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My middle school had a pay phone in the lobby. After-school activities had a variable end time so when I needed my mom to pick me up I’d call her collect. She n
by ralph84 6y ago
My middle school had a pay phone in the lobby. After-school activities had a variable end time so when I needed my mom to pick me up I’d call her collect. She never accepted the charges, but knew it was time to head over to the school.
- sethammons 6y agoYup, call “collect” from a pay phone. For the unfamiliar, the collect call recording asked for your name and played it back to the call recipient. You had a a small window whereby you could get info across. “You have a collect call from ‘555 4784’, would you like to accept the charges?” Then whoever could just call you back. The real power was unlocked with a Blue Box - a phone phreaking device that played the same tones as if money was entered into the pay phone. You could trick the phone and make your call. I remember looping the tone on a cassette tape and calling some random number in Japan for several dollars worth of tones. Good times.
- danhorner 6y agoThanks for the throwback. We LOVED the collect call thing as teenagers too cheap to drop a quarter into the phone: - "You have a collect call from AtTheStationMyBusLeavesIn18Minutes. Do you wish to accept the charges?" - "No"