I am wondering if it is common for phone calls from the US to be misrouted when calling to former Russia, more specifically a small village in Moldova.
I have been talking to a seemingly wonderful 22 year old lady since October 03. We talk almost daily on Yahoo Messenger. She talks to me from an Internet Cafe and sometimes goes to the cafe with a web cam so we can see each other. We send emails to each other, and I also sometimes call her in the city where she goes to University. I am planning to meet her in the summer.
She has been at her parents' village where she grew up for the holidays for the last few weeks. We set up a time (Saturday evenings her time) for me to call her so we could try to keep in touch. (They have no PC there) I had a lot of trouble getting through to her the first time, but after many attempts finally got a good connection to the village.
HERE IS THE CONCERN: Last Saturday I called the same number (100% sure I did) a few times and kept getting a lady, but not MY lady. I kept checking the number and trying...but still...same lady. I gave up and assumed it was her Mother. It bothered me that perhaps she didn't stay home to talk to me. But..no big deal. I called again on Sunday, just to see if I would get lucky and she would be home. This time a man answered. I assumed her father.
Today (Saturday) I called again and she was there. She said she waited for me to call her last Saturday and that she truly missed me. (She has such a sweet voice) She says she was looking forward to talking to me because she had finally received a package that I had sent her with some new pictures and a hand written letter. I told her that I did call and thought maybe her parents were answering the phone. She said she was at home the whole night and was sad that I had not called. I let it go and we talked about other things. It was still a nice conversation as I was VERY happy to be talking to her.
SO...could the phone lines misrouted my calls on both Saturday and Sunday?
possibly, one digit wrong, you get a completly different country! I once misdialed 1 digit, didnt notice it, but got some guy in Africa. I know that dialing a thousand numbers to get through is a pain, but you have to leave some room for error when dialing that many numbers.
Knowing the state of so much of the phone network in the FSU,digital phone lines that we have been spoilt with for a few years now are still in very short supply there.So the chances of a misrouted call are quite common.I have lost count of the times that I have called Ukraine and found myself talking to the wrong number!!
Also sometimes on connection the line has been so bad as to render any conversation useless.
it is possible. I could not get to my firends sometimes. error in the switch and you are connected to somebody else. she needs to contact her local phone company and complain. give you another phone numer.
Thanks gentelemen. I feel a little better. She seems so honest and sincere, but I have been concerned that she is to good to be true. I will let this one go as a phone problem.
On another note...It drives me crazy that I am getting such strong feelings for a lady I have never met in person. It is not like me to do this. A am very romantic, yet very logical as well (well most of the time).
In this era's old fashioned Electro-Mechanical Selectors are still used in Exchanges in large parts of the world. Never mind I suppose, try & try again seems to work most of the time.
Follow Oleg's advice, maybe it will help.
Phoning via a GSM may prevent such errors though, as these signals tend to be routed via 'modern' lines to as close to the destination as possible these days, and this includes a 'wedge' placed after a 'mechanical' exchange. Try?
Admittedly when I was calling Moldova for some woman, I had a few mishaps getting through. Couple of wrong numbers, couple of unrecognised numbers etc, but I got there in the end.
Still wish I hadn't wasted the time or effort though.
IT was another name - I haven't mentioned her name on this forum - ever. I've never done that because the woman has a right to privacy. Even though she's played games with me continually I can respect that even she has a right to remain annonymous and that is why I will never mention who she is.
I dont know if it was luck or what, but when I call using a cheap internet calling card, it is lousy quality, all staticy and stuff, but when I call using 10-10-987, it is pretty clear.
Musicman: I was the one who met an Olga in Moldova - you are right that it is a very common name. She is from Kishinev the capital of Moldova. I also respect her privacy and will not give identifying information beyond that.
Chipscher. What is the per minute charge using 10-10-987? I can get 6.7 cents per minute using a calling card - and if you call during hours with less usage - the calls are as clear as local calls here in the states.
Thats the thing, people have work, so I have to call in teh evening there (12 in teh afternoon here). 10-10-987 to Russia is about 9 cents, and Ukraine is 13 cents.