Conference noted::hackers_v1

    where in the united states are you?

re: .1
   New England - Area 603, exchange 673
   Does that make a difference as far as the answers to my ?'s ?

   [ :^) ]

-Jack

    It used to be something other than 981 a long time ago,
    then they changed it because too maney people used to
    use it.  My mother used to use it to tell us to be quiet
    when see was upstairs sleeping.
    
    My brother and I got the number from a telephone man who
    did some work on our phones.  It is a great trick to
    go to somebodys house, pretend to dial someone, then
    5 seconds later the phone rings, they answer and nobody
    is there, so they hang up, and it rings again....
    
    Another not so interesting one is 883-5555, which just
    gives a continuous tone forever.

      I too live in New Hampshire.  I think it only works in NH because
    when I try it at my friends houses who live in Dunstable, Tyngsboro,
    etc... It says the call cannot be compleated or something.
      The numbers are different in different parts of the state, different
    exchanges and such.  They are as follows.
    
      981-XXXX
      982-XXXX
      983-XXXX
      984-XXXX
    
    Where XXXX represents the last 4 digets of the phone number.
      There is also another number that has been around for a while.
     Can anybody tell me what it's for?  I tried to connect my terminal
    to it but no can do.  The number is 883-2023.

      Oh yea,  There was a number that my brothers friend told me a
    long time back that when you called it, it would tell you the phone
    number of the house your at.  I keep remembering something about
    XXX-7777.
    -=*>Jason<*=-

I live in R.I. ... we used to be able to use the 981 trick ... I 
think it was, dial 981 .. wait for 2nd dial tone, dial 6 and hang up.

We also used to be able to dial 200- (or 220-) followed by any seven
numbers, and a recorded voice would tell you your phone number...

They don't seem to work anymore.

Al

> What's the story on what would be considered, I guess, "maintenance codes"
> in the phone system? Are they fair game? Illegal to use? Or what?
> The first question is: Is it OK (legal) to "hack around" with the phone
> system like that?

	I think that it is legal unless you disrupt telephone service
	(vandalism), annoy people (harassment) or avoid normal telephone 
	use charges (theft of services).  There may be some other charges
	that could be brought but I think these are the three most
	likely.

> Is it legal to ask any of these questions?

	Of course!  It's (still) a free country.  You havn't slandered,
	libeled or verbally assaulted anyone with your questions so
	there is no problem.  Answering questions is another matter.

      A telephone installer once asked me not to use the ringback
      number because there are limited ports available and when an
      unauthorized person (someone who doesn't work for the TelCo)
      uses them, it can interfere with authorized phone workers getting
      their job done (installing or checking phones).
      
      There used to be lots of test numbers around, and I'd guess
      there still are.   Probably the local phone companies keep
      changing the codes as people discover them and use them
      excessively.
      
      Here are some interesting things I've known the numbers to
      over the years:
      
      ring back
      continuous 1 Khz tone at a known level
      dead silence (probably ring and tip crossed and grounded)
      what number am I calling from
      tone sweep
      1 Khz tone interrupted every ten seconds
      pair of numbers which connect to each other (two people dial
          the two numbers and talk to each other)
      recording for pay phone (something like "If you wish to make a 
          call, hang up, lift receiver, and deposit 10 cents when
          you get a new dial tone.")
              (I suspect this is a "default number" that you get
              connected to from a pay phone if you hold a dial tone
              without depositing money for too long.)
      line verification operator
      
      I do not encourage people looking for the phone company's
      internal-use numbers any more than I encourage people looking
      for system management's internal-use usernames.
      
      If you have a use for some of these numbers, ask your phone
      company.   (Ring back used to be given out to people with
      party lines, for example, so they could call their line-mates.)
      
      Dave C.

    These things have come up periodically on ARPAnet Telecom Digest.
    The numbers vary from place to place.  As Dave said, they have traffic
    limitations, so you can't go using them a lot or there could be
    trouble.  But some are generally useful.
   
    The 98x-defg trick works in New England Telephone territory, usually,
    but it was 550-(pulse 6) in NJ, and your-own-number+pulse in NY when I
    lived there.  It's not nationally uniform for ringbacks.  New England
    Tel uses "area code 200" for "speak back your own number" from the
    auto number identifier.  It is often turned off nowadays.
    
    One of my favorites way back when (in NJ) was the looparound test.
    You dialed xxx-9929 and got 1004 Hz tone (test milliwatt).  Someone
    else dialed the same prefix -9930 and got you.  When I was doing
    pirate radio, it was occasionally fun to sit on 9929 and give out
    our number as "9930" on one of the few exchanges where it worked.
    (Usually I gave out my real number tho.  Didn't wanna make it too
    hard for the FCC :-) )  These numbers, btw, vary from telco to telco;
    9935 is the plain milliwatt (not loop) in NE, but it was 9971 in NJ.
         fred

Indeed this phone number gives a tone.  However, the tone interrupts
about once a minute.

Questions worth investigating:

o	If you touchtone appropriate codes, will you get somewhere ?

o	Exactly how often does the tone interrupt ?

o	What is the purpose ?  Merely a tone to test line quality ?

o	Is there a charge for the call ?

/Eric

    re:.10
    Oh, did I forget to mention that the looparound milliwatt was 9
    seconds on 1 second off?  Sounds familiar...
    
    On the ringback numbers (which usually return a dial tone, then
    a single tone (440?) when you go into ringback-ready mode), you
    can dial 1234567890[*#] and it will give you two boops if your tones
    are right.  I think a single boop means it doesn't like your tone
    pad but you're close enough that it knows you're trying. 
         fred

Ah yes, loops.

I remember now, as reminded in previous reply.  Two numbers, each
of which dialed gives 1000 hz. tone.  But if TWO people dial them,
they can  talk to each other.

So, is (603)883-5555 one half of one of these ?  Can anyone find
the other half ?  5556 seems to ring indefinitely, 5554 gets AAA (don't
bother them again!).

Also, some loops were regular charge, some were free.  Free were
real nice, because any two people in the country could call them
and talk forever for free.  (CAUTION:  I'm sure this constitutes
theft of services, even though telco set up the numbers!)

/Eric

The TELCO is now selling loops as teen gab lines.

re .-1:  Maybe loops are chained, like business numbers.  Try dialing the number
twice and see if you get yourself.  If it is busy, it still may be a chain, you
just didn't get the first one.  Chains don't have to be sequential numbers.

-Mike

    It's time to mention that this is not the FONE FREEKS notes file.
    If anyone would like to start one, fine. I don't think this discussion
    is approriate here.
    	-Rick

                Too bad.    I  found it somewhat interesting.  Is
                there an appropriate  notes  conference  for this
                somewhere?  I don't  think  it  warrents it's own
                conference.
                

RE:< Note 534.15 by PFLOYD::ROTHBERG "That's not a bug, it's a feature." >

>                     -< Any suggestions where to take it? >-

Yes, try OVDVAX::ELECTRO_HOBBY.  Phone discussions are rampant!

Dale

At the suggestion of others, and the hospitality of the Moderator of
OVDVAX::ELECTRO_HOBBY, the base note and the first 13 replies have
been moved to that conference. Please feel free to follow the discussion
there.

-Jack