> For many years, on TV the ringer sound for a telephone often did not
>> match the telephone set shown. In earlier years a 300 set or
>> separate bell box ringer would be used for a 500 set. In later
>> years, a modern phone with an electronic ringer would still sound
>> like a mechanical bell and vice versa.
> How about the often incorrect ringback tones from the C.O.? Or, the
> immediate return to dial tone when the other party suddenly hung up?
> (called or calling party, it didn't matter ;-)
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Or how many times have you seen shows
> where a cellular phone was involved and the person using the cell
> phone heard 'dial tone' when he took the phone 'off hook' to dial a
> number. We know there is no such thing as 'dial tone' on a cell
> phone. PAT]
Add the speeded up ringing cadence often used.
The immediate dialtone on hangup is common on British shows as well, along with continued use of our old-style dialtone long after it was gone from the PSTN.
Another common mistake here is the "pip pip" mimicking the answer supervision of one of our old trunk signaling systems long after the last such trunk systems went out of service.
-Paul.