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... this
One way I used to get free calls was to drop the nickel into the slot
and simultaneously smack the coin return button with the meaty part of
the palm, just below the thumb. Done properly, you got your coin back and a dial one. I heard stories of taping the
coin
onto some thread and reeling it back in after getting the dial tone,
but never tried that. If your parents (or employer) used a dial
phone
lock, you could dial your number by tapping the number, Morse
Code-like, using the cradle button. Even worked for long
distance.
And yes, you had to confess it.
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Tried metal electrical box knockouts (called them 'slugs')found on the construction site across the street. That didn't work so hot, but what does a ten year old know?
ReplyDeleteSome guys said you could stick a straight pin through the handset wire and get a dial tone. That must have worked, because not long after, the pay phones all had armored cables.
Lt. Col. Gen. Tailgunner dick
You were on the right track Rog. -Anymouse
ReplyDeletehttp://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/10/steve-jobs-first-business-was-selling-blue-boxes-that-allowed-users-to-get-free-phone-service-illegally/
The thumb tack trick worked, Lt Col Gen. Speaking of thumb tacks, are they still manufactured?
ReplyDeleteWorked in a MARS station in Korea back in 1980 (imagine Radar O'rielly patching calls back to the states). Used a actual Morse code key to dial numbers because it was easier than getting my lazy carcase to meander across the office to the phone. we had a phone line directly tied into the radio via the MOdulatorDEMmodulator (MODEM) and the phone was on the counter for the walk up customers to talk to Mom or the wife back in the world
ReplyDeleteSo If I had to use the phone while on radio watch, I would dial with the code key and talk using the desk microphone and headset.
I knew of some of these techniques. However, not being a thief I didn't use them.
ReplyDeleteOf course putting the phone lock in the zero hole does absolutely nothing to stop dialing.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a landline you can still dial by flashing the switch hook. Teach your kids to dial 9-1-1 with bare phone wires - just short/disconnect the tip and ring wires as though doing Morse code. Always wondered when, in the movies, heroine found her phone ripped from the wall, why she didn't call the cops this way. Guess she was gonna depend on Mabel. "Mabel, get Sheriff Andy out here on the double!"
ReplyDelete--Jimmy don\'t play that
Long, long ago, when I was in military school, we had pay phones like that - one in each barracks. Most guys could get a call for a nickel using that technique. (We didn't get the nickle back) The real experts could get a call for a penny. After the phone guy found some pennies in the phone, C barracks lost their phone for a long time.
ReplyDeleteSteve (no longer in CA)