Intercept message

An intercept message is a telephone recording informing the caller that the call cannot be completed, for any of a number of reasons ranging from local congestion, to disconnection of the destination phone, number dial errors or network trouble along the route.

Before automation, calls to a disconnected or non-working number would be diverted to an intercept operator. The operator would ask what number the subscriber was attempting to call, determine the reason for the intercept and relay the information to the calling party.

The first automatic intercept systems used rotating magnetic drums containing multiple recorded phrases, with a computer or mechanical control system playing phrases in the proper sequence. Initially, the caller was given the option to remain on the line for a live operator after the announcement was completed; this has now been removed.

These messages are generally performed by female voices, although male voices are used as well.

Jane Barbe and Pat Fleet are well known for being the voices behind many intercept messages originating in the United States.

Many of these recordings end with the phrase "This is a recording" to let the callers know that they have not reached a live operator.

The precise wording of intercept messages is left to the discretion of each local telephone company, except that most such messages nowadays start with one of several special information tones, standardized by Telcordia when it was still called Bellcore.

In the 1970s, for example, New York Telephone used the following:

I'm sorry; the number you have reached is not in service, or temporarily disconnected. The number you have reached is not in service at this time. This is a recording.

In rural areas, the name of the town from which the exchange service is furnished was often included in the message; this was especially true if the telephone company providing the service was not part of the Bell System.

By the 1980s, a standardized generic message was adopted, and is in use in a vast majority of localities in America today. It reads as follows:

We're sorry; you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try your call again.

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