Hello, again. Today's lesson on private payphones details what to do
when you get yourself connected out to the network. Typically there are
only a few ways to get out. The best is the good `ol Ernestine-type
operator (0). The typical rap to her is "Hello, operator, I'm testing
this phone. Do I sound clear to you?" or "What is the area code of
Phoenix?" to which you get the universal answer "The entire state of
Arizona is 602!". The former is ALWAYS safe, because of the fact that
this is a private payphone, the Ma Bell operator has no way of knowing
that you're not the Dickhead that's SUPPOSED to be working on the phone.
By now, you're probably wondering "So what?" or something like that.
Heres what: The thing you are attempting to do is hang on the line
and wait for the other party (called party) to hang up. This technique
is similar to the one used when phreaking call diverters, what is called
"Chain Dialling" or "2nd dialtone dialout" Now, of course some of the
phones out there are looking for this second dialtone, and others are
looking for loop current. The 2nd dialtone from a C.O. is almost always
heralded by a momentary loss of loop current, and this locks out the
keypad and mouthpiece of the phone. (You can't mess with these in this
way). The types which are only looking for the 2nd dialtone are easy to beat.
First, some give you a "live" keypad on the phone, which
means that for as long as you press a key, DTMF (Touch Tone) is heard.
Others use a "metered" keypad which pisses out short DTMF bursts for
each key press. The object here is to lay on the 1st digit of the number you
really want to dial while waiting for 2nd dialtone. This
will cause the C.O. to latch up on your DTMF before the payphone's internal
dial tone detector can latch up on the dial tone! The
network dialtone will of course go away after the 1st digit and the rest
of the number may be dialed more leisurely. This process can continue
ad infinitum. The types with "metered" keypads are a bit more difficult
to screw with, as you have to repeatedly hit that 1st digit until you
hear the "flash" of dialtone between presses. The other type of phone
disallows keypad use after the call is in progress, and for those, let
me introduce you to your best friend: The Pocket Dialer! Sold for rid-
iculously cheap prices at nearly every consumer electronics store, these
gems allow you to screw with lots of different things when it comes to
private payphones. Besides Operator Calls, Credit Card calls may be
used to get out (0 plus). To do this, dial 0, a valid area code and prefix,
and 1234 for the number. When Bell supplies the Bong tone, dial
"6#" (really dial the "#" sign). This will evoke the message "Your Card
Number is Invalid, please redial" and enter "6#" again. The message
this time is "Please hang up and try again." wait for 1-10 secs (depending on
C.O. type) and Voila! - Dial tone! This is particularly nice because the
payphone expects a lot of keypad and DTMF activity on the line for a 0 plus
call, and has relaxed restraints on the keypad.
That should do it for Chain dialling, next time we'll go into other
ways to phraud the fone.
