228 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
228 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
SHOPPER'S GUIDE TO COCOTS
|
|
by
|
|
Count Zero
|
|
|
|
So you're walking down the street and you see a payphone. Gotta make
|
|
an important call, so you dig into your pocket to get a dime. Picking up the
|
|
handset, you suddently notice that they payphone wants a quarter for a local
|
|
call! What the hell, and where did this synthesized voice come from?
|
|
Let's make this article short and to the point. COCOT is an acronym
|
|
for Customer Owned Coin Operated Telephone. In other words, a COCOT is a phone
|
|
that is owned or rented by a paying customer (most likely, a hotel or donut
|
|
shop). A COCOT is not a normal payphone. The telephone co. doesn't own it, and
|
|
the telephone line is usually a normal customer loop (unlike payphones,
|
|
where the phone line is a "special" payphone loop, allowing the use of
|
|
"coin tones" to indicate money dropped in!) So! A COCOT may look and
|
|
smell like a telephone company payphone, but it is not.
|
|
Why do COCOT's exist? Simple. Money! A customer owned
|
|
payphone is money in the bank! You pay more for local calls and long
|
|
distance is typically handled by sleazy carriers that offer
|
|
bad/expensive service. The owner/renter of the COCOT opens the coinbox
|
|
and keeps the money him/herself! Also, a particularly sleazy quality of
|
|
COCOT is the fact that it does not receive incoming calls. This, of
|
|
course, is because of money. If people are calling in to a COCOT, the
|
|
COCOT is not making money and businesses always want to make as much
|
|
money as possible even if it hurts the consumer. Think about it. It
|
|
really sucks to call someone at home from a COCOT and then not be able
|
|
to have him/her call you back to save money. "Guess I'll have to keep
|
|
feeding the COCOT quarters!"
|
|
Where is a good place to look for COCOTs? Outside Dunkin Donut
|
|
shops, restaurants, clubs, bars, and outside/inside hotels and
|
|
'convenient' locations.
|
|
How do I fugre out if I have found a COCOT? Simple. A COCOT
|
|
will have no telephone company logos on it. It may look just like a
|
|
telephone company phone chrome with blue stickers and all that. Also, a
|
|
COCOT typically charges more for a local call than a regular telephone
|
|
company payphone. (In Massachussetts, local calls are a dime. In
|
|
places like New York City, they are 25 cents) A COCOT will most often
|
|
have a synthesized voice that asks you to "please deposit 25 cents" or
|
|
whatever. Also, some fancy COCOTs will not look like payphones at all.
|
|
Some in hotels have weird LCD displays and look totally different, but
|
|
they always charge you more than a normal phone.
|
|
I found this weird payphone in Boston that wants a quarter, and
|
|
this synthesized voice is harassing me. When does the fun begin? Soon.
|
|
First of all, you must understand that the COCOT is a mimic.
|
|
Essentially, it wants you to think that it is just a plain ol' payphone.
|
|
Pick up the handset. Hear that dialtone? Hah! That dialtone is fake,
|
|
synthesized by the innards of the COCOT. You are at the mercy of the
|
|
COCOT. Remember a COCOT runs off of a normal customer loop so, unlike a
|
|
telephone company payphone where you must deposit money to generate coin
|
|
tones that are read by the central office, the security of a COCOT
|
|
depends solely on the COCOT phone itself. It's as if you took your own
|
|
phone and put a sign on it saying "Please put 10 cents in this jar for
|
|
every call you make." COCOTs are not naive. They won't let you near
|
|
the unrestricted dialtone until you fork over the cash-ola. Or so they
|
|
think!
|
|
See, the Achilles' heel of the COCOT is the fact that all
|
|
payphones must let you make 1-800 calls for free! It's not just a fact,
|
|
it's the law. Now pick up the handset again and place a 1-800 call.
|
|
Any 1-800 number will do. When they answer at the other end, just sit
|
|
there. Do nothing. Ignore them. Wait for them to hang up the phone.
|
|
Here's an example.
|
|
Dial 1-800-LOAN-YES.
|
|
[Ring, Ring]...[click] "Hello, you wanna buy some money? Hello?
|
|
HELLO?!" [CLICK]
|
|
(You will now hear some static and probably a strange "waffling"
|
|
noise, like chh, chh, chh, chh, chh.)
|
|
[CLICK] DIALTONE!
|
|
Now what have we got here? A dialtone? Yes, you guessed it,
|
|
the dialtone you now hear is the unrestricted dialtone of the COCOT's
|
|
customer loop.
|
|
So what? So I got an "unrestricted dialtone". Big Deal?
|
|
Meathead! With an unrestriced dialtone, all you need to do is
|
|
place a call via DTMF tones (the tones a touch-tone keypad generates).
|
|
Now, try dialing a number with the COCOT's keypad. Whoa! Waitasec, no
|
|
sound! This is a typical lame attempt at protection by the COCOT. Just
|
|
whip out your Radio Shack pocket tone dialer and try calling a number,
|
|
any number. Place it just as if you were calling from a home phone.
|
|
Call a 1-900 sex line. Call Guam. You are free and the COCOT's
|
|
customer loop is being billed!
|
|
Note: some COCOTs are more sophisticated at protecting
|
|
themselves. Some will reset when they hear the dialtone. To get around
|
|
this, make a loud hissing sound with your mouth into the mouthpiece
|
|
after the 1-800 number hangs up. Get your tone dialer ready near the
|
|
mouthpiece. When you hear the dialtone, quickly dial the first digit of
|
|
the number you want to call. If you hiss loudly enough, you may be able
|
|
to mask the sound of the dialtone and prevent the COCOT from resetting.
|
|
Once you dial the first digit of the number you are calling, the
|
|
dialtone will disappear (naturally). You can stop hissing like an idiot
|
|
now. Finish dialing your free phone call. Also, some COCOT's actually
|
|
disable the handset after the call hangs up (in other words you can't
|
|
send DTMF tones through the mouthpiece). Oh well, better luck next
|
|
time.
|
|
However, most of the COCOT's I have run across only disable the
|
|
DTMF keypad. So all you need is a pocket dialer to circumvent this!
|
|
Other things to know: Sure you can't call a COCOT, but it does
|
|
have a number. To find out the COCOT's number, call one of the automated
|
|
ANI services that tell you the number you're dialing from. Now try
|
|
calling the COCOT from another phone. You will hear one of two things:
|
|
1) synthesized voice: "Thank you" [DTMF tones] [CLICK] [hang up]; 2)
|
|
weird carrier.
|
|
A COCOT's number is only used by the company that built or sold
|
|
the COCOT. By calling up a COCOT, a technician can monitor its
|
|
functioning, etc. In case number 1, you must enter a 3 or 4 digit
|
|
password and then you'll get into a voice menu driven program that'll
|
|
let you do "maintenance" stuff with the COCOT. In case number 2, you
|
|
are hooked to the COCOT's 300 bps modem (Yes, a modem in a payphone).
|
|
Likewise, if you can figure out the communications settings, you'll be
|
|
into the COCOT's maintenance routines.
|
|
Personally, I haven't had much luck (or patience) with calling
|
|
up and hacking COCOT maintenance functions. I just like making free
|
|
phone calls from them!
|
|
COCOT Etiquette: Now, remember, you are making free phone
|
|
calls, but someone has to pay for them and that is the owner. The
|
|
COCOT's customer loop is billed the cost of the calls, and if the owner
|
|
sees a big difference in the profits made on the COCOT (profit equals
|
|
coins from the COCOT minus the bill from the telephone company for
|
|
customer loop), they'll know something is up. So the rule is don't
|
|
abuse them! Don't call a 1-900 number and stay on the line for 12
|
|
hours! If a COCOT is abused severely, an owner will eventually lose
|
|
money on the damn thing! And that means bye bye COCOT. Also, remember
|
|
that a record of all long distance calls is made to the COCOT's customer
|
|
loop and COCOT companies will sometimes investigate "billing
|
|
discreprancies" so don't call anyone you personally know unless you are
|
|
sure they are "cool".
|
|
[RING RING] "Hello?"
|
|
"Hello, this is Cointel, Inc. We'd like to ask you a few
|
|
questions about a call you received from Boston on 2/12/91. Could you
|
|
tell us the name and address of the person who placed the call?"
|
|
Cool Dude: "What? I don't remember. Go to hell! [SLAM!]"
|
|
Meathead: "Uh, sure, his name is John Smith. You want his
|
|
address too?"
|
|
Get the picture? Good...
|
|
COCOTs are a great resource if we use them wisely, like our
|
|
environment. We've gotta be careful not to plunder them. Make a few
|
|
long distance calls and then leave that particular COCOT alone for a
|
|
while. Chances are your bills will be "absorbed" by the profit margin
|
|
of the owner and probably ignored but the smaller the owner's profit
|
|
margin gets, the more likely suspicions will be aroused. 'Nuff said! I
|
|
have found COCOTs everywhere. COCOT technology is relatively new,
|
|
though. I know many towns that have none. Check out big cities.
|
|
As for a tone dialer, don't leave home without one! A true
|
|
phreak always has a DTMF tone dialer at hand along with a red box! My
|
|
personal favorite is the COMBO-BOX (red box plus DTMF). Take a Radio
|
|
Shack 33-memory Pocket Dialer. Open up the back. Remove the little
|
|
3.579 MHz crystal (looks like a metal cylinder). Unsolder it. Solder
|
|
on a couple of thin, insulated wires where the crystal was attached.
|
|
Thread the wires through one of the "vents" in the back of the tone
|
|
dialer. Get a hold of a 6.5536 MHz crystal (available through Fry's
|
|
Electronics, 89 cents a piece, phone number (415)770-3763). Go out and
|
|
get some quick drying epoxy and a Radio Shack mini Toggle Switch, DPDT,
|
|
cat. #275-626. Close the tone dialer, with the two wires sticking out
|
|
of one of the back vents. Screw it up tight. Now, attach the crystals
|
|
and wires to the switch with solder as in the diagram below.
|
|
|
|
|^^^^^|
|
|
| XX <3.579 crystal>small one
|
|
| |
|
|
toggle switch -> ooooooooX xxxxs <two wires>
|
|
| |
|
|
| XX <6.5536 crystal>big one
|
|
| |
|
|
^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
Each "XX" prong in the diagram is actually two prongs. Hook up
|
|
the two leads from the crystals to separate prongs (same with the
|
|
wires).
|
|
Now, epoxy this gizmo to the side of the tone dialer. Use a lot
|
|
of epoxy, as you must make the switch/crystals essentially embedded in
|
|
epoxy resin, as in the diagram below.
|
|
|
|
Front view ---> -----------------------
|
|
| | T <- toggle switch
|
|
| oo oo oo |---
|
|
| | |
|
|
| |---
|
|
| 1 2 3 | B s <- two crystals
|
|
| | | (b=big, s=small)
|
|
| 4 5 6 |--- in epoxy "blob"
|
|
| |
|
|
| 7 8 9 | ^ two wires running to back
|
|
| | of unit
|
|
| * 0 # |
|
|
| |
|
|
-----------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
-----------------------
|
|
Back view ---> | |
|
|
T | o ____ o <--------------- vent (1 of 4)
|
|
--| / \ |
|
|
| | | <---------------- speaker
|
|
--| | | |
|
|
s B| | | |
|
|
2 wires -> \----o | ---- | o |
|
|
running into | |
|
|
vent | |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
-----------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
Make sure the epoxy is really gobbed on there. You want to be
|
|
certain the switch and crystals are firmly attached and secure in a
|
|
matrix of epoxy (it doesn't conduct electricity, so don't worry about
|
|
shorting out the connections to the toggle switch). Just don't gum up
|
|
the action of the switch!
|
|
Basically, you've altered the device so you can select between
|
|
two crystals to generate the timing of the microprocessor in the tone
|
|
dialer.
|
|
Turn on the tone dialer. Now you can easily switch between the
|
|
two crystal types. The small crystal will generate ordinary DTMF tones.
|
|
By simply flicking the switch, you generate higher tones, using the
|
|
memory function of the tone dialer, save five stars in the P1 location.
|
|
Now dial the P1 location using the big crystal. Sure sounds like the
|
|
tones for a quarter, doesn't it!
|
|
Carrying this around with you will always come in handy with
|
|
both telephone company payphones and COCOTs! No phreak should be
|
|
without one!
|
|
Information is power... share it! And drink massive amounts of
|
|
Jolt Cola. Trust me, it's good for you. Keep the faith, and never stop
|
|
searching for new frontiers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|