Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Installing a payphone in my house

bert.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 279 posts

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#61

Post by jamal-kumar »

jamesy0ung wrote: post #47
jamal-kumar wrote: post #10

Back when I was a kid I had alot of fun using methods to get free phone calls on these things. Like, beyond just red-boxing or whatever (Past that time). In Japan, they would just accept DTMF tones from anything that would generate them. There was all these people using hacked cards that they installed countermeasures against which were hilarious because people using these hacked yakuza cards would keep one foot in t…

> In Japan, they would just accept DTMF tones from anything that would generate them. There was all these people using hacked cards that they installed countermeasures against which were hilarious because people using these hacked yakuza cards would keep one foot in the doorway in case the fabled alarm would go off, i knew a guy who did this thinking naaah it would never happen to me. NOPE happens to him, he had to s…

I elaborated on this on another reply.

It's something that happened in the late 90s, some time after I was in Japan myself. I trust the source, his Japanese wife corroborated it somewhat embarrassed.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#62

Post by AlbertCory »

bmitc wrote: post #52

That's a really awesome story with a great opening, middle, and especially the end, if one ignores the adolescent fraud. I think it really highlights the simple joy that technology that literally just works can bring. I'm around the same age as the author, a little younger in fact, but there's just something about today's Internet and a lot of the overwhelming amount of technology that just isn't fun or memorable. Fr…

Very true. The old-fashioned telephone handset was a masterpiece of human engineering. I bet with state-of-the-art mic and speakers, it would still be way better than a smartphone for actual phone calls.

Of course, I have to admit that my Bluetooth headset is pretty good, and a first-class gaming headset would be even better.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#63

Post by kfrzcode »

hayleox wrote: post #8

I did really enjoy this post, but is it just a tiny bit weird how casual he is about repeatedly committing fraud? Not asking for some grand apology (lord knows the crap I did as a kid), but the post is written like defrauding an ISP is just a normal and fine thing to do. Am I off base here?

You are on "Hacker"News...

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#64

Post by AlbertCory »

hayleox wrote: post #8

I did really enjoy this post, but is it just a tiny bit weird how casual he is about repeatedly committing fraud? Not asking for some grand apology (lord knows the crap I did as a kid), but the post is written like defrauding an ISP is just a normal and fine thing to do. Am I off base here?

You're not off base for now. You are for then. Those were different times.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#65

Post by wolrah »

DeathArrow wrote: post #50

Is there an adapter which allows you to connect an analog phone to a digital phone line? I would like to make use of an ancient analog phone.

> Is there an adapter which allows you to connect an analog phone to a digital phone line?

A VoIP analog telephone adapter (ATA) would be the most common form of this these days. Most will have two analog lines, though other configurations are available.

The Sipura SPA series and it's derivatives (Linksys PAP2(T), Cisco SPA122) are popular, as well as Obihai's lineup. I've used them all extensively and they're solid.

You can connect these to a SIP based VoIP provider or they can operate entirely standalone just calling port to port. With a bit of work you can even link up multiple devices on a private network IP to IP.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#66

Post by thematrixturtle »

cachvico wrote: post #54

How come the ISP didn't blacklist his address?

This is a different era of ISP. He was not signing up to have fiber installed to his house or whatever (which was not a thing back then), he was signing up to be able to call out to an ISP's server with his modem and get on the Internet from there. So the only thing the ISP knew about him was a username, password and fake billing details, and since the ISP was presumably not a telco, they could also not tell where the call was coming from.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#67

Post by Ayesh »

Wow this brings back memories. I stayed at a high school hostel, and and remember calling the high school sweethearts after 9pm, when they had super cheap fares. 9 minutes for an equivalent of $0.02.

There was only one phone, so the rest of the kids were in a queue waiting to call theirs. You'll get an earful if you were the one to fill the coin storage (the phone company only comes once a month or so to collect the money) or jam a coin.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#68

Post by jamal-kumar »

CaliforniaKarl wrote: post #43
dhosek wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was automated. The coin drop sound (or at least what was generated for the wire by the phone) was what drove the switch. All signals on POTS lines were sounds (thus the tones for pressing buttons or the numbers of clicks from dial phones).

In the beginning, it was a real bell! One bell for 5¢, rung twice for 10¢, and a separate gong sound for 25¢.

In my country it was 2200hz for a nickle, two for a dime, three for a quarter, and anything bigger just didn't fit

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#69

Post by wolfgang42 »

CaliforniaKarl wrote: post #43
dhosek wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was automated. The coin drop sound (or at least what was generated for the wire by the phone) was what drove the switch. All signals on POTS lines were sounds (thus the tones for pressing buttons or the numbers of clicks from dial phones).

In the beginning, it was a real bell! One bell for 5¢, rung twice for 10¢, and a separate gong sound for 25¢.

There’s a (very old, by now) Henry Morgan sketch I remember about an expensive long distance call: after an interminable series of dings and bongs, the operator admits that she lost count and has to return the coins so he can try again.

(Once they straighten out the funds, there’s a series of about six different operators needed to get the call across the country; all talking to, over, and past each other. “Hello, Hyannis, this is Truro. I have a call for Los Angeles! Westwood 5689.“ — “Hello Wellfleet, this is Hyannis. I have a call for Los Angeles. Westwood 5689.” — “Hello Boston, this is Wellfleet. I have a call for Los Angeles, Westwood 5698.” ­— ”No, Westwood 5689.” — “Who was that, Wellfleet?” — “That was Truro, Boston.” — “No, I’m Truro. That was Hyannis.” Meanwhile, the caller: “Are we still in Massachusetts??”)

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#70

Post by nickles »

makeitdouble wrote: post #56
jamal-kumar wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back then it was a giant pain in the ass. These days isn't it a lot easier to deal with that? You basically just get on the phone with equifax/transunion and upload some documents. Guess that trial and error had to start somewhere. Also I really wonder what the mathematical chances are that the card actually matched with someone back then. Like obviously a collision risk here but how large?

There's 12 random numbers, and I assume banks reject some numbers based on obviousness (e.g. all 0, all 1s, 1234, all 3 groups are identical etc.) so I'd assume there's actually less probability space than what we'd expect. Even if it's still a pretty huge space.

Credit card numbers aren’t entirely random

[0] https://medium.com/@ma.juber/mathematics-behind-credit-debit...

Post reply on HN