Patent ID: 6914968

Claim:
A method for preventing telephone calls from being initiated using a current loop wire line telephone connection, which method comprises: connecting a device incorporating a switch hook to a telephone line; detecting the use of the telephone line, by a telecommunication apparatus connected to the telephone line; activating the switch hook of the device to go off hook; detecting one or more Dual Tone Multi-Frequency signals on the telephone line; generating a constant Dual Tone Multi-Frequency signal in response to detecting one or more Dual Tone Multi-Frequency signals; applying the constant Dual Tone Multi-Frequency signal to the telephone line, whereby Dual Tone Multi-Frequency dialing cannot take place on the telephone line, and notifying the telephone company that an unauthorized call is in progress, the step of notifying the telephone company comprised of the substep of applying by the device a predetermined multi-frequency signal to the telephone line, whereby the device can utilize the extended Dual Tone Multi-Frequency signaling set to notify the telephone company that an unauthorized call is in progress, and whereby the telecommunication apparatus is unable to place an outgoing call using the telephone line.