I spent my high school years in Calcutta, and I remember that if you picked up your phone, there was no guarantee that you would get a dial tone; if you got a dial tone and dialed a number, there was no guarantee that you would reach the number you sought, and you heard an exasperated “wrong number!” more often than a friendly “hello.”
Pasé mis años de secundaria en Calcuta, y recuerdo que alzar el auricular del teléfono, no era garantía de que uno pudiese obtener un tono de marcado; y obtener un tono de marcado, no era garantía de que uno pudiese comunicarse con el número telefónico deseado; se escuchaban exasperados “¡número equivocado!” en más ocasiones que amistosos “hola”.