dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us (David Tamkin) (02/06/89)
Ed Ravin wrote: |Numerous messages have been posted to TELECOM about what happens when by |coincidence misprinted, mis-announced or common dialing errors produce |telephone numbers that arrive at some undeserving victim's home instead. |One thing I didn't see posted was what happens when someone calls a BBS and |say "Hey, man, great new board at 123-4567. Call it now!" and mistypes a |few digits in the process. Whoever lives at the wrong number gets a |mountain of modem calls, usually at 3 AM or whenever the BBS junkies are |awake. It doesn't have to be done by typo or out of malicious mischief. When I was active in a user group I posted my phone number as contact number for the group on three or four BBS's. Modems screamed in my ear for months afterward. It is amazing how many half-wits assume (1) that any number they read on a BBS is a BBS and (2) that there is no reason to dial with their fingers and listen with their ears the first time they try it. People as inconsiderate as those, just as much as krackers and phreaks, give telecommunicators a bad name. David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us ...!killer!jolnet!dattier
rfarris@serene.UUCP (Rick Farris) (02/11/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0052m06@vector.UUCP> buita!dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us (David Tamkin) writes: > When I was active in a user group I posted my phone number as contact > number for the group on three or four BBS's. Modems screamed in my > ear for months afterward. > It is amazing how many half-wits assume (1) that any number they read > on a BBS is a BBS and (2) that there is no reason to dial with their > fingers and listen with their ears the first time they try it. How strange. Not only did the callers dial your number, but they modified their modems so that instead of the calling modem *listening* for carrier, like all normal modems, it actually called you and went into answer mode. Now either this story is apocryphal, or the people calling your number were not bumpkins, but were intentionally harassing you. Rick Farris RF Engineering POB M Del Mar, CA 92014 voice (619) 259-6793 rfarris@serene.cts.com ...!uunet!serene!rfarris serene.UUCP 259-7757
slaurel@contact.UUCP (David Maxwell) (02/14/89)
Re: Modems dialing and sending a carrier without listening first.
It is possible for this to occur, not with a Hayes compatible modem, but
with various 'dumb' modems, especially the older models specific to the
Commodore 64. These older, 300 baud modems were VERY common only a few years
ago. That could have been it.
Sir Laurel@contacteravin@dasys1.UUCP (Ed Ravin) (02/15/89)
Rick Farris writes:
:->How strange. Not only did the callers dial your number, but they
:->modified their modems so that instead of the calling modem
:->*listening* for carrier, like all normal modems, it actually called
:->you and went into answer mode.
Maybe this was in the 300 baud days of modems (does anyone out there
still use 300 baud?). And before smart modems became ubiquitous, I
think some early 212a modems behaved this way too. My story about the
harrassing fake BBS number did happen back in the heady days of 300 baud
BBS's.
--
Ed Ravin | cucard!dasys1!eravin | "A mind is a terrible thing
(BigElectricCatPublicUNIX)| eravin@dasys1.UUCP | to waste-- boycott TV!"
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Reader bears responsibility for all opinions expressed in this article.bote@uunet.uu.net (John Boteler) (02/19/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0052m06@vector.UUCP> buita!dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us (David Tamkin) writes: >> When I was active in a user group I posted my phone number as contact >> number for the group on three or four BBS's. Modems screamed in my >> ear for months afterward. Rick Farris replies: How strange. Not only did the callers dial your number, but they modified their modems so that instead of the calling modem *listening* for carrier, like all normal modems, it actually called you and went into answer mode. Now either this story is apocryphal, or the people calling your number were not bumpkins, but were intentionally harassing you. I posted a number for a VOICE bulletin board I had written for a PC-based voice-telephone interface board. I emphasized several times in several places in the short posting to about 5 local BBS that it was for VOICE, as in Human talk-talk. Roughly 40-50% of the calls were just dead silence, with none of the prompted touch-tone entry. I got wise to what was happening by whistling a modem answer carrier into the BBS line when this occurred. Lo and behold, an originate carrier replied! Due to these and other considerations, I gave up on that project until further notice, but had I wanted to be tricky, I suppose a short burst of 2250 Hz would have alerted the unsuspecting caller to a different operation; those curious enough might actually listen to what the heck was causing their modem to dump prematurely. Just a thought. Bote uunet!cyclops!csense!bote {mimsy,sundc}!{prometheus,hqda-ai}!media!cyclops!csense!bote
ab4@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Andrew Boardman) (02/22/89)
[Re: Modems dialing and sending a carrier without listening first.] >It is possible for this to occur, not with a Hayes compatible modem, but >with various 'dumb' modems, especially the older models specific to the >Commodore 64. [...] Quite probably almost all modern modems listen before dialing, but being "Hayes compatible" has nothing to do with it. This Hayes SmartModem, [1200; ugh] sitting on my terminal, which is by definition "Hayes Compatible", will happily dial away connected to nothing. Has there been a change at some point in the "Hayes standard"? ab4@cunixc.[columbia.edu|bitnet] ...[rutgers|uunet|cucard]!columbia!cunixc!ab4