You'll need a VERY LARGE Wallet to make this call....
(Or a fleet of Semi-Trucks filled with Dimes).

http://www.thisisarecording.com/z/248-771-0023.mp3

On 02/12/2016 03:43 AM, wrote:
You'll need a VERY LARGE Wallet to make this call....
(Or a fleet of Semi-Trucks filled with Dimes).

http://www.thisisarecording.com/z/248-771-0023.mp3





Sometime back around 1968 I called a friend... on the East coast... from
a pay phone. The operator would have me put in a quarter every three
minutes or something like that until I eventually ran out of change.


When I ran out, she told me that I could complete my conversation at
which time I was informed that I owed a dollar and when I got the proper
change all I had to do was dial "operator" and ask for #23, tell her who
I was and then deposit what I owed.


What interesting times those were. My guess is that if I never "paid up"
they would have reversed the charge, I don't know.

On Friday, February 12, 2016 at 6:58:34 AM UTC-5, philo wrote:
On 02/12/2016 03:43 AM, wrote:
You'll need a VERY LARGE Wallet to make this call....
(Or a fleet of Semi-Trucks filled with Dimes).

http://www.thisisarecording.com/z/248-771-0023.mp3





Sometime back around 1968 I called a friend... on the East coast... from
a pay phone. The operator would have me put in a quarter every three
minutes or something like that until I eventually ran out of change.


When I ran out, she told me that I could complete my conversation at
which time I was informed that I owed a dollar and when I got the proper
change all I had to do was dial "operator" and ask for #23, tell her who
I was and then deposit what I owed.


What interesting times those were. My guess is that if I never "paid up"
they would have reversed the charge, I don't know.

Back around that time we used to make "free" collect calls.

If you wanted to let someone back home know that you had arrived at your destination
or pass along some other pre-arranged piece of information, you could initiate a
collect call through the operator. When the party on the receiving end would be asked
if they would accept the charges, they would just say "No."

Since it was all prearranged, the collect call itself passed along the information.

On Friday, February 12, 2016 at 4:45:36 AM UTC-5, wrote:
You'll need a VERY LARGE Wallet to make this call....
(Or a fleet of Semi-Trucks filled with Dimes).

http://www.thisisarecording.com/z/248-771-0023.mp3


Too bad there's no way to preview it...

On 02/12/2016 06:19 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:


What interesting times those were. My guess is that if I never "paid up"
they would have reversed the charge, I don't know.

Back around that time we used to make "free" collect calls.

If you wanted to let someone back home know that you had arrived at your destination
or pass along some other pre-arranged piece of information, you could initiate a
collect call through the operator. When the party on the receiving end would be asked
if they would accept the charges, they would just say "No."

Since it was all prearranged, the collect call itself passed along the information.




Yep, we did stuff like that all the time. Once when we went to Chicago,
a friend of mine called home just to let his mother know all was OK.

He also tried to get a message through by talking. but the phone company
knew enough to have audio off until paid for

On 2/12/2016 4:58 AM, philo wrote:
Sometime back around 1968 I called a friend... on the East coast... from a pay
phone. The operator would have me put in a quarter every three minutes or
something like that until I eventually ran out of change.

When I ran out, she told me that I could complete my conversation at which time
I was informed that I owed a dollar and when I got the proper change all I had
to do was dial "operator" and ask for #23, tell her who I was and then deposit
what I owed.

In the early 80's, I was in a little town in Southern CO (Florence).
I called home (east coast) from a pay phone (as calling from the
home of the folks I was staying with would have passed the cost
onto them!). Of course, parents seem to like to talk for long
periods of time, saying little -- oblivious to the fact that I'm
standing on the side of the road calling from "nowhere".

Periodically, the operator would come on the line to tell me to
deposit another $3 (or so).

The first time I did this (to initiate the call), the solenoid that
transfers the monies from the "holding area" (from which they can
easily be RETURNED to the caller) to the "cash box" appeared to
malfunction; returning the coins to *me* instead!

pleasant surprise

Even more pleasant was that the next request for $3 resulted in the
same behavior. And, the one after that! (did I mention that parents
like to talk for a long time??) I just kept taking the coins out
of the coin return and redepositing them!

So, the call cost me nothing.

Next day, I drove by that same phone booth and, on a whim, tried
again. grin Same "problem" as the day before!

I did this for the better part of a week.

Until, one day, the activation of the solenoid resulted in the
coins being *accepted*. It was a very sad sound! :-(

What interesting times those were. My guess is that if I never "paid up" they
would have reversed the charge, I don't know.

I don't think they can legally do that -- though that might not
stop them from trying!

In school, we would "discover" unrestricted telephone "extensions"
in unusual places -- phones from which '9' got you a "regular"
phone line that wasn't limited to local calls only. We'd venture
out with small groups and take turns making calls.

If you were smart, you'd only call people that you knew were "cool"
with the whole concept!

Friend opted to call his grandparents in Germany (!) Eventually,
someone trying to sort out who was making all these long distance
calls (from this very "off the beaten track" telephone) opted
to call some of the numbers.
"Oh, hello! Our grandson goes to your school! He's such a NICE boy..."

busted

On Friday, February 12, 2016 at 8:01:09 AM UTC-5, philo wrote:
On 02/12/2016 06:19 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:


What interesting times those were. My guess is that if I never "paid up"
they would have reversed the charge, I don't know.

Back around that time we used to make "free" collect calls.

If you wanted to let someone back home know that you had arrived at your destination
or pass along some other pre-arranged piece of information, you could initiate a
collect call through the operator. When the party on the receiving end would be asked
if they would accept the charges, they would just say "No."

Since it was all prearranged, the collect call itself passed along the information.




Yep, we did stuff like that all the time. Once when we went to Chicago,
a friend of mine called home just to let his mother know all was OK.

The city was different, but yep...that was the most common use of the
technique. Lot's of teen-age road trips back then. ;-)


He also tried to get a message through by talking. but the phone company
knew enough to have audio off until paid for

Tru dat!

On Fri, 12 Feb 2016 05:58:25 -0600, philo wrote:

On 02/12/2016 03:43 AM, wrote:
You'll need a VERY LARGE Wallet to make this call....
(Or a fleet of Semi-Trucks filled with Dimes).

http://www.thisisarecording.com/z/248-771-0023.mp3

Sometime back around 1968 I called a friend... on the East coast... from
a pay phone. The operator would have me put in a quarter every three
minutes or something like that until I eventually ran out of change.

When I ran out, she told me that I could complete my conversation at
which time I was informed that I owed a dollar and when I got the proper
change all I had to do was dial "operator" and ask for #23, tell her who
I was and then deposit what I owed.

What interesting times those were. My guess is that if I never "paid up"
they would have reversed the charge, I don't know.

Heck, around 1965 or 6, one could call long distance from a pay phone
and just charge it to another phone. I was in college and I used my
mother's phone, in a 3rd state. They might call her to check, but if
no one answered, they did it anyhow. But too many people did this
with people who weren't their parents and didn't know them, so now
none of us have this convenience.

So around 2008, I was coming back from Indiana, running late, and
going to miss a meeting in Baltimore that night, and I'd look bad if I
just didn't show up. So I stopped at a pay phone in West Virginia,
and was going to charge it to my credit card. For some reason I
checked the price in advance, $26 for the first 3 minutes!!! I
ended up borrowing a cell phone from a museum hostess, who got free
long distance. I had to go outside to the curb to get a signal and
even that didn't bother her.

On 02/12/2016 07:21 AM, Don Y wrote:


I don't think they can legally do that -- though that might not
stop them from trying!

In school, we would "discover" unrestricted telephone "extensions"
in unusual places -- phones from which '9' got you a "regular"
phone line that wasn't limited to local calls only. We'd venture
out with small groups and take turns making calls.

If you were smart, you'd only call people that you knew were "cool"
with the whole concept!

Friend opted to call his grandparents in Germany (!) Eventually,
someone trying to sort out who was making all these long distance
calls (from this very "off the beaten track" telephone) opted
to call some of the numbers.
"Oh, hello! Our grandson goes to your school! He's such a NICE
boy..."


Way back a million years ago when for my job, they gave me a pager
I was in a hospital waiting room...

This was a time when one could just go the the emergency room if one was
unable to get an immediate appoint with one's own doctor
(turned out there was nothing wrong with me)

Anyway I had to call someone in Mexico so just used the phone they had
sitting there and called straight through. I was expecting to be asked
for my company's credit card number...but that never happened.

busted

On 02/12/2016 07:53 AM, Micky wrote:
On Fri, 12 Feb 2016 05:58:25 -0600, philo wrote:

On 02/12/2016 03:43 AM, wrote:
You'll need a VERY LARGE Wallet to make this call....
(Or a fleet of Semi-Trucks filled with Dimes).

http://www.thisisarecording.com/z/248-771-0023.mp3

Sometime back around 1968 I called a friend... on the East coast... from
a pay phone. The operator would have me put in a quarter every three
minutes or something like that until I eventually ran out of change.

When I ran out, she told me that I could complete my conversation at
which time I was informed that I owed a dollar and when I got the proper
change all I had to do was dial "operator" and ask for #23, tell her who
I was and then deposit what I owed.

What interesting times those were. My guess is that if I never "paid up"
they would have reversed the charge, I don't know.

Heck, around 1965 or 6, one could call long distance from a pay phone
and just charge it to another phone. I was in college and I used my
mother's phone, in a 3rd state. They might call her to check, but if
no one answered, they did it anyhow. But too many people did this
with people who weren't their parents and didn't know them, so now
none of us have this convenience.

So around 2008, I was coming back from Indiana, running late, and
going to miss a meeting in Baltimore that night, and I'd look bad if I
just didn't show up. So I stopped at a pay phone in West Virginia,
and was going to charge it to my credit card. For some reason I
checked the price in advance, $26 for the first 3 minutes!!!



Woow!!! a lot of $$$$
I
ended up borrowing a cell phone from a museum hostess, who got free
long distance. I had to go outside to the curb to get a signal and
even that didn't bother her.

On Fri, 12 Feb 2016 08:53:26 -0500, Micky
wrote:




So around 2008, I was coming back from Indiana, running late, and
going to miss a meeting in Baltimore that night, and I'd look bad if I
just didn't show up. So I stopped at a pay phone in West Virginia,
and was going to charge it to my credit card. For some reason I
checked the price in advance, $26 for the first 3 minutes!!! I
ended up borrowing a cell phone from a museum hostess, who got free
long distance. I had to go outside to the curb to get a signal and
even that didn't bother her.

At some point in the 1990 era many of the pay phones were operated by
other long distance companies. They could charge whatever rates they
wanted. Some would pork you good.

On 2/12/2016 8:23 AM, philo wrote:
Way back a million years ago when for my job, they gave me a pager
I was in a hospital waiting room...

This was a time when one could just go the the emergency room if one was unable
to get an immediate appoint with one's own doctor

You can still do that. Expect to wait a VERY long time (unless triaged
as a "priority case") and pay a VERY large sum! :

(turned out there was nothing wrong with me)

Anyway I had to call someone in Mexico so just used the phone they had sitting
there and called straight through. I was expecting to be asked for my company's
credit card number...but that never happened.

In the 70's, the phone company "credit cards" (calling cards) used a
simple checksum to verify the integrity of the "calling card number".
I.e., when you called the operator and asked to charge a call to
a particular calling card, the operator (or, some software she had)
would perform this simple checksum to determine what the "check digit"
for the number *should* be. If it did NOT match the number you
presented, then the charge would be declined.

But, if it *did* match, the charge would be accepted and the call
placed!

So, you could fabricate arbitrary calling card numbers -- by knowing
the checksum algorithm. Of course, this was to be a TPC secret!

But, conveniently, was published by certain "underground" groups
(e.g., TAP, 2600).

grin

The same groups who gave us Black, Red, Blue and Green "boxes"...

[Amusingly, you could "detune" an organ (musical instrument) to create
a nice 2600Hz -- from something around E or F 7 (I'd have to do the math)]

On 02/12/2016 09:56 AM, Don Y wrote:
wn doctor

You can still do that. Expect to wait a VERY long time (unless triaged
as a "priority case") and pay a VERY large sum! :

Though it was not a hospital emergency room, it was one of those
immediate care facilities. One weekend I freaked out because I went deaf
in one ear so went in.

It was just wax, which he cleaned out in five minutes then billed my
insurance $500


They refused to pay unless he lowered the bill to $400!

I think I had $250 deducatble

pened.

In the 70's, the phone company "credit cards" (calling cards) used a
simple checksum to verify the integrity of the "calling card number".
I.e., when you called the operator and asked to charge a call to
a particular calling card, the operator (or, some software she had)
would perform this simple checksum to determine what the "check digit"
for the number *should* be. If it did NOT match the number you
presented, then the charge would be declined.

But, if it *did* match, the charge would be accepted and the call
placed!

So, you could fabricate arbitrary calling card numbers -- by knowing
the checksum algorithm. Of course, this was to be a TPC secret!

But, conveniently, was published by certain "underground" groups
(e.g., TAP, 2600).


Never knew that one, but had a company calling card so never would have
pay from my own pocket.

grin

The same groups who gave us Black, Red, Blue and Green "boxes"...

[Amusingly, you could "detune" an organ (musical instrument) to create
a nice 2600Hz -- from something around E or F 7 (I'd have to do the math)]


Though I never knew anyone who built one of those boxes, I was amazed
that the whole thing was just controlled by tone. Always figured it was
something more complicated.


Supposedly there were people who could whistle correctly to get a free call.

On 2/12/2016 9:21 AM, philo wrote:
The same groups who gave us Black, Red, Blue and Green "boxes"...

[Amusingly, you could "detune" an organ (musical instrument) to create
a nice 2600Hz -- from something around E or F 7 (I'd have to do the math)]

Though I never knew anyone who built one of those boxes, I was amazed that the
whole thing was just controlled by tone. Always figured it was something more
complicated.

If you think about it, it is not surprising!

Ages ago, when you placed a call, you had a pair of wires from your
handset to the callee's handset -- with TPC sitting in the middle.
The wires were intended to carry voice signals so had limited
bandwidth -- typically only about 3KHz in the "speech" band.

So, any "information" transferred down those wires had to similarly
be constrained to the same band!

TPC couldn't put "notch filters" on subscriber lines because that
would muck with the speech signals from those subscribers. And,
they weren't paranoid enough to realize folks WOULD take advantage
of the "open channel" to mimic their switching equipment's operations!

[This is all too common in western society's; we ASSUME people won't
do bad things, and, as such, take no measures to prevent them from
happening -- then act surprised when someone exploits these lapses!
Cockpit doors on aircraft, electrical substations "protected" by
little more than a chain link fence, water treatment facilities
protected by a KEEP OUT sign, internet protocols having NO provisions
for security/authentication, etc.]

At school, it was rumored that all TPC phone lines requested by students
(identifiable by their installation address) were kept on a single
exchange that had traps to watch for such abuses -- a few thousand
engineers clustered in one spot seemed to be too high a risk for TPC
to ignore! :

[Indeed, a friend was once phoned by The Operator and asked to please
"Press 1" as they were doing a "line check". Despite being woken
from a sound sleep, my friend realized he should reach for the *dial*
phone and DIAL '1' -- instead of PRESSING '1' on the TouchTone phone
(for which he was not paying TouchTone service rates! : ) Hard
to imagine The Operator calling everyone in town and asking that
same question!]

A classmate vacationing (somewhere) in Europe used to call us
and talk for a few minutes -- "until his hand got tired/cramped".
Apparently, the pay phones (wherever) were susceptible to static
electric charges. He'd flick his pzieoelectric cigarette lighter
repeatedly causing a little "spark" to confuse the computer in
the pay phone. Doing this repeatedly allowed him to keep the
connection open indefinitely -- or, at least until his hand got
tired! (it's actually VERY hard to do, for any length of time!)

Supposedly there were people who could whistle correctly to get a free call.

Yes. And, the little yellow/red whistles given away in boxes of "Cap'n Crunch"
cereal coincidentally were tuned to 2600Hz (maybe the Cap'n was a phreaker?)

On 02/12/2016 10:42 AM, Don Y wrote:


Supposedly there were people who could whistle correctly to get a free
call.

Yes. And, the little yellow/red whistles given away in boxes of "Cap'n
Crunch"
cereal coincidentally were tuned to 2600Hz (maybe the Cap'n was a
phreaker?)





One day I was in an office and saw a lock on a dial phone to prevent
unauthorized calls.

Although I had no need to make a call, just to see if I could do it,
when I got home I decided to call a friend by not using a dial at all,
merely by clicking the button on the phone.

Possibly because I was a Ham radio operator and good with Morse code, I
had little trouble with the higher numbers.

On 2/12/2016 9:54 AM, philo wrote:
One day I was in an office and saw a lock on a dial phone to prevent
unauthorized calls.

Although I had no need to make a call, just to see if I could do it,
when I got home I decided to call a friend by not using a dial at all, merely
by clicking the button on the phone.

Yes, by lifting the reciever (going "off hook") you complete the circuit
to the CO. The (old) dialer works by momentarily interrupting the circuit
(essentially, going ON hook for a brief time -- the same as "hanging up")
some number of times corresponding to the digit being dialed.

So, dial a '1' and it interrupts the circuit for ONE brief instant.
Dial a '2' and it interrupts for TWO brief instants.

The time between "interruptions" is controlled by the rate at
which the dial "returns" (when you pull your finger out and
let it "do its thing").

If you, instead, deliberately SLOW the rate of its return, you
will effectively "misdial" (because the CO doesn't "see" all
of the remaining interruptions for that particular digit in the
allotted time) and/or DISCONNECT the call (if you manage to stop
the dial exactly at the point where it is opening the circuit...
"going on hook"/hanging up!)

E.g., you can do a "hook flash" on dial phones just by dialing '1'
(instead of tapping the hook momentarily)

Likewise, you can make a "hold button" just by connecting a
resistor (600 ohms?) across the line (tip-ring). It simulates
the "load" represented by a phone. So, looks (to TPC) like
you've just picked up another extension. At that point, you
can hang up the *real* phone, walk to another room and pick
up another extension to continue the conversation.

If you arrange to use a SPDT switch (like a "three way" light
switch), you can put a switch in each location that lets the resistor
be switched in/out from either end:
- flip the first switch (to whatever position it is NOT in)
- hang up first phone
- pick up second phone
- flip second switch (to disconnect the resistor switched in by first!)
- hang up second phone when done with call

Possibly because I was a Ham radio operator and good with Morse code, I had
little trouble with the higher numbers.

On Friday, February 12, 2016 at 11:54:13 AM UTC-5, philo wrote:
On 02/12/2016 10:42 AM, Don Y wrote:


Supposedly there were people who could whistle correctly to get a free
call.

Yes. And, the little yellow/red whistles given away in boxes of "Cap'n
Crunch"
cereal coincidentally were tuned to 2600Hz (maybe the Cap'n was a
phreaker?)





One day I was in an office and saw a lock on a dial phone to prevent
unauthorized calls.

Although I had no need to make a call, just to see if I could do it,
when I got home I decided to call a friend by not using a dial at all,
merely by clicking the button on the phone.

Possibly because I was a Ham radio operator and good with Morse code, I
had little trouble with the higher numbers.

Simple to do...I used to do it all the time just for fun.

Here's another phone trick I used to use when I was young, but this
was a trick I pulled on my parents.

My parents weren't helicopter parents by any stretch of the imagination,
but they were concerned about my well being and life choices, as all
parents should be. While they wouldn't actually stop me from going out
just to go out, they would rather that I had a destination and reason
for going out, especially at night.

"I'm going bowling with Mark." was much better than:

"I'm going out."
"Where?"
"I don't know, I'll see who's around."

To keep the peace, I'd go down to the basement and use the extension to
call that "ring back" number. By the time I'd hung up and walked back up
the stairs to the kitchen, the phone would be ringing.

"Hello? Hey Mark, what's up?...Bowling? Sure. What time?...OK, I'll be
right over."

(hang up)

"Hey Mom, that was Mark. We're going bowling."

"OK, have fun."

On Friday, February 12, 2016 at 11:21:15 AM UTC-5, philo wrote:


Though it was not a hospital emergency room, it was one of those
immediate care facilities. One weekend I freaked out because I went deaf
in one ear so went in.


I'm a hypochondriac. One time I sat on the mute button and thought I
went deaf. ;-)

On 2/12/2016 6:19 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Friday, February 12, 2016 at 6:58:34 AM UTC-5, philo wrote:
On 02/12/2016 03:43 AM, wrote:
You'll need a VERY LARGE Wallet to make this call....
(Or a fleet of Semi-Trucks filled with Dimes).

http://www.thisisarecording.com/z/248-771-0023.mp3





Sometime back around 1968 I called a friend... on the East coast... from
a pay phone. The operator would have me put in a quarter every three
minutes or something like that until I eventually ran out of change.


When I ran out, she told me that I could complete my conversation at
which time I was informed that I owed a dollar and when I got the proper
change all I had to do was dial "operator" and ask for #23, tell her who
I was and then deposit what I owed.


What interesting times those were. My guess is that if I never "paid up"
they would have reversed the charge, I don't know.

Back around that time we used to make "free" collect calls.

If you wanted to let someone back home know that you had arrived at your destination
or pass along some other pre-arranged piece of information, you could initiate a
collect call through the operator. When the party on the receiving end would be asked
if they would accept the charges, they would just say "No."

Since it was all prearranged, the collect call itself passed along the information.


I remember being told to do that when I was going out of town. Mom said
she'd know I was safe and wouldn't accept the charges.

--
Maggie

On 2/12/2016 11:26 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Friday, February 12, 2016 at 11:21:15 AM UTC-5, philo wrote:


Though it was not a hospital emergency room, it was one of those
immediate care facilities. One weekend I freaked out because I went deaf
in one ear so went in.


I'm a hypochondriac. One time I sat on the mute button and thought I
went deaf. ;-)


LOL!

--
Maggie

On 02/12/2016 11:24 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
much better than:

"I'm going out."
"Where?"
"I don't know, I'll see who's around."

To keep the peace, I'd go down to the basement and use the extension to
call that "ring back" number. By the time I'd hung up and walked back up
the stairs to the kitchen, the phone would be ringing.

"Hello? Hey Mark, what's up?...Bowling? Sure. What time?...OK, I'll be
right over."

(hang up)

"Hey Mom, that was Mark. We're going bowling."

"OK, have fun."





Heck, I don't recall my parents asking me where I was going.

On 02/12/2016 11:20 AM, Don Y wrote:

[snip]

So, dial a '1' and it interrupts the circuit for ONE brief instant.
Dial a '2' and it interrupts for TWO brief instants.

And dial a "0" and it interrupts for 10 brief instants. Possibly the
reason for putting "0" in the wrong place.

BTW, The "0" is STILL in the wrong place on phone keypads and computer
keyboards.

[snip]

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"The inventor of the plow did more good than the maker of the first
rosary; because, say what you will, plowing is better than praying." --
R.G. Ingersoll

On 02/12/2016 11:26 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Friday, February 12, 2016 at 11:21:15 AM UTC-5, philo wrote:


Though it was not a hospital emergency room, it was one of those
immediate care facilities. One weekend I freaked out because I went deaf
in one ear so went in.


I'm a hypochondriac. One time I sat on the mute button and thought I
went deaf. ;-)




As I get older my hearing gets worse, but I can hear the low frequencies
fine. The last time I had a doctor check, he said it was normal for
someone my age.

When my wife tells me to get my hearing rechecked I ask her why I should
pay to find out something I already know. The fact that my low range is
good means everything is basically ok other than having lost some cilia .


Possibly the same reason I never took a MENSA test:


I am smart enough not to pay someone just to tell me I'm dumb!

On 2/12/2016 3:29 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 02/12/2016 11:20 AM, Don Y wrote:

[snip]

So, dial a '1' and it interrupts the circuit for ONE brief instant.
Dial a '2' and it interrupts for TWO brief instants.

And dial a "0" and it interrupts for 10 brief instants. Possibly the reason for
putting "0" in the wrong place.

BTW, The "0" is STILL in the wrong place on phone keypads and computer keyboards.

And telephone keypads are arranged "upside down" (almost)
from numeric keypads!

On 2/12/2016 3:27 PM, philo wrote:

Heck, I don't recall my parents asking me where I was going.

Yeah, and look how *you* turned out!! (ducks) :

On 02/12/2016 05:41 PM, Don Y wrote:

So, dial a '1' and it interrupts the circuit for ONE brief instant.
Dial a '2' and it interrupts for TWO brief instants.

And dial a "0" and it interrupts for 10 brief instants. Possibly the
reason for
putting "0" in the wrong place.

BTW, The "0" is STILL in the wrong place on phone keypads and computer
keyboards.

And telephone keypads are arranged "upside down" (almost)
from numeric keypads!

Only yesterday I happened upon a YouTube video dealing with the design
of the telephone number pad. The current layout was chosen after
extensive investigation of users' preferences and accuracy.

Perce

On 2/12/2016 3:48 PM, Percival P. Cassidy wrote:
On 02/12/2016 05:41 PM, Don Y wrote:

So, dial a '1' and it interrupts the circuit for ONE brief instant.
Dial a '2' and it interrupts for TWO brief instants.

And dial a "0" and it interrupts for 10 brief instants. Possibly the
reason for
putting "0" in the wrong place.

BTW, The "0" is STILL in the wrong place on phone keypads and computer
keyboards.

And telephone keypads are arranged "upside down" (almost)
from numeric keypads!

Only yesterday I happened upon a YouTube video dealing with the design of the
telephone number pad. The current layout was chosen after extensive
investigation of users' preferences and accuracy.

The first (electronic) product that I designed had a numeric keypad.
We had to think long and hard about whether our customers (fishermen)
would be more accustomed to using a "touch tone phone" (1970's)
or a "digital calculator" -- as they most definitely wouldn't have
had any other exposure to keypads (no microwave ovens, personal
computers, etc.)

Likewise, we had to consider whether '6's and '9's should have "tails":

+
|
+--+
| |
+--+

vs.

+--+
|
+--+
| |
+--+

(and, just because one of them has/hasn't, doesn't mean the *other*
should/shouldn't!)

And you don't want to consider the amount of thought and effort that
comes into designing a *typeface* (aka "font")!

On Fri, 12 Feb 2016 16:27:51 -0600, philo wrote:

On 02/12/2016 11:24 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
much better than:



"Hey Mom, that was Mark. We're going bowling."

"OK, have fun."





Heck, I don't recall my parents asking me where I was going.

Where are you going?

Yomama

On Fri, 12 Feb 2016 09:24:42 -0600, philo wrote:

On 02/12/2016 07:53 AM, Micky wrote:
On Fri, 12 Feb 2016 05:58:25 -0600, philo wrote:

On 02/12/2016 03:43 AM, wrote:
You'll need a VERY LARGE Wallet to make this call....
(Or a fleet of Semi-Trucks filled with Dimes).

http://www.thisisarecording.com/z/248-771-0023.mp3

Sometime back around 1968 I called a friend... on the East coast... from
a pay phone. The operator would have me put in a quarter every three
minutes or something like that until I eventually ran out of change.

When I ran out, she told me that I could complete my conversation at
which time I was informed that I owed a dollar and when I got the proper
change all I had to do was dial "operator" and ask for #23, tell her who
I was and then deposit what I owed.

What interesting times those were. My guess is that if I never "paid up"
they would have reversed the charge, I don't know.

Heck, around 1965 or 6, one could call long distance from a pay phone
and just charge it to another phone. I was in college and I used my
mother's phone, in a 3rd state. They might call her to check, but if
no one answered, they did it anyhow. But too many people did this
with people who weren't their parents and didn't know them, so now
none of us have this convenience.

So around 2008, I was coming back from Indiana, running late, and
going to miss a meeting in Baltimore that night, and I'd look bad if I
just didn't show up. So I stopped at a pay phone in West Virginia,
and was going to charge it to my credit card. For some reason I
checked the price in advance, $26 for the first 3 minutes!!!



Woow!!! a lot of $$$$

I coudln't believe it. And yeah, it was some 3rd party company.


I
ended up borrowing a cell phone from a museum hostess, who got free
long distance. I had to go outside to the curb to get a signal and
even that didn't bother her.

On 2016-02-12 4:43 AM, wrote:
You'll need a VERY LARGE Wallet to make this call....
(Or a fleet of Semi-Trucks filled with Dimes).

http://www.thisisarecording.com/z/248-771-0023.mp3


I know the person that runs that website, long time usenet friend.

--
Froz...

Quando omni flunkus, moritati

On 02/12/2016 04:42 PM, Don Y wrote:
On 2/12/2016 3:27 PM, philo wrote:

Heck, I don't recall my parents asking me where I was going.

Yeah, and look how *you* turned out!! (ducks) :



yep, pretty badly!!!!

On 02/12/2016 05:16 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 12 Feb 2016 16:27:51 -0600, philo wrote:

On 02/12/2016 11:24 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
much better than:



"Hey Mom, that was Mark. We're going bowling."

"OK, have fun."





Heck, I don't recall my parents asking me where I was going.

Where are you going?

Yomama




HA!!!!

On Fri, 12 Feb 2016 19:47:26 -0500, FrozenNorth
wrote:

On 2016-02-12 4:43 AM, wrote:
You'll need a VERY LARGE Wallet to make this call....
(Or a fleet of Semi-Trucks filled with Dimes).

http://www.thisisarecording.com/z/248-771-0023.mp3


I know the person that runs that website, long time usenet friend.

Thats a pretty fun website. I like listening to those old recordings...

On 2/12/16 8:21 AM, Don Y wrote:
On 2/12/2016 4:58 AM, philo wrote:

SNIP

In the early 80's, I was in a little town in Southern CO (Florence).
I called home (east coast) from a pay phone (as calling from the
home of the folks I was staying with would have passed the cost
onto them!). Of course, parents seem to like to talk for long
periods of time, saying little -- oblivious to the fact that I'm
standing on the side of the road calling from "nowhere".

Periodically, the operator would come on the line to tell me to
deposit another $3 (or so).

The first time I did this (to initiate the call), the solenoid that
transfers the monies from the "holding area" (from which they can
easily be RETURNED to the caller) to the "cash box" appeared to
malfunction; returning the coins to *me* instead!

pleasant surprise

Even more pleasant was that the next request for $3 resulted in the
same behavior. And, the one after that! (did I mention that parents
like to talk for a long time??) I just kept taking the coins out
of the coin return and redepositing them!

So, the call cost me nothing.

Next day, I drove by that same phone booth and, on a whim, tried
again. grin Same "problem" as the day before!

I did this for the better part of a week.

Until, one day, the activation of the solenoid resulted in the
coins being *accepted*. It was a very sad sound! :-(

Back in the day, there was a way to multi-bend a foot-long length of
coat hanger wire which could then be inserted up the open coin return
slot of the old Bell System pay phones-- the ones before they installed
pull-down doors on the coin returns-- that would lodge behind the
holding box and prevent the operator-activated solenoid from tipping it
backward into the money box. A skillful jiggle on the wire would tip the
holding box forward sending the coins back down the coin return slot.
Free call!

The increasingly widespread use of these "pay phone hooks" back in the
50's and 60's was a contributing factor in Ma Bell's replacing all the
old open-slot coin return slot phones with the pull-down door kind...


--
If a man speaks in the woods and there is no woman around to hear him,
is he still wrong?

On 2/13/2016 9:50 AM, Wade Garrett wrote:

Back in the day, there was a way to multi-bend a foot-long length of
coat hanger wire which could then be inserted up the open coin return
slot of the old Bell System pay phones-- the ones before they installed
pull-down doors on the coin returns-- that would lodge behind the
holding box and prevent the operator-activated solenoid from tipping it
backward into the money box. A skillful jiggle on the wire would tip the
holding box forward sending the coins back down the coin return slot.
Free call!

The increasingly widespread use of these "pay phone hooks" back in the
50's and 60's was a contributing factor in Ma Bell's replacing all the
old open-slot coin return slot phones with the pull-down door kind...


Back in my younger days, when a phone call cost a dime, we used to drop
a penny down the nickel slot and bump the coin return button as it was
going down. That would send the penny into the dime slot area and turn
the phone on. Another trick was to flatten out a plastic straw and shove
it down the dime slot and drop a penny down the nickle slot and pull the
straw out as the penny was going down. Had the same effect.

On 2/13/2016 8:50 AM, Wade Garrett wrote:
On 2/12/16 8:21 AM, Don Y wrote:
On 2/12/2016 4:58 AM, philo wrote:

SNIP

In the early 80's, I was in a little town in Southern CO (Florence).
I called home (east coast) from a pay phone (as calling from the
home of the folks I was staying with would have passed the cost
onto them!). Of course, parents seem to like to talk for long
periods of time, saying little -- oblivious to the fact that I'm
standing on the side of the road calling from "nowhere".

Periodically, the operator would come on the line to tell me to
deposit another $3 (or so).

The first time I did this (to initiate the call), the solenoid that
transfers the monies from the "holding area" (from which they can
easily be RETURNED to the caller) to the "cash box" appeared to
malfunction; returning the coins to *me* instead!

pleasant surprise

Even more pleasant was that the next request for $3 resulted in the
same behavior. And, the one after that! (did I mention that parents
like to talk for a long time??) I just kept taking the coins out
of the coin return and redepositing them!

So, the call cost me nothing.

Next day, I drove by that same phone booth and, on a whim, tried
again. grin Same "problem" as the day before!

I did this for the better part of a week.

Until, one day, the activation of the solenoid resulted in the
coins being *accepted*. It was a very sad sound! :-(

Back in the day, there was a way to multi-bend a foot-long length of coat
hanger wire which could then be inserted up the open coin return slot of the
old Bell System pay phones-- the ones before they installed pull-down doors on
the coin returns-- that would lodge behind the holding box and prevent the
operator-activated solenoid from tipping it backward into the money box. A
skillful jiggle on the wire would tip the holding box forward sending the coins
back down the coin return slot. Free call!

The increasingly widespread use of these "pay phone hooks" back in the 50's and
60's was a contributing factor in Ma Bell's replacing all the old open-slot
coin return slot phones with the pull-down door kind...

There's also a spot on the "Fortress" where you can drill a little
hole and get similar results.

Ma Bell went to great lengths to protect the cash it had collected;
not so much *future* cash!

Coin mechanisms (and coin handling) suffer from being a relatively
complex task *and* one that you would ideally NOT like to spend
lots of resources ($$) on -- as it adds no direct value (it's
more of an insurance policy).

Early dollar bill validators could be hacked by attaching a length
of clear plastic to the bill (most typically, a long piece of tape
that is then folded back on itself to double its thickness/strength
*and* cover up the exposed adhesive soas not to get caught in the
mechanism).

The coin mechanisms in pin-tables (and other arcade pieces) can almost
always be conned into accepting a penny as "payment" (in lieu of a quarter).

Red boxes can con TPC into thinking you've inserted coins.

Some slot machines could be "confused" to miscount dispensed coins
(on a payout) by flashing a light *inside* the hopper (coin
dispenser) to blind the photoelectric "coin detector".

Etc. The number of vulnerabilities that folks will uncover
"to make/save/steal a buck" is amusingly large: "Why didn't
anyone think of PREVENTING this *obvious* hack?"

On 02/12/2016 04:41 PM, Don Y wrote:

[snip]

BTW, The "0" is STILL in the wrong place on phone keypads and computer
keyboards.

And telephone keypads are arranged "upside down" (almost)
from numeric keypads!


I think that's for the same reason computer keyboards have the letters
in that weird QWERTY layout. It's to slow down users, making them
compatible with the hardware.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"We are convinced the masses of evidence render the application of the
concept of evolution to man and the other primates beyond serious
dispute."[Pontifical Academy of Sciences]

On 2/13/16 11:15 AM, Mr. Emann wrote:
On 2/13/2016 9:50 AM, Wade Garrett wrote:

Back in the day, there was a way to multi-bend a foot-long length of
coat hanger wire which could then be inserted up the open coin return
slot of the old Bell System pay phones-- the ones before they installed
pull-down doors on the coin returns-- that would lodge behind the
holding box and prevent the operator-activated solenoid from tipping it
backward into the money box. A skillful jiggle on the wire would tip the
holding box forward sending the coins back down the coin return slot.
Free call!

The increasingly widespread use of these "pay phone hooks" back in the
50's and 60's was a contributing factor in Ma Bell's replacing all the
old open-slot coin return slot phones with the pull-down door kind...


Back in my younger days, when a phone call cost a dime, we used to drop
a penny down the nickel slot and bump the coin return button as it was
going down. That would send the penny into the dime slot area and turn
the phone on. Another trick was to flatten out a plastic straw and shove
it down the dime slot and drop a penny down the nickle slot and pull the
straw out as the penny was going down. Had the same effect.

Another old trick I read about was to bring a portable tape recorder
into a deserted phone booth and record the "bong" noises a series of
quarters made as they dropped into the coin slot. From then on, when
making long distance calls and the operator asked you to deposit X
dollars, you just played back the proper number of bongs with the phone
handset's mouthpiece close to the speaker on your recorder.

The only way operators determined how much you deposited was to listen
to the sound a coin made as it hit the bonger under the quarter slot,
the single bing under the nickle slot and the double bing under the dime
slot. She couldn't tell the difference between the real thing and a
recording of it. Remember the old ad slogan "Is it live or is it Memorex"?


The advent of electronic coin sensor/counters ended that little scammy-doo.

--
Some of the greatest minds in the world are right here in America.
Sadly, they have gone into hiding until the "War On Thinking” is over.
- @KelsowFarlander

On 02/13/2016 06:39 PM, Wade Garrett wrote:
Another old trick I read about was to bring a portable tape recorder into a deserted phone booth and record the "bong" noises a series of
quarters made as they dropped into the coin slot. From then on, when making long distance calls and the operator asked you to deposit X dollars,
you just played back the proper number of bongs with the phone handset's mouthpiece close to the speaker on your recorder.

The only way operators determined how much you deposited was to listen to the sound a coin made as it hit the bonger under the quarter slot, the
single bing under the nickle slot and the double bing under the dime slot. She couldn't tell the difference between the real thing and a
recording of it. Remember the old ad slogan "Is it live or is it Memorex"?


The advent of electronic coin sensor/counters ended that little scammy-doo.

The real scammy-doo was the exorbitant long-distance rate charged by the phoney company..