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I'm not sure if this still happens since I don't have a landline, but in the U.S. if there is an error processing your call there will be three tones followed by a recording "your call could not be completed as dialed, please check the number and try again" or something like that. I'm wondering if anyone has a clip of that or happens to know the frequencies and timing of the tones? Thanks.

Dial in a number that reqires an area code but don't use the code.

Or you can try just leaving out the last number.

I finally was able to look up the corresponding values - at least for Europe, they are defined in the ETSI standard document "EN 300 001", chapter 1.7.5.

The repeated cadence for the "Special information tone" is
An audible indication to the caller advising that the called number cannot be reached for reasons other than subscriber busy or congestion.
It is defined to be a sequence of three tones, each 300 +/- 40ms long and a pause of 1000 +/- 100ms before the next sequence.
Frequencies: f1 = 950 +/- 50 Hz, f2 = 1400 +/- 50 Hz, f3 = 1800 +/- 50 Hz

Furthermore:
Cadence is 330 +/- 70ms "on" for each frequency in the order given, with up to 30ms "off" between adjacent signals. (For GB)

Hope that helps.

(Note that in the POTS in Europe, all these values for information tones are country specific and the document has a list for all countries, although they generally are similar - if not identical; Above values are the common ones for this tone)

Try browsing around this site:
www.dmine.com/phworld/sounds/modern/

Most of the recordings have the error tone on the front end. You'll find a bunch of different messages of varying quality there.

Thanks, pretty much what I was looking for. Weird, I didn't know they had separate messages for severe weather, usually if the lines were down there'd just be a generic message. I guess it depends on the phone company. Also, tried the 950 1400 1800hz tones, sounds about right.