Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: Rich Sims Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Need Info on Motorola Portable Cellular Message-ID: <10288@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 30 Jul 90 10:57:51 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 43 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 533, Message 5 of 11 In response to my question concerning changing the ESN of a callular phone, the Moderator writes: > [Moderator's Note: The ESN is really about the only protection the > cellular telcos have against fraud. Yes, people tamper with the ESN on > cellular phones for fraudulent reasons. Nothing is perfect, but the > ESN is deliberatly made difficult to change for that reason. PT] Unfortunately, what you say is quite true. I was discussing the subject with someone who is even less knowledgeable about this stuff than I am, and his immediate response was to outline a scheme whereby he would be able to defraud the cellular telco. It took him all of two seconds to figure out what would be needed to do that! ....sigh! My reason for wanting the information is not fraudulent, since I already have the account (number) with the cellular telco, and would be paying for all the air-time used, which is really the only thing the cellular telco is providing. I simply want to make it as convenient as my wire connected service, and am less than enthused over the prospect of paying $300 a year (or more) for what would essentially be an "extension phone" used only for an occasional outgoing call. The response from the individual I was talking to reminds me of a time when I logged onto a system via a long-distance call, and was asked by another user if I was really calling from where I said. When I answered "yes", the next question was "Are you actually PAYING for the call?", and my answer of "yes" to that question was received with astonishment! [Moderator's Note: Unfortunatly, for about the first half dozen years of BBS'ing -- 1979 through 1985 or so -- that medium had a preponderance of phreaks, crackers, hackers, phrackers and other sundry and assorted weird people on line to give it a bad name; a reputation it has not entirely lived down to this day. Add the computer illiteracy so prevalent in the general population and even among many telco or government employees and you really can't blame the telcos and the government from eyeing the whole thing with lots of suspicion: Millions of dollars in fraud calls were terminated on BBS lines over the years. PT]