[alexander_busek]

That’s kind of quibbly, if one has an answering machine or voicemail....

I'm talking about the telephone as it was for most of its existence (i.e., till the end of the 20th Century).

Regards,

[HiTech RedNeck]

Some people disregarded any idea that telephone = super urgent, and either ignored it or shut its bell off when they didn’t want to be bothered.

There was always “Call the police station and send a cop.”