Ring (telephone)
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A telephone ring is the sound generated when an incoming call is received.
On home telephones, the ring is triggered by an AC high-voltage electrical current of around 90 volts and an intensity of 30 milliamperes, with a wave frequency of 20 hertz. This current is raised for every single ring, and this allows phone operators to provide several services with different kinds of rings (for example, rings with a shorter interval between them might be used to signal a call from a given number). When a home phone rings, it may carry Caller ID information.
On mobile phones, the ring is simply a specific radio signal. On the european GSM networks, almost all calls provide Caller ID information, so that the receiver knows where the call is coming from. There are options to call anonymously, and some centralized phone systems - such as those found in companies - actually "erase" such information when the call is routed to the outside phone world.
Most calls do send Caller ID, and this can be used as an inexpensive way of silent communication.
This is a typical use in Italy: cell phones are extremely widespread and used (especially among youngsters), but they are expensive. While most people have pre-paid contracts and SMS messages actually generate more income to cell operators than calls, the prices are still high: the average price for a call is around 20 eurocents per minute and an SMS message costs between 12 and 15 eurocents (carrying a maximum of 160 characters). Youngsters have therefore developed a silent communication system based upon rings. They are "randomly" used to tell the receiver party that the caller is thinking of them, or to keep each other company, or to confirm events. If you have to go somewhere with a friend, for example, you might agree with him/her along the line of "when I'm under your window, I'll ring you". After a while, when your friend receives your ring, he/she will know that you're there, and get out of home.
Rings are, effectively, the same as lost calls (and as such, they are not paid for). They might be considered intentional lost calls, but for Italians they are a valuable means of simple communication, to the point that the verb "squillare" (to ring), previously only used about phones ("il telefono stava squillando", the phone was ringing) has gained mainstream informal acceptance in phrases like "ti ho squillato" (literally: I rang you).
This practice does not seem to be popular anywhere else outside of Italy, not even in other European countries.