Here's the Secret!

by Silent Switchman

Last month, we presented a story of a phone phreak, who knew of various flaws in various phone systems but was unable to share his knowledge with the company in question.  He asked to be paid a small consultant fee, but this was denied him.  So, we gave him a means of making this public.)

Check the location of the nearest GTD-5 switch made by Automatic Electric.  It is usually installed by a General Telephone Company of your local area.  You will find that the loop numbers do not supervise on either side.  Numbers that do not supervise (non-supe) do not charge for the connection; they are free.  This is different from toll-free service because the person you call pays for that.  Toll-free calls are treated more like a collect call.  In this case, the call is free like calls to some telephone company test numbers.

Loop numbers are two or more numbers that connect when each one is called at the same time.

This presents a means for two people anywhere in the country to call each other for free.  The GTD-5 switch is being installed all over the country and this works in most of them, including Canada and overseas.  Right now, quite a few phreaks in California, Hawaii, and Texas are using these toll-free loops.

I suggest that you call your local General Telephone Company and ask them the exchange of the local GTD-5, then see if you can find the number of your local switchman and try to find out the number to the standard loop.  These have to be dialed directly, because many extenders charge when connecting to non-suped numbers, as do some alternate long-distance companies.