Phone Phreaking and an Arduino BlueBox

Today we talk about obsolete telephone switching technology and how it was exploited by early network hackers called "phone phreaks"
www.wideweb.com/phonetrips/
explodingthephone.com/

[@Biokemist-o3k]

I used to be a phone phreak!! that is awesome. I would have loved to have an Arundino back then . We essentially made our own. Just so cool. We still have places here in the states where they would probably work. I used to love the dark box and the extender series. I was a member of the Lopht Heavy industries group. Just a really awesome time in our past..

[@iTubeItalia]

Man, it was much harder than playing a 2600Hz tone into the line! You would have read the CCITT5 you would know that you had to send a Clear and a Seize. Timings were varying every day, frequencies shifted and echoes were put on the lines to make your side hung up too. It was hard as fuck to get the line!

[@zynthesis]

Oh how this reminds me of my childhood. Another thing we use to do, was take a spark maker from a long grill lighter. When you hit the coin slot with a spark, would give you dimes.

[@chucku.farley9444]

I found I could do this on the arcade games. I would skuff my feet around and zap it on the coin slot. I would quasi reboot the game. A lot of times the screen would be upside down, but after a few seconds of game play it would rite itself.

[@Mucho-Taco]

There was a payphone at a mall in my town where if you took a long coffee stir stick and quickly placed it in and out, it would eject all the coins 😂😂

[@Legoninja10000]

Does that still work? Asking for a friend…

[@mbryan718]

Awesome video, and incredibly knowledgeable explanation of phone phreaking .. I used the c64 for this back in the 80s .. for BBS access and general use, but I was a teenager back then .. No offense, but more of a compliment; you look way too young to even know this stuff!

[@jackgrant9301]

First thing I thought was "If you want free long distance calls, wouldnt a HAM or CB radio be a better option?" and then i realized that these involved a lot less privacy, a lot more compromise, expertise, equipment, and mostly, doing the forbidden and sticking it to the man is FUN! I really sneer at the "ethical phreaks". In my opinion, they are almost as bad as those people who refuse to stream a free movie and insist on lining the pockets of billionaires for two hours of substandard crap which is probably going to require drug use to be enjoyed anyway. Anyone fancy buying a few of my dogs turds? Theyre ethically sourced.

[@l_shaun_bunds_l]

Oh yeah, 2600 phone pay phones of the world are giving me a flaccid

[@this_connor_guy]

Just read about this stuff in a book. Seems like a cool DIY project. I'd like to build one now. :)

[@JeffisWinning]

That is badass! A box that emulates most of the original phone phreak boxes. I would have loved to of had that thing back in the 1990's.

[@cleatrampler]

When I was 10 years old I had the idea to record my phone line at home when I called from a pay phone. Put in a dime and got the tones. It was fun trying to play it back on a "portable" cassette player. It worked and free pay phone calls were fine until the phone company muted the mouthpiece before the call connected. Then sometime in the 90's Bellsouth switched to Protel cocot boards. Then the only way to get free calls was to tap the line using a buttset.

[@shawncarpenter9742]

Omg I remember when they muted the mouthpiece. I carried a finishing nail and a paperclip. Put the nail in a hole in the mouthpiece and smack it against the booth. Pull the nail out and put a paperclip in the hole and the metal shielded cord. It would unmute the mouthpiece. Play your tones, make the call, and remove paperclip when it started ringing.

[@garystinten9339]

I got goes in different area codes..
How do I make these calls again ?

[@Zombunist]

Rad vid. Thanks Nick!

[@Freddyj62]

awesome vid, hope to c more

[@dlasher1811]

Nick, You rock!