Yeah, Drew_park is totally right about double-checking! My rule now is to shout back what I think the signal means before I move. Like if my spotter points left, I yell "moving left?" and wait for their big, clear thumbs-up. If it's super loud, we just use our radios even for simple stuff. It feels silly for a second, but way less silly than digging up the water line again.

My first phone company job had us skip the toner on most house calls. We learned the layouts and rarely messed up.