In telecommunication

Telecommunication

Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...

, a hotline (also called an automatic signaling service, ringdown

Ringdown

-Operator signaling:In telephony, ringdown is a method of signaling an operator in which telephone ringing current is sent over the line to operate a lamp or cause the operation of a self-locking relay known as a drop...

, or off-hook service) is a point-to-point communications

Information transfer

In telecommunications, information transfer is the process of moving messages containing user information from a source to a sink.Note: The information transfer rate may or may not be equal to the transmission modulation rate.-See also:...

 link

Data link

In telecommunication a data link is the means of connecting one location to another for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information. It can also refer to a set of electronics assemblies, consisting of a transmitter and a receiver and the interconnecting data telecommunication circuit...

 in which a call

Telephone call

A telephone call is a connection over a telephone network between the calling party and the called party.-Information transmission:A telephone call may carry ordinary voice transmission using a telephone, data transmission when the calling party and called party are using modems, or facsimile...

 is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user

User (telecommunications)

In telecommunications, a user is a person, organization, or other entity that employs the services provided by a telecommunication system, or by an information processing system, for transfer of information....

 when the end instrument

End instrument

In telecommunications an end instrument is an equipment connected to the wires at the end of a telecommunications link. In most cases, this is a telephone. End instruments that relate to DTE include Printers, Computers, barcode readers, Automated Teller Machines and the console ports of routers....

 goes off-hook

Off-hook

In telephony, the term off-hook has the following meanings:# The condition that exists when a telephone or other user instrument is in use, i.e., during dialing or communicating. Note: off-hook originally referred to the condition that prevailed when telephones had a separate earpiece , which hung...

. An example would be a phone that automatically connects to emergency services on picking up the receiver.

True hotlines cannot be used to originate calls other than to preselected destinations. However, in common or colloquial usage, a "hotline" often refers to a call center reachable by dialing a standard telephone number, or sometimes the phone numbers themselves. This is especially the case with 24-hour, noncommercial numbers, such as police tip hotlines or suicide crisis hotline

Crisis hotline

A crisis hotline is a phone number people can call to get immediate emergency telephone counseling, usually by trained volunteers. Such hotlines have existed in most major cities of the United States at least since the mid-1970s. Initially set up to help those contemplating suicide, many have...

s, which are manned around the clock and thereby give the appearance of real hotlines. Increasingly, however, the term is found being applied to any customer service telephone number.

Derived from Federal Standard 1037C

Federal Standard 1037C

Federal Standard 1037C, titled Telecommunications: Glossary of Telecommunication Terms is a United States Federal Standard, issued by the General Services Administration pursuant to the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended....

.

Notable hotlines

• The White House/Kremlin hotline during the Cold War, known as the red telephone, which was established on June 20, 1963, in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis
  Cuban Missile Crisis
  The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
  
  .
• On June 20, 2004, both India and Pakistan agreed to extend a nuclear testing ban and to set up a hotline between their foreign secretaries aimed at preventing misunderstandings that might lead to nuclear war.
• India and China announced a hotline for the foreign ministers of both countries while reiterating their commitment to strengthening ties and building "mutual political trust".
• United States and China set up a crisis hotline between their military establishments in 2008.

See also

• Complaint system
• Crisis hotline
  Crisis hotline
  A crisis hotline is a phone number people can call to get immediate emergency telephone counseling, usually by trained volunteers. Such hotlines have existed in most major cities of the United States at least since the mid-1970s. Initially set up to help those contemplating suicide, many have...
  
  
• Moscow–Washington hotline ("Red Phone")
• Bat phone
  Bat phone
  A bat phone, in business jargon, is a private telephone number that is handled at a higher priority than a public line.-Batman comic:The name derives from Commissioner Gordon's secure line to the "Batphone" in the Batman television show of 1966–68...