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Was it ever actually possible to rip off a payphone that way?

posted 9 years ago by FX_Lord
25 replies | jump to latest

So I've once again reached the scene in Wargames where David Lightman doesn't have any change. He bashes the mouthpiece off then uses the top from a soda can between the mouthpiece and another piece of metal to draw a dial tone from the phone. Then he makes his call.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows if this was ever actually possible. I always assumed it was, like the playback of the security tone he used to open the locked door.

Anyone?

"I don't reckon I got no reason to kill nobody."

[–] quartz (482) a year ago

in the Core hacker dude gets Aaron Eckhart unlimited credit by blowing on some tin foil across the mobile phones microphone

[–] FilmBuff (7237) a year ago

There was a famous phone phreak known as Captain Crunch, so-named because he learned that a whistle he got in a box of Captain Crunch happened to play the exact tone that triggered the phone system to give a free phone call. Most likely, Eckhart's character was doing something akin to that.

There were any number of ways to get free calls back then. In the '80s, some ATMs had a telephone handset you could pick up and be connected to someone inside the bank for assistance. I realized one day that when you picked it up, after a pause, it dialed the bank's number. I also knew that you could tap the button that hangs up the phone once quickly to dial a 1, twice for 2, etc. I picked up the ATM phone, quickly tapped the button 10 times, and got an operator. Had I been a dishonest sort, I could have called anyone in the world and spoken as long as I wanted (or at least until someone else wanted to use the ATM) on the bank's nickel.