"John Rowland" wrote in message
...
"Martin Underwood" wrote in message
...

One thing I wish they'd sort out: if someone calls you and
they fail to put their receiver back, the line remains connected
for ages, even after you've put your phone back, blocking you
from making an outgoing call. When my grandma had a stroke
a few years ago, she phoned me for help but forgot to put her
phone back. I eventually had to go next door to phone for an
ambulance because the line wouldn't disconnect. Surely it's
not difficult to enginner things so *either* handset being replaced
drops the line - or else to shorten the delay to just a few seconds
if it's needed to avoid the line
dropping if you accidentally blip the handset switch.

When someone phones me, I answer on the nearest handset which is usually
the
one in the hall), and then put that down and take the rest of the call on
another handset (usually in a room where I can sit down, keep warm and not
keep everyone in the house awake). So I hope they don't change that. Maybe
you should stay connected until you successfully dial and connect to
another
number.

I always leave the first phone off-hook until I've lifted the second
receiver.

I'd be quite happy if the phone remained connected, providing that there was
some action (eg pressing a dial button) that reliably forced the line to
drop.

I've heard that the failure of line-drop was a way that burglars prevented a
house's occupants from dialling 999 - they'd ring a number and then leave
their phone off-hook to keep the line open while they burgled the house.
Less reliable nowadays since many people have mobiles which could be used as
a fall-back in this case.