200 lines
6.5 KiB
Plaintext
200 lines
6.5 KiB
Plaintext
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I Basics of Phone Phreaking I I
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I by Long John Silicone I
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I Oct. 1983 I
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A rather broad subject to attack, I must say. The debate over just
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what to discuss has occupied my thoughts for many an hour. Perhaps if
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I approach this subject legally, in an informative manner that is, my
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problems might be solved. Nonetheless, here it goes.
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Ma Bell can rattle on for hours on methods for saving money on your
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long- distance calls. Unfortunately, most people still think that AT&T
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is the only game in town for long-distance service.
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What Ma Bell won't tell you is that there comes a time in a telephone
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user's life to leave Mom. There are now several companies which
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compete with AT&T in the long-distance market: MCI, Southern Pacific's
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"SPRINT" (which is currently being purchased by General Telephone and
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Electronics Company), U.S. Transmission System'S "Longer Distance" (a
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susidiary of ITT), Western Union's "MetroFone", and Satellite Business
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System's "Skyline." They all boast of opportunities for large savings
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on the long-distance portion of your monthly phone bill.
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Someone unaquainted with these new competitors, which are called
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"specialized common carriers" (or SCCs), might ask, "Isn't it a
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duplication of effort for a lot of different companies to be running
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long- distance lines all over the country? And how can a company that
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is just a fraction of the size of AT&T provide a similar service for a
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lower price?" The answer is that these new competitors have built
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their base by concentrating on routes where long- distance traffic is
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heavy, so the cost of carrying each call is relatively low. Also, the
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competitors transmission equipment consists almost exclusively of
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computers and microwave links, which they have built themselves or
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which they lease from other carriers. Thus, these networks can be less
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expensive to construct and maintain then the cable-based systems that
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Bell has used for years. There's also another class of competitors
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called "resellers", who lease and resell both AT&T's and other
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carriers' lines. More about resellers in a moment.
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Initially, most of the SCC competitors could reach only a limited
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number of cities. But as they've grown, the number of cities served by
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their microwave networks has steadily in- creased, and today most of
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the SCC's reach 70 percent or more of all area codes in the United
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States and continue to increase the number of cities served every
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month. Sattelite Business System's "Skyline" is the first to offer
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service to the entire U.S. over its own network. The other SCC's are
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phasing in uninversal service by using Bell's WATS system. But while
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users of these services will soon be able to call 'to' anywhere in the
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U.S., they will still be able to call 'from' only a limited number of
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places, usually the major metropolitan areas.
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To use any of these SCC services, you currently must have a Touch-Tone
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service or the equivalent Tone gener- ator. (This is changing as a
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conse- quence of the AT&T/Department of Justice divestiture agreement,
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which will require the newly independent local phone companies to
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grant all carriers "equal access" at equal rates.) There is an
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additional monthly charge by the phone company for Touch- Tone service
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(check the "Customer Guide" in your local White Pages, or call your
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Bell business office for details); however, you don't have to rent or
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buy a Bell telephone to get Touch-Tone service. (Hurrah for K-mart)
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If your local phone lines already are equipped to handle both rotary
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and Touch-Tone calls, you may be able to avoid the need for Touch-Tone
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service in this way: using a regular rotaray phone, you place a call
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to the SCC's computer; then, to 'converse' with the computer simply
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use a touch pad conver- ter or a tone generator, held up to the
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mouthpiece of your rotary phone.
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It's reasonably easy to use the SCC systems. You must first dial a
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seven digit local phone number (an 'access' number), which connects
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you to the SCC's computer. When you hear a tone on the other end, you
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then dial a five-or six-digit number (an 'authorization code') that
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tells the computer you're an authorized user and to bill your account
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for the call. Immediately after dialing the authori- zation number,
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you dial the area code and number you wish to call. The SCC's computer
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in your area then sends your call out over its own long-distance
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network to a computer in the area you called; the computer on the
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other end then hooks your call into the local phone network to reach
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whomever you've called. Each month you recieve a bill from your SCC
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(seperate from your reg- ular phone bill) detailing your calls and
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billing you for the service charges plus your calls.
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Note: This varies on occasion, prime example being "Longer
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Distance". Instead of the standard code- number format, they elected
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the number-code input.
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"SPRINT" uses a six-digit code followed by a two digit travel code.
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A moment of speculation is due..
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What would happen if you entered someone elses 'access code', then
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dialed the destination number? The answer is usually Grand Larceny;
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however, it is quite possible since only the general place of origin
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is possible to detect on a call placed without notice.
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For information on the competitive long-distance services:
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MCI:
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Write MCI, MCI Building, 17th and Streets, NW Washington, D.C. 20036.
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Call toll free (800) 521- 8620 or in Michigan (800) 482- 1740.
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"Execunet"
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SBS:
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Write SBS, John Marshall Building 8283 Greensboro Drive, McLean, VA
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22102. Call toll free (800) 698- 6900. "Skyline"
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ITT:
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Write ITT, U.S. Transmission Systems, INC., P.O. Box 732, Bowling
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Green Station, New York NY. 10004 Call toll free (800) 438-9428 or in
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New York (212) 797-2511. "Longer Distance"
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SPC:
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Write SPC, One Adrian Court, Burilingame, CA. 94010, or call (800)
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521-4949 or in Michigan, (800) 645-6020. "SPRINT"
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WU:
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Write WU, 1 Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, NJ. 07458. Call (800)
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325-6000 for the number of your local service office. "MetroFone"
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A final note, don't do anything I wouldn't. And above all, if you do:
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DON'T GET CAUGHT.
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Yours in trade,
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Long John Silicone
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