Would you last 40 hours on a call? Well, this World Record goes beyond that
Update from June, 2025:
A representative from the Guinness World Records reached back to me with details about the actual first spot in this article. While it could very well have been a valid record, the organization confirms that it is no longer being actively monitored. It was confirmed to me that typically, digital catalogues of such records exist, but in this specific case: no such was found.
This, in turn, might mean that the record was never registered with Guinness in the first place. Or it could just be faulty archiving: there is no real way of knowing.
In short: if you'd like to have at it, now is your chance!
The original story follows below:
But let me blow your mind: it didn’t used to be like this. Less than fifty years ago, calling was the norm, and talking to your friends for hours on end was a feature, not a bug.
But there are certain people who just love pushing things to the limit. So of course: there is a world record for the longest phone conversation of all time. Now, before you read on: try to guess how long it went on, and leave a comment!
The runner-ups:
That’s right: we’ve got multiple candidates, if you can believe it.
46 hours, 12 minutes, 52 seconds, and 228 milliseconds
an art project that took a lot of effort!
Image by The Harvard Crimson
This experimental art piece was conducted by Eric R. Brewster and Avery A. Leonard. It was created to mark the premiere of the Harvard Generalist: an, at the time, new student arts cooperative.
But you know how it goes: you can’t have art without suffering. This performance meant that the youngsters were on the line for the entire duration, and not allowed to sit in silence for more than 10 seconds at a time. This meant no sleep, but they were allowed occasional five minute breaks.
For the first eight hours I was here, they were very excited and had original topics… Now you can see their fatigue, and they’re ready to sleep. You could see them rambling as time progressed.
— Christian M. Trippe, timekeeper, The Harvard Crimson, 2012
This explored deterioration—physical, mental, and emotional. Because of that deterioration, the balance between art and sport was explored.
— Ginny C. Fahs, Stage Manager, The Harvard Crimson, 2012
In the long run, I’d say that this was about responding to the question of “How long could we naturally come up with conversation topics through our mind or actual surroundings?”.
Of course, for such an insane duration, they ran out of topics. Which is why the crowd was allowed to suggest topics, but only via body language: the only speech to be heard had to come from Eric and Avery.
This is on our third spot, and I’m already certain that I wouldn’t be able to hold the line as long, especially without sleep.
51 hours
one call, many participants
Our second place award goes to Sunil Prabhakar, who seems to have been on this lengthy conversation through need, rather than want. On 18 September 2009, at 7AM, he called K. K. Agarwal — a hot-shot cardiologist at Moolchand Medicity, New Delhi.
Unlike the call from the last example, however, Sunli’s talked to a lot of people on the other end, without ever needing to re-dial or get called again later.
In either case, I hope that it all concluded well and good. And hey: with this part being so short, it means that we can move right on ahead to the big reveal.
This is your last reminder to make a guess and leave a comment!
56 hours and 4 minutes
the world’s longest phone call
This is it, folks! And it took place in Riga, Latvia. And it seems way, way more intentional than the semi-accidental happenings described above.
In 2012, Tele2 communications and SponsorKing organized some sort of event, where two teams — Kristaps Štãls paired with Patriks Zvaigzne, and Leonids Romanovs participating together with Tatjana Fjodorova — talked, and talked until that 56 hour mark.
At a certain point, Guinness had acknowledged this feat with a World Record, visible on this URL. It, however, no longer leads to an active page. Furthermore, when I try to find out more about this event, I can scarcely find anything online.
Unless you happen to have more info, which if you do: kindly share in the comments or over email, thanks!
Two cool world records you should know about!
which are also pretty darn weird!
Now that I had to browse the GWC’s online archives, I couldn’t help but notice two other phone-related entries, which really stood out to me:
- In May 2007, Rob Baber made a phone call from an altitude of 8848 meters, using a Motorola MOTO Z8. And yes: the call took place from the summit of Everest. Rod called Motorola’s voicemail for some reason and he remained on the line for a bit less than 2 minutes (which cost him a bit more than $4).
- In December of 2015, Verizon — yes, that Verizon, the US carrier — built the world’s first working phone… Inside Minecraft. The phone could not only make calls: it supported video calls, texting and could even surf the web.
A decade later, and I think that we’re still scratching the surface of what this platform of a game would let its fans create. I mean, at this point I’ve seen people building computers inside Minecraft, capable enough to run Minecraft once more. And, of course: Doom is playable on Minecraft too.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: