This seems odd, but it would have the advantage that there is no chance
> of a mis-dial. I wouldn't know whether any such advertiser actually
> bothered. I'm pretty sure TV audio would have been able to produce
> those dialing tones accurately enough.
TVs certainly could transmit the frequency accurately enough. However, whether it would travel across the room and into your handset is debatable, unless you have your TV cranked way up, or you place the microphone extremely close.
Once tone dial was introduced, there certainly was never a requirement
> that the tone generator be connected to the wall by a wire all the
> way. The Apple Newton had that capability over ten years ago, and I
> remember reports of other portable devices that could dial that way:
>
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And on the more modern side, most Palm devices have sufficient audio capability to dial a phone held near the PDA ... A whole new dimension to blueboxing, were the billing loopholes not closed years ago ...
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Boom. Boom boom boom. Boom boom. BOOM. Have a nice day. -- Susan Ivanova, B5