Why Am I Able to Eavesdrop on Calls When Dialing from My Landline?

[Ivan Seeking]

Twice now I have called someone from my landline and ended up eavesdropping [briefly] on the person I'm calling. They were on the phone when I called. But instead of getting a busy signal or voicemail, I ended up hearing one side of their ongoing conversation. In one case I knew I could hear the person I was calling by the sound of their voice. In the other case I assume that I could hear the person on the other end of the conversation. Since I got voicemail right away when I called back I assume I was connected to the right conversation. Obviously I didn't want to listen too long for ethical reasons. [well, actually I wanted to but didn't. One was a customer! ]

 

[Evo]

Twice now I have called someone from my landline and ended up eavesdropping [briefly] on the person I'm calling. They were on the phone when I called. But instead of getting a busy signal or voicemail, I ended up hearing one side of their ongoing conversation. In one case I knew I could hear the person I was calling by the sound of their voice. In the other case I assume that I could hear the person on the other end of the conversation. Since I got voicemail right away when I called back I assume I was connected to the right conversation. Obviously I didn't want to listen too long for ethical reasons. [well, actually I wanted to but didn't. One was a customer! ]

Usually that happens when the person picks up the phone to place a call before you hear the ring tone, but you ended up in the middle of an ongoing call? I've had that happen, can't remember what the cause was though.