Google Voice is Google's internet telephony service, launched in 2009, and its disconnect tone follows the long tradition of telephone network signals that tell callers a line has ended. As Google Voice calls moved into browsers and mobile apps, recordings of the tone began circulating on soundboards and in edited videos separate from actual calls. Creators adopted it because audiences already understood the meaning from real phone use, turning a functional system sound into a shorthand for being cut off, ignored or left without a response.