Last-call return, automatic recall, or (on PBX and

centrex Centrex is a portmanteau of central exchange, a kind of telephone exchange. It provides functions similar to a PBX, but is provisioned with equipment owned by, and located at, the telephone company premises. Centrex service was first install ...

service) camp-on, is a

telecommunication Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

feature offered by

telephony Telephony ( ) is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunications services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is ...

service provider A service provider (SP) is an organization that provides services, such as consulting, legal, real estate, communications, storage, and processing services, to other organizations. Although a service provider can be a sub-unit of the organization t ...

s to subscribers to provide the subscriber with the

telephone number A telephone number is the address of a Telecommunications, telecommunication endpoint, such as a telephone, in a telephone network, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN). A telephone number typically consists of a Number, sequ ...

, and sometimes the time, of the last caller. The service may also offer the facility to place a call to the

calling party The calling party (in some contexts called the "A-Number") is a person who (or device that) initiates a telephone call. The person who, or device that, receives a telephone call is the called party (or callee or B-party). In some countries, it i ...

. The general public tends to refer to the service by the telephone feature code, the telephone number it has in their country; for example, in North America, this is ''*69'', while in the UK, it is called ''1471''. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' described Call Return in 1992 as a new service. It can be paid for per-call or subscribed to monthly.

Feature code

The number for this facility varies with country and provider: *

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Vertical service code A vertical service code (VSC) is a sequence of digits and the signals star () and pound/hash () dialed on a telephone keypad or rotary dial to access certain telephone service features. Some vertical service codes require dialing of a telephone ...

*69; 1169 on

rotary phone Rotary may refer to: Science, engineering and technology * Rotary motion * Rotary dial, a rotating telephone dial * Rotary engine (disambiguation), multiple types of engines called "rotary" * Rotary latch * Rotary milking shed, a type of milking s ...

pulse dial Pulse dialing is a signaling technology in telecommunications in which a direct current local loop circuit is interrupted according to a defined coding system for each signal transmitted, usually a digit. This lends the method the often used ...

telephones. The prompt voice behind most U.S.

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

implementations of this feature is

Pat Fleet Pat Trumble Fleet is an American voice actress. Widely recognized for the tens of thousands of recordings she has made for US telephone companies such as AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, the former Bell System companies, and others since 1981, she is still m ...

. Where available, it is offered on a per-call charge (typically 50¢) or an unlimited-use monthly subscription for a few dollars. *

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

: *10# for

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecomm ...

services or *69 on

Optus Singtel Optus Pty Limited is an Australian Telecommunications in Australia, telecommunications company headquartered in Macquarie Park, a suburb in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiar ...

HFC Telephony network. This only allows one to return the last unanswered call, and can cost 35 cents per use. *

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

: 3131 *

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

: *42 *

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

: 1361 to get number, 1363 to call back. *

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

: 1471 (also used in

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

, and the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

) In the UK, after dialing 1471, the caller can press "3" to automatically return the call. Previously free, since August 2004 the return call service incurs a charge. The service provider may also offer a facility by which the calling party can prevent their number being revealed to the called party, either permanently or on a per-call basis. This is achieved by prefixing the dialed number with: * Australia: 1831 on landlines and mobile phones, or #31# from a mobile * United Kingdom, Ireland, Isle of Man, and Channel Islands: 141 on landlines and #31# on mobiles * United States: *67 * Sweden: #31# Conversely, to send the caller number on a line where the number is normally withheld, the following prefixes can be dialed: * Australia: 1832 on landlines, or *31# from a mobile * Ireland: 142 * United Kingdom: 1470 (also used in Gibraltar and the Channel Islands) * United States: *82 * Philippines *999 In Gibraltar and formerly in Ireland, ex-directory or unlisted numbers are withheld by default. In

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, most contemporary telephones have a specific button functioning as call return, which is an internal function of the telephone itself (the number of the last caller is stored inside the phone at the time of that last call) and thus doesn't have a numeric code. In

, the feature is commonly marketed by telephone companies as a combination of two features: * Call again, a form of

automatic ring back Automatic ring back is a service offered by phone companies. On making a telephone call to a number that is engaged, automatic ring back is a service provided by the telephone company whereby, when the called number becomes available, the caller is ...

, allows a caller, on reaching a

busy signal A busy signal (or busy tone or engaged tone) in telephony is an audible call-progress tone or audible signal to the calling party that indicates failure to complete the requested connection of that particular telephone call. The busy signa ...

, to hang up, dial a special code, and be called back automatically when the called number is no longer busy, usually with a limit of 30 minutes. * Call return allows a customer to dial a code that identifies the last incoming call. On some types of central office equipment, it announces the number and offers the call-back option; on others, it simply attempts a connection without an announcement.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Last-Call Return Teletraffic Telephone service enhanced features Calling features

Feature code

See also

References