MAin 0-2368 and 555-2368 Type Telephone Numbers

[Dave F]

Pulled it out of a dumpster???  Someone obviously(and thankfully) didn't follow the "destruction by mutilation" instructions.  That's a really neat book, something I've never seen or heard of before.

Throughout the 1960s and into the early 70s, Pacific Tel issued and updated these Test Number Directories a couple times a year.  I don't know if other phone companies had them, but they most probably did.  Sometime in the mid 70s the published directories were discontinued, and test number info was then distributed to authorized parties via tractor-feed computer printout.  These directories were closely watched by telco personnel and we outsiders rarely ever got to see one.  On visits to central offices I would occasionally see one sitting on a table, but there was never any opportunity to latch onto one during those times.  Finding a complete and readable copy made me "da man", at least for a little while!

Of particular interest were the "Loop Around" lines.  Here's the way it worked:  One person would call the Loop Around #1 line from any phone.  It would auto-answer and send back a continuous 1000 Hz tone.  Any time after that, a second person (usually unknown to the first) would happen to call the #2 side.  At that point, #1's tone would disappear and the two sides would be connected together.  The two people (hopefully to us, one a boy and the other a girl) could then spend long hours talking anonymously, which we often did.  Non-telco groupies called them "hotlines" and they were busy almost all the time.  The people who used these lines for entertainment guarded the secret just as much as the telco did, and rarely gave out the numbers to others.  So, finding a directory which listed the Loop Around numbers for every phone prefix in California (and Nevada) was quite a coup.

An interesting sideline to the Loop Around saga is that the guys who worked in the COs knew how they were being used by us kids.  Late at night, when things in the CO got dull and boring, it was common for switchroom guys to clip a butt-in on to the Loop Around circuit and join in the conversation.  Some of the phone guys who eventually became my friends I first met on the "hotlines" in the wee hours.

I'm sure that others who read these posts will have had experience playing on the Loop Arounds.  Maybe they will enlighten us with their interesting stories from the past.

[bigdaddylove]

that's an interesting story about the loop around lines; never heard of them.

we used to use phone conferences run by phone freaks such as dial a spaz, zygot and the oakland conference line to meet girls which I did quite often to varying degrees of success.

[GG]

Lions & Tigers & Bears, oh my!  Oldschool phone phreak stories!

Yes, I used to play.  New Jersey Bell, the loop-around numbers were NNX-9929 (1KHz tone) and -9930 (silent line). 

The game was: you have a friend you want to call whose number is long distance from your place, but for whom there is an overlapping prefix that's local to each of you.  So you call your friend and tell them to dial the loop number, and you dial the other side, and you can blab for hours.  As we used to say, "zero cents for the first three minutes, and each additional minute is even less!"

Or you want to talk with a friend after your parents have gone to bed, and not wake them up with the phone ringing in their bedroom.  For example after 11PM when the cheap rates were in effect.  So you make a pre-arranged plan during school hours, to call the loop at a designated hour at night. 

Never heard of these being used for dating purposes but maybe I was too young/naive to think of them that way. 

Also: California, Pacific Tel & Tel, -0049 was a 1KHz tone, and -0046 if I'm not mistaken was a sweep tone.  NJ Bell, -9922 was a sweep tone and -9901 was the verification operator or inward operator.  I never gave out the ANI or ANAC numbers (the ones that read-back the number you're calling from) due to the obvious potential for those to be abused. 

I had a Southern New England Tel "Official Numbers Directory" at one point; it may still be around in storage somewhere.  This included all the numbers for various inside personnel. 

And this, my friends, is why these directories were treated like military secrets: all of us phone phreaks were always more than eager to discover new stuff and put it to new uses (ahem!).  There was an endless game of cat & mouse, and a certain amount of friendly rivalry going on.  But it was also clear that the information could be abused in ways far more serious than highschool kids trespassing on circuits they shouldn't. 

Though if there's anything to regret about those escapades, it was that they were probably often irritating to the telco personnel.   "D---ed kids, stay off my lines, I have work to do!"

BTW, warning to anyone who might think about playing with this stuff today:  Back in the day, if you did a no-no and got caught, it was basically a slap on the wrist.  Today, it's practically a terrorist offense, most likely will result in a visit from the FBI, and you will be lucky to not end up with a criminal record not to mention time behind bars. 

Fortunately there's C*NET.  If you can build yourself a small Strowger machine (or at least get a Panasonic PBX) and hook up a VOIP ATA, you can join in the phun of re-creating the whole oldschool telephone infrastructure, inband signaling included.  All the best parts of the phone phreak scene with none of the no-nos.  (One of these days I need to get an ATA hooked up, plus or minus the whole routine about static vs. dynamic IPs.)

[Dave F]

<snip>.... BTW, warning to anyone who might think about playing with this stuff today:  Back in the day, if you did a no-no and got caught, it was basically a slap on the wrist.  Today, it's practically a terrorist offense, most likely will result in a visit from the FBI, and you will be lucky to not end up with a criminal record not to mention time behind bars.....

Good advice, which should be strictly heeded.  It's great to reminisce about all the fun we had back then, but it's a whole new (and definitely not-so-benign) world now.  We used to go down to the CO in the middle of the night and sit at the Test Board answering calls for repair service.  For us it was a big treat, and the guys who worked the night shift had a fine time not having to concentrate on their jobs.  To enter the CO we would pick up the handset of the 554 mounted near the front door and dial in a 4-digit code which would pop the electric lock on the door.  Can you even imagine the ruckus that would be created today if any non-employee was caught trying to enter a central office without permission (and an escort)?!!

[GG]

If you even tried picking up the doorphone at a CO today you'd probably end up with your face in a file.

Back in the day, CO tours could also be arranged easily enough.  Now, you have to go through a process similar to getting a SECRET clearance, photos and FBI checks included. 

So yeah, DO NOT mess around.  Do Not go poking around CO buildings unless you like the feeling of handcuffs on your wrists and the view from the "cargo" seat in the back of a patrol car.  Do Not sequence-dial numbers in the official numbers series.  Stay way clear of any kind of illegal or borderline-illegal activities.

This is not about "creeping fascism" or anything to do with partisan politics.  This is about the fact that the world today is overpopulated with sociopaths whose goals are variously to kill people in large numbers, blow up buildings, destroy vital infrastructure, or just steal large quantities of money by remote control without having to work their way up at Goldman Sachs or even some fly-by-night mortgage outfit.  This is about people who, if you ever met them in person, would give you the creeps at a level roughly similar to finding a big hairy spider on your pillow.  Those are the people who law enforcement are on the constant lookout for: and if you mess around with telephonic no-nos, the police and FBI will think you are one of those.  Imagine the most disgusting crime you can think of, and imagine someone looking at you and thinking that you were planning to do something like that. 

So by all means, for sanity's sake, stick to C*NET, learn how to build a Strowger machine or at least program a digital PBX, and you'll be able to participate in the best parts of the oldschool phone phreak scene brought to life again in a way that is safe, legal, every bit as fun as "back in the day," more likely to lead to finding cool friends, and has a zero probability of ending you up in a place where the only phone you're allowed to use is one that makes outgoing collect calls for two dollars a minute.

[Dave F]

From the good times (~1967), here is a number card direct from the Foothill switchroom, Beverly Hills, CA.  CR was/is CRestview.  Today, this is Area Code 310.

[GG]

It appears that the LG7 / 104 part is typed.  Do you know what that stands for?

(Hey at least the new area code looks like an area code! I don't know if I'll ever get used to NXX format area codes:-)

[Dave F]

It appears that the LG7 / 104 part is typed.  Do you know what that stands for?

(Hey at least the new area code looks like an area code! I don't know if I'll ever get used to NXX format area codes:-)

Yes, that portion is typed and no, I don't know what it stands for.  However, there were many extension phones in that CO, all with the CR6-0000 phone number.  I imagine that that designation specified which extension (and, consequently, where in the CO) you were talking from (possibly, aisle or equipment rack numbers).  At the time I obtained the dial card, it hardly would have been prudent to bring it to anybody's attention by asking any questions about it!

I fully agree: NXX area codes definitely offend the sensitivities of us old-timers.  As a traditionalist, I'd be forever trapped in the Twilight Zone of perpetual humiliation and disgrace if my area code didn't have a 1 or 0 in the middle!

[Dave F]

Here's another (older) Pac Tel Test Number Directory.  This one is from 1966 and has 34 pages.  Look carefully and you can see that the book has been torn in half across the middle and then taped back together.  One nice day, I was digging through the dumpster at the Watseka central office in Culver City, and I discovered the top half of this directory.  Heartbreaking to be sure but, hey, half is certainly a lot better than none.  Anyway, SEVERAL DAYS LATER I was back again at the dumpster and, OMG!, I found the other half!  It was an incredible bit of luck to have recovered both pieces.  A super memory from the old days, and Cheers to the guy who tossed each piece on a different day thinking he had the problem solved!

[GG]

Heh, unauthorized use of test numbers by employees on behalf of others!

Somewhere I read that GPO had a similar problem with its personnel building special routes through the STD network, that could be accessed by secret dialing codes, to enable them and their pals to make free calls. 

Same as it ever was, same as it ever was...

[Dave F]

Heh, unauthorized use of test numbers by employees on behalf of others!

Somewhere I read that GPO had a similar problem with its personnel building special routes through the STD network, that could be accessed by secret dialing codes, to enable them and their pals to make free calls. 

Same as it ever was, same as it ever was...

For sure!  Back in the old days, I knew heard about a switchman in Southern California (exact location redacted to protect the guilty) who wired a special circuit into an as-yet-unissued SxS bank level.  So I heard, if "someone" dialed into that circuit (prefix+2D), it would connect him to a toll tandem which created a defacto WATS line.  "Someone" could then dial any number toll free.  The special circuit remained unmolested for several years until that bank of SxS numbers was finally issued, at which time it was was unceremoniously disconnected, and "someone" had to find new places to play.