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2600.network Dialup Service

2600.network

31–40 of 119 posts

Re: 2600.network Dialup Service

#31

How well can digital phone lines carry dial-up connections? It was an issue in the early days of digital lines - same as with fax. For fax we got v.34 and other improvements. IDK about dialup tho.

If you have an ATA like a Cisco SPA122 , Linksys or Polycom 302, then you should be able to get between 2400 and 14,400 baud speeds; you will have to try different speeds.

Faxes routinely get 9600 and 14,400 speeds over these ATAs; it helps a great deal if your coded is G711 which is an uncompressed codec (it is u-law PCM in the USA; PCM is just like the bits recorded on a music CD, but at a much lower bitrate).

Re: 2600.network Dialup Service

#32
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of fun history around 2600Hz for those too young to remember or not part of the phreaking crowd, a fairly extinct form of hacker these days. A phreaker going by Joybubbles was the first to exploit the tone by whistling. Later, a toy whistle in a cereal box was found to be able to produce the tone, leading to further exploit by John Draper, aka, Cap'n Crunch. You can 3D print the whistle these days for a bit of n…

> A phreaker going by Joybubbles was the first to exploit the tone by whistling. Joybubbles (formerly Joe Engressia) specifically denied being the first. In this interview (no timestamp), he mentions having heard of others phreaking as far back as the 50s: https://www.2600.com/offthehook/mp3files/1991/off_the_hook__... He also demonstrates whistling 2600hz during that interview, including doing so on one of the only…

Thanks. I was in Team Virus and later Team Phreak, and we had plenty of people coming to tell their stories of being either Draper or the first to discover red/blue boxing after we put out NPA-NXX. A lot of absolute nonesense, but tons of fun while it lasted.

Re: 2600.network Dialup Service

#34
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of fun history around 2600Hz for those too young to remember or not part of the phreaking crowd, a fairly extinct form of hacker these days. A phreaker going by Joybubbles was the first to exploit the tone by whistling. Later, a toy whistle in a cereal box was found to be able to produce the tone, leading to further exploit by John Draper, aka, Cap'n Crunch. You can 3D print the whistle these days for a bit of n…

Shameless plug for my book on the history of the subject, for those interested: https://explodingthephone.com/

Nice! I just ordered a copy and can't wait to read it! Getting Steve Wozniak to write the forward is quite literally a "ringing" endorsement. ;-)

Woz spoke at UC Berkeley (might have been 1998 commencement), and I asked him to sign an issue of 2600 magazine. After he signed it he flipped through it and asked if 2600 was still good and worth reading because he was thinking of getting a subscription for his son.

Re: 2600.network Dialup Service

#35
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you theoretically use an analog modem (or worst case an acoustic coupler) over IMS (VoLTE etc., which should all have at least some QoS), or are the jitter rates and codecs too bad for that (like they often are for Fax over VoIP on fixed lines)? I wonder if some of the networks that are continuing to offer GSM (usually via some core network emulations, as far as I understand, to make it more compatible with mod…

Theoretically, maybe. If you got a good 'HD voice' (higher bitrate EVS codec) call, it's possible you could negotiate and send a slower fax signal. No way on a full-rate or half-rate GSM codec or amr-nb though, just doesn't have the bandwidth, chops too much. Even back in the early 2000's when I was using free nights and weekends with my T68i to make calls to a free dialup provider in new england (9600baud yea), my c…

I thought VoIP codecs all chopped the frequencies that seems like it would be very detrimental to a data signal. Is the "HD" quality high enough for that, or was the analog data signal not as full frequency as I'm thinking they would be?

Re: 2600.network Dialup Service

#36
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of fun history around 2600Hz for those too young to remember or not part of the phreaking crowd, a fairly extinct form of hacker these days. A phreaker going by Joybubbles was the first to exploit the tone by whistling. Later, a toy whistle in a cereal box was found to be able to produce the tone, leading to further exploit by John Draper, aka, Cap'n Crunch. You can 3D print the whistle these days for a bit of n…

Shameless plug for my book on the history of the subject, for those interested: https://explodingthephone.com/

I was going to suggest this book as well, but no need if you're here doing it. Just a quick thanks for the book! I've read it multiple times whenever I feel nostalgic, and recommend when the subject comes up. I've even gifted a few copies.

Re: 2600.network Dialup Service

#37

Dial ups, war dialing, and telnet were peak internet as a child.

Orinoco Gold! I switched to passive Atheros when they ended up in netbooks, but I probably still have my scancat equipment somewhere.

G3 MacBook Pro clamshell, Orinoco Gold PCMCIA expansion card, an external cable connected to a threaded rod in a Pringles can. Gotta love the old farts strolling down memory lane with back in the day stories.

Re: 2600.network Dialup Service

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A phreaker going by Joybubbles was the first to exploit the tone by whistling. Joybubbles (formerly Joe Engressia) specifically denied being the first. In this interview (no timestamp), he mentions having heard of others phreaking as far back as the 50s: https://www.2600.com/offthehook/mp3files/1991/off_the_hook__... He also demonstrates whistling 2600hz during that interview, including doing so on one of the only…

Thanks. I was in Team Virus and later Team Phreak, and we had plenty of people coming to tell their stories of being either Draper or the first to discover red/blue boxing after we put out NPA-NXX. A lot of absolute nonesense, but tons of fun while it lasted.

Oh, to live again in 1995! The year of peak payphone and working red boxes. It was glorious, but sadly lives on only in our memories: https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/pay-phones-coming-back...

"The stark shift happened fast; in 1995, the number of pay phones in the U.S. peaked at 2.6 million, Slate reported in 2022. In less than three decades, that's dwindled to fewer than 100,000."

Re: 2600.network Dialup Service

#40

Dial ups, war dialing, and telnet were peak internet as a child.

Orinoco Gold! I switched to passive Atheros when they ended up in netbooks, but I probably still have my scancat equipment somewhere.

Wifi was somewhat later but yes, also lots of fun things to explore!
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