Article View: sci.electronics
Article #5488Re: free calls?
From: Winthrop D Chan
Date: Mon, 06 Aug 1990 22:17
Date: Mon, 06 Aug 1990 22:17
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2603 bytes
In article <1990Aug6.124516.8051@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> sheasby@dgp.toronto.edu (Michael C. Sheasby) writes:
>
>The other day I was in a mall and noticed a few yahoos gathered
>around a pay phone... they looked around for cops and then
>unscrewed the receiver on the phone (the ear end, not the mouth
>end).
>
>They took out the small speaker and touched the two wires
>leading to it to the handset holder (the thing you put the
>phone back on when you finish the call). Then they dialed
>and quickly screwed the receiver cap back on. Apparently this
>saved them a quarter.
>
Well, I haven't seen that one, but I have seen people poke little holes with a
nail into the 2nd hole from the bottom of the mouthpiece. They stick a paper
clip into the hole and then dial the 1st 6 numbers, then they "short" the paper
clip to something metal on the phone and dial the last digit before shorting it
again.
It was running rampant on this university for a while and only works on local
calls. The phone company has replaced all the mouthpieces with ones that have
a steel plate which makes it impossible to pull this trick again without
severely damaging the mouthpiece.
Winthrop
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!haven!umd5!wchan From: wchan@umd5.umd.edu (Winthrop D Chan) Newsgroups: sci.electronics,alt.folklore.urban Subject: Re: free calls? Message-ID: <7047@umd5.umd.edu> Date: 6 Aug 90 22:17:50 GMT References: <32457@cup.portal.com> <1990Aug6.124516.8051@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> Reply-To: wchan@umd5.umd.edu (Winthrop D Chan) Distribution: na Organization: University of Maryland, College Park Lines: 40