Msg. :343 About :WHEN I WAS YOUNG... From :ROGER OLSON To :ALL CALLS Date :3/19/83 When I was young, and in my prime, I used to phreak all the time For the beneifit of <> users on this BBS, the phone company did not go into business yesterday! Some of us were phreaking i n the days of manual service. Chicago, Illinois had manual service through the early fifties in a few exchanges. As a twelve year old kid, my buddies and I <> to use the payphone at the corner drugstore to phart around. The payphones were easy to fool. "Area codes" and "direct dialing" of long distance calls did not start anywhere until 1962...did know that? You called the operator for long distance and she would say put x amount of coins in the box. We would put in the first couple of quarters, and out would come the coat hanger which went up the return slot (no traps on the doors then, like now) and the coat hanger would trip the little metal catch box inside and return the quarters.."...just a minute operator! I am looking for more change!!...." and the same quarters would be used over and over until the two or three dollars desired had been "deposited". Then, be quick and get the quarters out again before the operator had a chance to collect them. The operator would grow impatient waiting for you to get all the money "deposited", but as I got experienced with that bent peice of wire I could get two bucks in the phone and out of the phone in record time. The switchboards used for operating the coin phones had two special keys - one to press for collecting the coins and one to press for returning the coins. Sometimes the operator would also screw up and hit the return key by accident after you were finished speaking on the call. Other times she would screw up and collect on an incomplete call. They were so in those days all you had to do was use a phone and say, "operator I have a credit coming". They belived you! Call The Works BBS - 1600+ Textfiles! - [914]/238-8195 - 300/1200 - Always Open