Bernard Fran Collins <collins@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu> (05/07/91)
Over the weekend I had reason to visit an old mansion in Baltimore. While there, I asked to use a public phone and was directed to a broom closet which contained what appeared to be an overgrown touch-tone deskphone. There was a slot to take quarters and a sticker that said local calls only. I found that a dial tone was given when the receiver was lifted. But when trying to dial out normally, the phone would only produce one DTMF unless the number I pressed was 0. If I pressed 0, it would let me continue; otherwise, the keypad was disabled. I never tested the thing by actually depositing a quarter in it. But I did not have to. I found that I could dial anywhere I wanted, local, LD, credit card, international etc., as long as I kept the key touches very short in duration. They had to be short enough to slip by the phone's decoder but long enough to be detected by the CO. This phone was a piece of junk. In about one minute I was able to bypass its skimpy security and dial anywhere I wanted. Of course, I am an honest person and would never take advantage of such a situation. It is quite useful for such establishments to have payphones for use by the public. But devices such as these unfortunately make possible the ripoff of their unwary owners. Skip Collins, collins@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu