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EliteData
EliteData
Premium Member
join:2003-07-06
Philippines

EliteData to thegeek

Premium Member

to thegeek

Re: $1500?

$1500 for to maintain the physical phone, pay any costs to have it located on the property and empty the money from it i suppose.
i remember the days where a Bell/AT&T phone was every 1/16 of a mile.
these days, any phones you find are third party rip-offs, they typically have a regular restricted POTS line entering a computerized phone, easy enough to just tap into the incoming line and make free calls.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

said by EliteData:

these days, any phones you find are third party rip-offs, they typically have a regular restricted POTS line entering a computerized phone, easy enough to just tap into the incoming line and make free calls.

please continue. I want to hear more about this.

battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

battleop

Member

Since the payphone is operated by a 3rd party the LEC isn't going to terminate the POTS line into the payphone it's self. They will place a NID next to the payphone, very often at a height you can reach. All you need is a screwdriver or torx bit to open the NID and a buttset to make a call.
Crookshanks
join:2008-02-04
Binghamton, NY

Crookshanks

Member

Of course you're risking theft of service charges over a $0.50 phone call. Probably doubtful that you'd get caught but even so...

My favorite bit of telco "hacking" was when I was on an extended hike and discovered Cat3 lying on the ground. There was nearly three miles of the stuff, clipped together every so often. It ended in a junction box for buried cable. I followed the other end and discovered it also ended in a burial junction box. Naturally when I got home I had to get my buttset and drive back out there to see if there was dial tone on either of the pairs. Low and behold there was.

A friend of mine who works for Frontier noticed the pictures I put up on FB and checked it out for me. Come to find out a 25 pair segment of buried cable failed and they left the Cat3 lying on the ground next to the road to provide dial tone service for the ONE customer that had a phone on that road. I wonder if they ever fixed that buried cable or if the Cat3 is still there?