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I found a ringback number that works. I'd like to add it as an answer.

Please reopen Verizon ringback number for testing Caller ID?.

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    The question is out of scope for Super User.
    – Ramhound
    Dec 28, 2019 at 4:33
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    Verizon’s callback number is neither computer hardware. It also doesn’t interface with a computer. In fact your question has nothing to do with a computer. It’s out of scope for the same reasons cell phones are out of scope unless the question is specifically connected to the interface between the device and a computer
    – Ramhound
    Dec 28, 2019 at 9:53
  • Excellent observation. +1
    – user1061912
    May 10, 2020 at 21:01

2 Answers 2

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POTS and PSTN telephone systems are not computer hardware or software, they are public telephone infrastructure and have nothing to do with your computer hardware or software. They are also outside of your control and subject to the whims of the telephone operator.

The clause in the help that most closely matches the type of question you have is

personal and home computer networking

But it fails the "personal and home" part because your question is about a public telephone network that has little to do with your home except for a short length of wire with nothing except a suspected good modem that isn't actually at issue.

If your problem was actually connecting to the network in the first place using a modem then it could be on topic. Your problem is only that you need a "callback number" from a telephone provider so that you can read a caller id number.

If you had gotten a callback but your modem was failing to get caller ID then that might be on topic if the problem was with your modem and not the telephone operator. This would be tested using another known good device.

You might be using computer signals (via a modem) for working over their network but your problem doesn't even involve sending signals across the network except to dial a number and get a call back. This is a telephone problem, not a computer one. Until you can prove that the line is okay and that the modem itself is the problem then the issue is not with computer hardware or software.

Super User is not a telephone directory service.

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  • The task is testing the modem: "I'm trying to test Caller ID on a USR modem attached to a land line".
    – jww
    Dec 28, 2019 at 14:24
  • That may be the goal in the end but your question is entirely focused on the stages before that point. If you can remove basically the entire question after the sentence you just quoted and tell us what the results of getting a call are and whether caller ID works then it might be on topic, but "can someone give me a callback number", the majority of your actual question, is not on topic. "I'm trying to test Caller ID on a USR modem attached to a land line". Okay, so what happens when you get a call? Does anything happen?
    – Mokubai Mod
    Dec 28, 2019 at 14:50
  • This answer says "it fails the "personal and home" part because your question is about public telephone network that has little to do with your home except for a short length of wire". Surely by this logic any question about the internet would be off-topic. +1 for the "Super User is not a telephone directory service" though.
    – lx07
    Dec 31, 2019 at 19:32
  • @lx07 "the internet" usually involves your browser and computer doing a lot of work and indeed to confirm it our help also states that website and webapp problems are explicitly off-topic with the implied caveat of "except when the problem is with your computer hardware or software". There is a fine line, and the ISP hardware would be off-topic as well as websites, but that still leaves a large amount of "how your computer actually uses the internet" that is on-topic.
    – Mokubai Mod
    Dec 31, 2019 at 19:46
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To quote the close reason on the question:

Questions seeking product, service, or learning material recommendations are off-topic because they become outdated quickly and attract opinion-based answers.

This seems like a straight forward case of this close-reason - asking for such a number will soon become outdated, as evident by the resources linked form the question that contain such outdated numbers.

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