talking about hinterland.com.... it could have been someone casting for the show of that name...

I would imagine this was a one off experience....

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

As you have found out from Google, crossed lines are still possible although thankfully, not common at all anymore.
Back in the analogue days it was always 50/50 if your call went through to the correct phone or not.
Just a glitch that hopefully you won't encounter again but still worth reporting to CS just in case they have had any other reports as it may point to an issue with one of their servers.
http://www.o2.co.uk/contactus