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-
- Having Phun in AT&T Cans
-
- Written by: Surf Rat 1984
-
- Hello. This is a Phile on what those nice, innocent, little green boxes on
- street corners are used for. Beware! The penalty for breaking into one of
- these is >very< steep! It comes under Phederal juristiction, Since it has to
- do with Communication! Watch your ass!
-
- Now that I have scared ya a little, let me tell you that >yes< I have
- been in several of these...and I know what I am talking about!!
-
- Different Types
-
- There are 3 different types of of 'Cans' or 'boxes.' The first type I will
- talk about is the small type. The little puny ones that are painted pale
- green. We will call these cans 'type 1' or just '#1' for easier description.
-
- The second one that I will talk about is the type on fone poles.
- Either on the top, or at the base. These are very thin, and only 2 feet
- tall and 2 inches wide. They don't have anything in them. We will call
- these 'type 2' or just '#2' for easier description.
-
- The third type is the big suckers.
- They are painted dark green, and have brown panneling on each door
- shaped like rectangles. They are the ones that have the interesting
- stuff! We will call these 'type 3' or just '#3' for easier description.
-
- Finding One
-
- It is easier a lot more easier to find any can than it is to find a manhole.
-
- Type #1 are more frequent than #3. They will be every 4 streets on
- track-houses, and every 300 or so yards in hilly area. In the city,
- I dont know. But they do have them.
-
- Type #2 are on every other 5-8 poles. They will be silver, and
- usually have some Greek writing on it. These are company test lines or
- trunks! Write them down, although they might be something else,
- sometime you get lucky! The sliver suckers will sometimes be 5 feet
- off the ground, and have the standard spring-bolt lock. (a spring bolt
- lock is a flat metal handle fitting into the metal case, that has a
- 7/8 inch bolt on it. Turn the bolt 1/2 turn to the left, and it will
- pop open!) It could have a lock though, so bring some Thermite, or
- Chain-cutters. (these can be 'obtained' (i mean stolen, borrowed,
- or bought) from any hardware store, or Montgomery Wards has them for
- about 45 bux..(thats what mine were!) I advise that you only open a silver-
- can if it is the 5-foot kind, cause any cop can see you, and you will
- be >stuck< up the pole looking very funny. Also, you may fall off!!
-
- Type #3 is the meaty one! These are very rare. Every 1/2 mile or
- so usually. But, they can be very well hidden! (under a hanging tree
- branch) behind a incredibly huge thorn bush. (the ghistapho are
- >very< clever) Don't be discouraged, a determined phreak like you can find
- one, if you look hard enough. They are approximately 3 1/2 feet wide,
- 3 feet tall, and 1/2 foot deep. (or wide.) They almost >always< have
- the standard spring bolt lock on them. But if not..get out the chain cutters!
-
- If you are wondering how the wires get into the boxes, they come in 1
- pipe from below the street (for type #1) and 2 pipes from below for
- type #3. They are cables, if you cut one, with a metal tool (how
- else??) No matter how much insulation you have, you are history. (unless
- you have an abnormal heart) Remember, insulative type material isn't proof
- against high voltage. Any thing can conduct electricity! Even your rubber
- gloves! Or wood! Its just how much they can conduct. Wood is a >very<
- bad conductor, but given 10,000 volts, it will give you about a
- 200 volt shock. (not much, but it can kill you!!) So watch out!
-
- The Presents They Hold
-
- Type #1 is very stingy. They rarely have extra wire supplies, but they
- usually have aligator-clips. And if you are real lucky, some crimps.
-
- Type #1 contains about 100 rows of PC panneling, with blue, red, and sometimes
- green wire sticking out of the little PC holes. (PC stands for 'printed
- circuit' for those of you that aren't familiar with a little electronics.)
-
- >DON'T< ever mess with any of those wires! It could cause a small electrical
- fire in there, resulting in your clothes catching on fire, loss of phones to
- about 100+ people, or any dry leaves around igniting, then you'll have a
- >real< problem!
-
- If you find anything of use, take it. The Phone guys dont miss anything.
- They have a huge stock room. They can take virtually anything they want
- for 'extra' supply. They won't miss anything. (-note: The only reason
- there is extra wire, clips, or crimps lying around is they leave it after
- they have opened a bag of crimps, or started a spool of wire, and the other
- guys just use the open stuff.)
-
- Type #2 has absolutely >nothing< except...yes! Trunk line numbers,
- AT&T office numbers, and Some AT&T Technician's Mother's fone number.
- (they sit up there talking to Mom sometimes! Ha!) These numbers will
- be written in chalk, or scratched in to the sides of the sliver cans.
- They won't be like:
-
- 415/949-1049 (thats my ae line) (pw:gossip)
-
- They will look like this: 41-59-49-10-49-03-73
-
- Write these down, they might not be accessable from you home fone. Maybe only
- fromt the fone-pole test line..or wire. (you'll see if you are ever looking in
- one of those tubes on a fone line wire)
-
- Type #3 is the meaty one, like I have said before! It will usually
- contain the following:
-
- 2 spools of Dbl insulated wire (400ft) About 25-30 aligator clips at the
- bottom. Maybe 1 or 2 test sets if you are very, very lucky!
-
- Besides all of that nice stuff, which by the way, is yours phree, compliments
- of AT&T! (i hope that didnt ryhme!!) There is some phun stuff you can do.
-
- With your newly found test-sets, you can now tap into lines. Simply
- take the 2 clips from your newly found test set, and attach them to the
- 2 screws you will find in the upper right corner of the box. There
- >should< 2 wires with clips hanging on the end of eash screw. Take these,
- and attach them to the 2 wires that you have selected to tap into!
- The 2 wires you selected should be together, by the way.
-
- There might be a few company test-trunks scratched in somewhere
- also. Sometimes, I have sen little notes from: "Bob" to "Mack" that
- say stuff like: "well, VTE#38 is a little loose, but I didn't have time
- to fix it". Interesting? Write your own!
-
- "Hi. Thsi is Mr. Phreak, could you please leave some more wire,
- im running low". They might reply! Ha!
-
- If you find any more uses for these cans, let me know! Im always interested.
-
- Surf Rat...