3 ms·

Yeah I ran up a multi hundred dollar internet bill when I was 9 and my parents cancelled AOL for a couple years until they came out with unlimited plans.

sneak 3y ago
They had free trial offers for 10 hours (at first) so I was sneak, then sneak{1,..,14} or something on there. Eventually I managed to shoulder surf the login for the PPP connection to a local ISP used at my school, then I had unlimited. Thankfully I had enough sense at 13 or 14 to ATDT*67,,1xxxxxxxxxx so that they couldn't identify who it was without actually sending a subpoena/warrant to the telco (which they didn't do). In any case the school paid a flat rate for unlimited usage, so my being connected all night didn't cost anyone anything. They yelled at me a lot though because it was pretty obvious who was using dozens of hours of dialin every month, given that the school's list of suspects was one item long.
- brewtide 3y ago
  I took borrowed a school account to a local ISP. Saving the setting file onto a disk and rummaging through it with ResEdit to my young surprise brought me the text I was looking for! Unlike you, I didn't have enough foresight to attempt to block the dialing in number .. at all. But I had internet for most of the school year until, as per your story, it relatively came crashing down one day. Same justifications of "borrowing" the account as well -- I wasn't using it during the school day itself, I was at school -- and it seemed so silly to waste such services for 2/3rd's of a day! A Stern talking to and that was that... Imaging what would happen now!
- yomlica8 3y ago
  > They yelled at me a lot though because it was pretty obvious who was using dozens of hours of dialin every month, given that the school's list of suspects was one item long. Not sure why they didn't change the password. I was assuming they just never noticed the usage.

sneak 3y ago

They had free trial offers for 10 hours (at first) so I was sneak, then sneak{1,..,14} or something on there. Eventually I managed to shoulder surf the login for the PPP connection to a local ISP used at my school, then I had unlimited. Thankfully I had enough sense at 13 or 14 to ATDT*67,,1xxxxxxxxxx so that they couldn't identify who it was without actually sending a subpoena/warrant to the telco (which they didn't do). In any case the school paid a flat rate for unlimited usage, so my being connected all night didn't cost anyone anything. They yelled at me a lot though because it was pretty obvious who was using dozens of hours of dialin every month, given that the school's list of suspects was one item long.

brewtide 3y ago
I took borrowed a school account to a local ISP. Saving the setting file onto a disk and rummaging through it with ResEdit to my young surprise brought me the text I was looking for! Unlike you, I didn't have enough foresight to attempt to block the dialing in number .. at all. But I had internet for most of the school year until, as per your story, it relatively came crashing down one day. Same justifications of "borrowing" the account as well -- I wasn't using it during the school day itself, I was at school -- and it seemed so silly to waste such services for 2/3rd's of a day! A Stern talking to and that was that... Imaging what would happen now!
yomlica8 3y ago
> They yelled at me a lot though because it was pretty obvious who was using dozens of hours of dialin every month, given that the school's list of suspects was one item long. Not sure why they didn't change the password. I was assuming they just never noticed the usage.