Wargames payphone trick

[knightrdrx]

How many saw this movie and then tried to attach a string to a quarter put it in and pull it back out? Did it ever work? If it did at one time I tried too late. I didn't see it when it first came out.

[Ken Layton]

The coin acceptor in modern single slot payphones have a string cutter built in. So no, it does not work. Just a movie gimmick.

[pbj]

I thought the War Games trick was unscrewing the mouthpiece and grounding out the microphone to the coin return with a pull tab from a beer can....

Are you one of those spambots?

[Howard_Casto]

It probably worked when the movie came out.  There were lots of ways to spam phones in the 80's including recording the sound of coins dropping and playing them back into the receiver, because in ancient times phones were analog. 

[Ken Layton]

I thought the War Games trick was unscrewing the mouthpiece and grounding out the microphone to the coin return with a pull tab from a beer can....

Modern "smart" payphones detect that kind of fraud. Depending on the make & model of the smart payphone, some shut the whole phone down for a specified time. Others may automatically dial 911 when that type of fraud is detected.

[pbj]

Auto dial 911?  Please.   

[Howard_Casto]

Auto dial 911?  Please.   

Agreed.  Stealing 3 dollars from a non-existent pay phone (What is it 1990?  You found a pay phone in the wild?)  is NOT an emergency. 

[ChadTower]

When I was small I used to dial the operator and tell them I lost my money and needed to call my mom.  They'd connect me every time.

[pbj]

Only trick I knew was when you dialed 971 and the last four of the phones number and then hung up twice.  It would ring endlessly.

 

[knightrdrx]

you're right..i got my references mixed up...i don't know remember where i got the idea for the coin on a string.   

I thought the War Games trick was unscrewing the mouthpiece and grounding out the microphone to the coin return with a pull tab from a beer can....

Are you one of those spambots?

[shponglefan]

Payphones still exist? 

[Slippyblade]

Only trick I knew was when you dialed 971 and the last four of the phones number and then hung up twice.  It would ring endlessly.

 

Oh yeah, I'd totally forgotten about that.  Used to do that all the time just to be annoying.

[PL1]

i don't know remember where i got the idea for the coin on a string.

First episode of "Halt and Catch Fire" showed Cameron using this trick on a Centipede cab.


Scott

[RoyalScam]

String and Dime ( yes, that's dime, kids ) didn't work. Neither did unscrewing the mouthpiece as they were either glued or sonically welded. But I may have known about some individuals having some success with a  deposit of a nickel and a red-box.  You see it could be determined if money was physically deposited into the phone, and then resulting tones played from the red box would add additional "credits" ,as it were, to the call.  IIRC that kind of action ended mid to late '80's in Florida. Radio shack actually sold a DTMF keypad that with a little hacking, any EE student could easily turn into a red box. BTW did I mention I was an EE student in 82-84 in SW Florida? Have any of you actually seen a payphone in the wild these days? I don't recall seeing one for a very long time.

Just sayin'
Scam

[ChadTower]

I still see a payphone now and then but had to teach myself to notice them.  They were so common for so long people would just look past them like any other faceless item in the environment.

[Vigo]

Only legit phone trickery I know of is the "captain crunch whistle" / blue box phreaking stuff. Copying the tones used as code by the telcom company to get free long distance, etc.

[bkrownd]

Have any of you actually seen a payphone in the wild these days? I don't recall seeing one for a very long time.

   Every 7-11 I can think of here has pay phones. 
 

[Samstag]

Only legit phone trickery I know of is the "captain crunch whistle" / blue box phreaking stuff. Copying the tones used as code by the telcom company to get free long distance, etc.

Back in the 80's payphones sent special audible tones when a coin was accepted and didn't cut out the mic during that time, so "redbox" devices could get you free calls by generating coin tones.  That worked long after they put protections in for blueboxing.

[Howard_Casto]

Have any of you actually seen a payphone in the wild these days? I don't recall seeing one for a very long time.

   Every 7-11 I can think of here has pay phones. 
 

I could say something but people might misinterpret it as me being racist, so never mind. 

[nemesismachine]

The movie "Hackers" got me to try hanging up 10 times or so in a row.  Found out that calls 911, not the operator.