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From: wchan@umd5.umd.edu (Winthrop D Chan)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics,alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: free calls?
Message-ID: <7047@umd5.umd.edu>
Date: 6 Aug 90 22:17:50 GMT
References: <32457@cup.portal.com> <1990Aug6.124516.8051@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>
Reply-To: wchan@umd5.umd.edu (Winthrop D Chan)
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Lines: 40

In article <1990Aug6.124516.8051@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> sheasby@dgp.toronto.edu (Michael C. Sheasby) writes:
>
>The other day I was in a mall and noticed a few yahoos gathered
>around a pay phone... they looked around for cops and then
>unscrewed the receiver on the phone (the ear end, not the mouth
>end).
>
>They took out the small speaker and touched the two wires
>leading to it to the handset holder (the thing you put the
>phone back on when you finish the call). Then they dialed
>and quickly screwed the receiver cap back on. Apparently this
>saved them a quarter.
>
Well, I haven't seen that one, but I have seen people poke little holes with a
nail into the 2nd hole from the bottom of the mouthpiece. They stick a paper
clip into the hole and then dial the 1st 6 numbers, then they "short" the paper
clip to something metal on the phone and dial the last digit before shorting it
again.

It was running rampant on this university for a while and only works on local
calls. The phone company has replaced all the mouthpieces with ones that have
a steel plate which makes it impossible to pull this trick again without
severely damaging the mouthpiece.

Winthrop

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