Our phone worked the same way but we cranked one long to get the operator. There was no dial tone and no way to place a call.
On another note, I recall reading about a prankster who discovered that a particular whistle in a box of breakfast cereal could “tweet” through AT&T's safeguards. Free long distance was really free...
68 posted on 11/18/2013 6:44:54 PM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
("Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth.")