==== Phreaking, a Begginers Guide
==== By: WyreTapp
==== Nov 25th, 1994
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Disclaimer:  Every phile needs on of these. :(  I, Bud Wieser, and the
             contributors of this document are not responsible for any
             damages caused by the use of it.  In no way do we condone
             or encourage (hehe) you, the reader, to put this information
             into practice.
 
Intro.
-=-=-=-=-=
        Lame ass right?? Well FUCK YOU!  There have been tons of philes
written on boxing, but I felt like writing one too.  Its a good way to learn 
how to write, and you seem to remember everything quicker. So, im gonna
share my experiences with you readers, so that you too may cope with the
crude and harsh remarks from the city-boyz on the net.  Have fun, and enjoy.
All of this HAS BEEN DONE AND WORKS IN MY AREA.  I will not include a bunch
of theoretical BS that MAY work- only the real thing for the real peoplz.
 
Whats phreaking??
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        Good question.  Its the abuse of a phone system.  It usually involves
stealing from the phone company, or a person; resulting in lotsa phun.
        There are many branches of phreaking, with many sub-levels.  You 
will probably find that you cannot do everything in your area.  This is 
mainly because of new security features installed, and the wide-spread use
of the Digital Switching System.  You may want to phreak just for phun,
or, you may want to hack some local place without getting caught.  For
whatever reason, it never hurts to know. :)
 
Sounds phun- what do I do?
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        This is REALLY easy.  The first thing your going to want to do is
build yourself a tool known as a BEIGE BOX.  This is probably the MOST
usefull tool around (the Red Box MIGHT be in your area).  Before I go into
any depth, I will tell you how to make one
                You need
                ----------
                1 piece of phone cord (with a plug on each end)
                A set of wire cutters
                2 Alligator Clips (Of diffrent colors)
 
                Assembly
                ----------
                1) Grab phone cord in left hand.
                2) Grab wire cutters in right hand.
                3) Cut off the plug on one end of the phone cord.
                4) Attach the alligator clips to the RED and GREEN wires.
                   (May be BLUE and WHITE)
                5) Pour beer on cat.
                
        There ya go, a Beige box.  It should look something like this.
             >-.     ________________________,---.
       --->    `====`------------------------;___|  <--- Plug (Jack)
     Clips   >-'            ^Phone cord
 
        If you can't figure this out, stop reading, get a LONG peice of
rope, make a noose, tie it too a friends car, stick your head in, and tell
your friend to step on the gas.
        Now what- You got yourself this phone cord with alligator clips
on one end.  What will you do with it??  Read on.
        Get a phone.  The best kind is a hand-set that requires no base.
These are much eaiser to store, and can be connected/disconnected with great
ease.   Plug the JACK end of the Beige Box into the phone.  You now have 
a linemans handset.  
        
        
Where to use.        
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        The next step is too find a place to use your new toy.  Go outside 
and walk down the street.  See those telephone poles?  If you dont, then you
got yourself an under-ground wire.  These can be very difficult, or very
easy.  Look around for a man hole that has your telco's initials on it.
The man-hole will be slightly bigger than the others around it.  After you
have found it read on too the "Canning" section.
        
        If you do see telephone poles, try following them.  Remember that
the lower wires are CABLE and TELEPHONE.  The power lines SHOULD have an
insulator (a piece of ceramic) holding them away from the pole, so you should
be able to tell.
        Follow the lines until you see wires running off into someones house.
Follow the line RIGHT into their yard.  Check and see if it goes into their
roof.  If it does, then keep moving: If it goes down the side of their house
you just found yourself a "spot".    Most likely, you will find a Grey 
colored box, about 4"x4"x2".  Locate it, and push UP on it, to slide it
off.  Once you get it off, it should look similar to this (it may have
4 prongs which means it has may have 2 linez)
                          
                       ,-------------------.
                       |                   |
                       |      Bolts        |
                       |         |         |
                       |   __  <-'->  __   |
                       |  |  |       |  |  |
                       |  `--'--. ,--`--'  |
                       `--------|`'|-------'
                                |  |  <-- Main wire.
                                `  `
        Attach the RED alligator clip (from the RED wire of the phone cord)
onto the LEFT bolt, and the GREEN clip onto the RIGHT bolt.   You SHOULD
get a dial tone.  If you dont, then reverse the clips.  
        If the box has more than one set of bolts,  attach the clips to the
bolts that are on the same horizontal plane (Ie: Two top, or two bottom bolts   
 
     
not one top and one bottom)  Confuse you yet???  You'll figure it out.
        It is likely that you will find one of these on a phone pole.  If you
do, get ready for some fun, because that is probably a test line owned by
the phone company.  You can make all the calls you want, and never have to
worry about someone else picking up the line.
 
        Sometimes, on apartments, you will find a silver box about a foot 
long.  There are SHINY METAL (Not grey plastic).  You can open it by sliding
it to the right.  It will unlatch and spring open, revealing a staggered 
arangment of bolts, OR prongs.  It will look something like this.
 
                        ,------CASING-----------------.
                        |                             |
                        |       __                    |
                        |      |  |                   |
                        |  ,---`--' <--- Bolts        |
                        |  |               __         |
                      ____.'              |  |        |
          Main Wire-> ____'-------------- `--'        |
                        | `.                          |
                        |  `.__ __                    |
                       \|/     |  |                  \|/
        These can be a little tricky, because most of the time all of the 
prongs arnt used, and the telco guys are lazy.  Just keep trying combo's
until you get a tone.  You would think that you would just stagger your
way down, BUT Ive only seen ONE that was done like that. :(
        They are found often near the top of telephone poles.  It isnt 
really a good idea to go up there, because if someone catches you, you have     
 
   
no where to run.  Even if you live in the sticks, SOME COP is gonna drive by
and ask you what your doing (Trust me.. :(
        
        
Green Cans        
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        After you get the hang of those (they are your LAST resort), keep
following that phone line.  Eventually, you SHOUD come to a place where
that BIG line (on the phone poles) goes down into some pipes on the side 
of the pole and underground.  THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR!  Look around
for another place like this CLOSE by.  If you find it, somewhere around your
area is a "Mother Load" or "Green Can".  It may be underground.  As mentioned
before, look around for the man hole with the Telco's initials on it.
        The mother load is usually a grey-green in color, though I have seen
grey ones.  They look ALOT like swing-open filing cabinets.
        
        Now, get out your 7/16" wrench (Good thing you read the WHOLE text
file before you went out) and twist the bolts on the silver hands 
counter-clockwise (There are arrows printed on the silver handle).
        
        Got it open?  Awesome 'eh? (Yes, Im Canadian)  All those wires,
those white plastic bars, those wierd looking toolz hanging off the side 
of the doors, the instructions on how to use them...  Yes, the 
instructions.  Read them.  Write down any phone numbers written down on the
inside of the can.
        Look for a regular phone jack.  They are USUALLY test lines.  A
source of worry-free amusement.  If one exists, use it.  Why bill someone
some money when you can do it too your telco.
        If there is no phone jack your going to have to use one of the tools.
Use the one on the left.  It looks really fuqing wierd.  Now randomly pick
out a plastice bar, and open it.  There should be tabs you press to have it
flip open.  You just opened a terminal. look at it terminal closely.  
You should be able to see bits of bare wire if you look at the slits on the 
top of it.  When you find one that has the wire in it, plug in the test tool.
There are two little spikes that fit into hole on the FRONT (not the top) of
the terminal, and you can slide the latch of the tool of the face of the 
terminal and hook it onto the back.
        Attach your beige box two the bolts at the base of the tool.  If you
dont get a dial tone, swith the alligator clips.  If still no tone, try 
another bank on the terminal.
        Before you go phreak-happy, GRAB THE WIRE.  There should be a spool
of wire somewhere in the can, usually resting in its own little stand.  
TAKE IT.  It is VERY VERY usefull.
 
General tips beige boxing.
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        This is what I want to stress.  How NOT to get caught.  
        Here are a few rules you should follow:
        ---------------------------------------
        1. Do everything suspicious late at night
        2. Keep away from noisy dogs
        3. Keep away from hot spots (lotsa cops)
        4. Keep away from party zones
        5. Keep quite
 
        You should be sure to wear a lighter colored shirt underneath
a darker colored shit.  That way, if you DO get seen, you can whip off
the dark shit, and appear to be a diffrent person.
        Remember that spool of wire you got?  Well, try running your 
connections away from civilization (across the road and down the ditch).
I ran over 400 meters of wire into the woods once, and had no connection
problems.  Be sure to watch out for cutting the line, and shorts (if you must
strip the wire in more than one spot)
        To make your life easier, try getting some heavey-duty clips with
wires hanging from them and a clip on the other end.  You can attach these
to your connection, so you can clip on without opening anything up later, 
and disconnect without having to go back to the site (just yank).
        If you get stopped by the police (on a routine stop), try and 
be REALLY polite.  Answer any questions the guy may have UNLESS it starts       
 
 
getting to the "I know Im caught" point.  Lie about your name of course.
If you are carrying a bag and he asks to see whats in it, SHOW him, but dont
take anything out of the bag.  Just open it so he can look in.  If he says 
something like "Would you come with me?", say "Sure.." and when he turns 
around RUN!!!  (A good reason NOT to drive directly to your site).
        Here is a little list of things you should get if your going to
get into phreaking.
        WyreTapps List o' Stuff
     -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
        1. A friend.  Its always funner if u got a friend with you.
        2. Pliers, Wire cutters, 7/16" wrench, flash-light and a knife
           all attacked to a rope or something- so you dont have to dig
           for them.
        3. A back-pack.
        4. A spool of wire (the 300meter phone stuff from the can)
        5. A spool of little wire (for loose connections and tying)
        6. Extra alligator clips
        7. 4 Industrial strength clips with wires attached (you will find
           a use.)
        8. A hand-scanner (to scan the police channels.  Its nice to know
           if you've been caught early.)
        9. Walkie-Talkies.  Nothing expensive.  Just so you can communicate
           with your friend (ie: setting up a connection and a cop comes.
           Your friend is 200 meters away, and cant yell or you'll both
           get seen.)
        10. A binder, with paper and a pen attached to it.  Really nice to 
            have.
 
Red Boxing
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        A red box is something that plays the quarter sound.  Whenever          
 
 
you drop a quarter into a pay-phone, it makes a series of beeps which 
signals a quarter has been dropped in.  (There are dime and nickle sounds 2)
        You can make this sound without the quarter. :) But, alas- Most
telco's are smart and buy NEW payphones that have the ground check.  When
a coin is dropped into the phone, it grounds it so that the pay-phone knows
you dropped money in.  
        Before I tell you how to by-pass the ground test, heres how to make
a red box, the EASY way.  
        
        Get one of those halmark greeting cards, or talking pictures, or 
record-your-greeting christmas ornaments and record the tone
into it.
        How do you get the tone??  HAHAHA.  Remember your beige box? 
Look around the pay-phone for one of those little grey boxes or a phone-jack.   
 
     
Plug your beige box in, and drop a quarter into the pay phone.  The tone
will be played through your phone REALLY loud and clear.  Just record this
into your aparatus.
        Another way of doing the tone without a redbox, is to use your 
beige box as mentioned above, and put the ear-piece to the mouth-piece of       
 
 
another payphone.
        To bypass the ground check, just drop a nickle into the slot            
 
(which may sometimes be enough for local calls- no red-box needed), OR:
        Look at the mouth-piece.  Alot of holes in it.  Is there
a hole in the direct middle??  If so, drive a tack into it, and run a piece 
of wire from the tack to the hook (the thing that holds the phone up when 
you hang it up).  Hang-up the phone for about 2 seconds, and that will 
ground the phone so you can play your tones into your beige box, with a 
grounded phone. :)
        Sometime you can just ground the phone to make local calls, but Ive
only seen one phone that'll do that (in an OLD dorm).         
 
Conclusion
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        I was hopeing on writing some stuff on Calling Cards, how to
setup a teleconfrence (just dial 0 and ask for help) and Voice Message
systems but I think this article is long enough for now.  I ny next
article I will discuss the above and after that I will go into Unix Hacking.
Greetz to: Z0rpHix, Tonyhawk, Endlisnis, Wildman, QwikSilver, Dark and
           jUIcE.
