94 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
94 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
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WATS EXTENDERS
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Many people think of phone phreaks as slime, out to rip off Bell for
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all she is worth. Nothing could be further from the truth! Granted, there are
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some who get there kicks just by making free calls, however they are not true
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phone phreaks. Real phone phreaks are "telecommunications hobbyists" who
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experiment, play with and learn from the phone system. Occasionally this
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experimenting, and a need to communicate with other phreaks (without going
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broke), leads to free calls. The free calls are but a small subset of a TRUE
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phone phreaks activities.
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Until several years ago, the phreaks main tool for free calls was the
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Blue Box. In recent years however, Bell has made GREAT strides in their
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security and detection of Blue Box's. While box's still work, their use is
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becoming EXTREMELY dangerous. With the advent of CCIS, the places where a Blue
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Box will work are rapidly decreasing, and within several years the Box will be
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totallt obsolete.
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Thus for their communications needs, phreaks have turned to other
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methods, one being: WATS EXTENDERS.
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Many companies throughout the United States have a salesman in the
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field that must contact a large amount of customers long distance by phone. To
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pay for these calls, generally the salesman use the companies Bell credit card
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(Now called a "Calling Card") this is quite expensive to the company.
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Several years ago, someone came up with a neat money saving idea.
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Since the company already had an an INWATS (800) number for salesmen to call in
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orders to the main plant, and since the company had a flat rate OUTWATS line to
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call customers during the day. Why not couple them together after hours so
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that the salesman calls the companies INWATS 800 number, then gets connected up
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to OUTWATS. This would mean he could call anywhere in the United States. from
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anywhere at no charge to him! This arrangement would save the company
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tremendous amounts of long distance charges since they had the WATS lines
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anyway, and the WATS was a lot more cost efficient than Credit Cards.
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This arrangement was exactly how early "WATS EXTENDERS" worked.
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During WATS (800) scanning (For how to do this, read "Napolean Solo's"
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EXCELLENT article in issue 55) phreaks discovered these WATS EXTENDERS, and
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found they could call anywhere in the country just by calling the extenders 800
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number, then (Using Touch Tone of course) dial the number they wanted.
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The companies soon realized that their extenders were being messed with
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and decided to add some security to prevent tampering.
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It was set up so that when a salesman dialed the WATS EXTENDER, he
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would hear what sounds like a dial tone. The salesman then keyed in a four
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digit Touch Tone secret access code. If the code was incorrect a high-low tone
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would result, and the extender would have to be re-dialed. If the code was
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correct, and second internal PBX dial tone would result. The salesman would
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then access the companies OUTWATS line by hitting 8 or 9 (usually) and dial
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wherever he wanted.
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The four digit access code posed a problem to phreaks since only 1 out
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of 9999 possible codes worked, and the 800 number had to be re-dialed each time
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and try another.
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Many a phone phreak spent long nights breaking the four digit codes and
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then using the extenders themselves! Most companies change the code every few
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months so the phreaks would have to start over again. (Also company employees
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that were not authorized to know, but found out from "leaks").
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Many of you have probably heard of the infamous computer "Charlie".
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For those who haven't, several years ago Charlie was brought to life by Capn
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Crunce (Now retired from the communications service) Charlie was an Apple ][
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computer with a special board which allowed it to Touch Tone dial numbers
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extremely rapidly (D/A) then "listen" to the results (A/D).
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Charlie was put to use calling a given WATS EXTENDER, trying an access
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code, if the high-low tone was heard (meaning an incorrect code), Charlie hung
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up and dialed again, trying the next sequential code. Charlie would sit
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working for hours, and when it found the code, it would print it on it's
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display screen. VERY effective!
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Unfortunately the only problem with Charlie was the he was very
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noticeable to Bell. Every time an 800 number is dialed, and AMA record is
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punched at the C.O. thus it looks real phunny to Bell to see that you have
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called Dry Dock orange shippers 800 number in Florida 3,750 times at 2:00 AM
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with each call lasting 1 second! Since Charlie was not very easily portable to
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pay phones this was a real problem.
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There are many WATS EXTENDERS reportedly presently in service. Most
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working as described, with some taking more than a four digit code, and some
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even responding to voice input!
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It should be pointed out however, that should any of you crack any WATS
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EXTENDER access codes and attempt to use them, you are gulity of Theft of
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communications services from the company who owns it, and Bell is very willing
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and able to help nail you! WATS EXTENDERS can get you in every bit as much
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trouble as a Blue Box should you be caught.
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Most WATS EXTENDERS also record all numbers call from them on OUTWATS.
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If the company detects the extender being mis-used, they will usually first try
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to change the access code. If the abuse continues and the get mad enough they
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will contact Bell who will help them investigate all the numbers you called!
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Thus, as in most things those of you who are determined to play with
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WATS EXTENDERS, do so from a pay phone and only to institutional switchboards,
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or people with short memories. By the way, on some "Money First" payphones (as
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as opposed to "Dial Tone First") the Touch Tone pad is cut off after the WATS
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call is complete. (Because of polarity reversal) It can be re-activated by
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depositing a dime after the connection is made, which you will get back after
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you hang up.
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Also please remember the opening of this article. DO NOT use WATS
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EXTENDERS just to make free calls all the time! Experiment with them and learn
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what they can do and how they work. I think you will learn a lot!!
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