Call waiting (or catch phone in Japan), in telephony, is a feature on some telephone networks. If a calling party places a call to a called party which is otherwise engaged, and the called party has the call waiting feature enabled, the called party is able to suspend the current telephone call and switch to the new incoming call (typically, this is done by pushing the flash button), and can then negotiate with the new or the current caller an appropriate time to ring back. Call waiting, then, alleviates the need to have more than one line for voice communications.
Read more about Call Waiting: Star Codes, Line Sharing, History
Famous quotes containing the words call and/or waiting:
“Among the multitude of scholars and authors, we feel no hallowing presence; we are sensible of a knack and skill rather than of inspiration; they have a light, and know not whence it comes, and call it their own; their talent is some exaggerated faculty, some overgrown member, so that their strength is a disease.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Do not be deceived! The busiest people harbor the greatest weariness, their restlessness is weakness—they no longer have the capacity for waiting and idleness.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)