Phone engaged due to caller not hanging up

[oconoc]

Someone rang my house phone and apologised as they had got a wrong number. Since then I have not got a dialing tone. When I ring my home phone number it is engaged. How to I get my phone line back?

[lostandconfused]

have you tried unplugging your phone from the master socket for 15 minutes? that sometimes works

[oconoc]

We had unplugged for a few seconds, did not work. Since tried longer and everything reset. Thanks

[garethpaul]

This has happened to me many times, and I have found that by picking up the handset and pressing the 'R' or recall (not last number redial) button grabs you a dial tone.

[Mick]

That probably depended on the type of phone you had - Usually when someone rings the "receiver" on a landline and then doesn't hang up - The line will stay connected to the "receiver" even though he or she will have hanged up their phone. It normally stays connected in this way for up to twenty minutes, so long as the receiver doesn't keep picking up the phone to check the line.

It is annoying, if only land lines worked like Mobiles, where anyone can terminate the call without this problem.