Phone Phreaking What the hell is it?

Question

As a telephone tech I am curious what this is. I had just recently heard of this and haveing a hard time understanding how someone could do this with the current technology. The only thing I have read is talking about the old telephone switches.

Yea I have read that its people highjacking on lines, but from what I read, it doesnt make sense how they are criss crossing to different trunks.

Answer 1

dialing into a pbx or key system that has an announcer message while on hold, you know when the music is playing and you get the click then hear ringback tone, get excited, only to hear "Thank you for calling, you call is important to us.........." . That is a transferred announcement and a lot of them are on single line (analog) extentions. When you get the announcer you flash hook <500ms, and the pbx thinks an anolog user is trying to conference and returns dial tone to you. The announcer device is on hold now and you are free to dial the trunk group access code, normally "9" and dial away. I set each pbx announcer ports to no hookflash and no dial out restriction in my class of services.

Answer 2

In the days of analog big-iron switches that used analog signalling to pass status messages, you used to be able to grab a line using a 2600hz tone after the billing was completed. I.e. Call any 800-number, once you heard the 'connect' and ringing, pump some 2600hz in and then the system would start the dialing process again, POST-BILLING.

Doesn't make sense since long-distance went to cents per minute, and the technology to track and quarantine this evolved in the early 1990s, and the switches themselves went digital eliminating most or all of this except for rural exchange portions.

Answer 3

Back in olden days (not that long ago) kids found out about loop-around and silent switchman test lines. Somehow they got the numbers - Bell system kept standard test numbers - and a bunch of them would dial in to the same switch and have a conference call. They might be using current CO test lines to phreak. They might also be messing with voicemail systems, many can be programmed by dialing into it.

Answer 4

in good old terms...its stealing phone service...or its like underground phone...free, but its also illegal! there are several out there on the Internet, but most of the sites are shut down fast...you need some kinda code, and there change every 2 weeks...


Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a subculture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telephone systems, the equipment of telephone companies, and systems connected to public telephone networks. The term "phreak" is a portmanteau of the words "phone" and "freak." It may also refer to the use of various audio frequencies to manipulate a phone system[verification needed]. "Phreak", "phreaker", or "phone phreak" are names used for and by individuals who participate in phreaking. Additionally, it is often associated with computer hacking. This is sometimes called the H/P culture (with H standing for Hacking and P standing for Phreaking).