Really old car phones.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

In San Antonio there are still VHF high pagers and car phones.
I saw a GE car phone in use a few hours ago.
You pick up the handset, and wait,,,,,,dial tone,,,,,,dial the number, on a dial!
It takes a full 5 rings before the car phone rings!
An old RCC still has this up but very few users.

[n2ize]

Are you talking about an early cell "mobile" phone or the old fashioned radiotelephone car phones ?

[WØTKX]

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/03/Johnson_Messenger.jpg

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

The really old IMTS car telephones, VHF.
I decided to see what this was all about and have been listening, actually against the law.
Yes, this is the very much analog pre-cellular system.
There is some sort of security added to address fraud but I am not sure of how it works.
There is no plan to narrow band this by 2013, it is on the air as legacy only, read cheap and paid for.
As mobiles fail they are not repaired but simply replaced with cellular.

[KC2UGV]

Hello.

The really old IMTS car telephones, VHF.
I decided to see what this was all about and have been listening, actually against the law.
Yes, this is the very much analog pre-cellular system.
There is some sort of security added to address fraud but I am not sure of how it works.
There is no plan to narrow band this by 2013, it is on the air as legacy only, read cheap and paid for.
As mobiles fail they are not repaired but simply replaced with cellular.

I'm amazed the thing is still on the air... As happened with a previous employer who had pre-E911 chip phones, the phones were dropped from the service, and we were sent free phones as replacements.

[n2ize]

I remember they had mobile phones going way back to the 40's and 50's. TThey would tie in to the landline phone system via a mobile phone operator. I hear they worked pretty good too. A predecessor to today's cell phones.

[NQ6U]

I remember they had mobile phones going way back to the 40's and 50's. TThey would tie in to the landline phone system via a mobile phone operator. I hear they worked pretty good too. A predecessor to today's cell phones.

I used one of those at a job I once had, essentially a VHF radio link to a central operator with a phone patch. It worked, but only as well as the operator cared to make it work, and was eventually replaced by one of those mobile cellular phones with an RF unit the size of a computer CPU tower mounted in the trunk.

[kb2vxa]

"I remember they had mobile phones going way back to the 40's and 50's."

Uh huh, and another use for the 2400Hz line idle tone before Cap'n Crunch made it famous.

[N7RJD]

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/03/Johnson_Messenger.jpg

Even RS had similar units. I have had the 23 channel model and believe I still have one of the 40 channel models buried away in a box.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

Actually it was 2600 Hz.
This was called In Band Signaling, and as the name implies, the signaling is done in the voice channel.
If you listen to the British song where the Limy operator has a US call and the party keeps hanging up you will hear the tones.
The current system is Signaling System 7, or SS7 for short.
It is very much based on ISDN and GSM, where another channel is present for signaling outside the voice range.
AMPS, the analog phone system, used SS7 and X.25 with a virtual channel for signaling, very easy to access.
Although the mobiles were never intended to have access to it, the ANI information was present on incoming calls, along with CLASS.
GSM can do a better job of filtering this but normally does not.
In fact, CND, or caller ID, is a form of 1200 baud signaling that occurs while on hook.
By leaving the line on hook and sending the proper commands one can connect to the line card, and from there connect to the switch proper.
Most hackers no longer fool with the PSTN, preferring to roam the VoIP internet superhighway.

[KC2UGV]

Hello.

Actually it was 2600 Hz.
This was called In Band Signaling, and as the name implies, the signaling is done in the voice channel.
If you listen to the British song where the Limy operator has a US call and the party keeps hanging up you will hear the tones.
The current system is Signaling System 7, or SS7 for short.
It is very much based on ISDN and GSM, where another channel is present for signaling outside the voice range.
AMPS, the analog phone system, used SS7 and X.25 with a virtual channel for signaling, very easy to access.
Although the mobiles were never intended to have access to it, the ANI information was present on incoming calls, along with CLASS.
GSM can do a better job of filtering this but normally does not.
In fact, CND, or caller ID, is a form of 1200 baud signaling that occurs while on hook.
By leaving the line on hook and sending the proper commands one can connect to the line card, and from there connect to the switch proper.
Most hackers no longer fool with the PSTN, preferring to roam the VoIP internet superhighway.

Rudy, you can't send commands with a phone on-hook... Your loop does not open until voltage drops.

[KA5PIU]

Rudy, you can't send commands with a phone on-hook... Your loop does not open until voltage drops.

Hello.

Incorrect.
Caller ID is 1200 baud On Hook signaling.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caller_ID
CLASS is all done on hook.
If you send the correct protocol the Bell 212 modem that is part of the line card will connect, While on Hook.
This is a small part of SS7.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signaling_System_No_7
If you study ISDN you will gain more insight into how this works on a POTS (Analog) line.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_Services_Digital_Network
ADSL is not part of the Analog line, it is an RF carrier superimposed over the copper pair and is an independent service.

[KC2UGV]

Hello.

Incorrect.
Caller ID is 1200 baud On Hook signaling.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caller_ID
CLASS is all done on hook.
If you send the correct protocol the Bell 212 modem that is part of the line card will connect, While on Hook.
This is a small part of SS7.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signaling_System_No_7
If you study ISDN you will gain more insight into how this works on a POTS (Analog) line.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_Services_Digital_Network
ADSL is not part of the Analog line, it is an RF carrier superimposed over the copper pair and is an independent service.

Yes, I realize that it is in fact 1200 baud on hook signalling. However, you, the customer, can not send any control signals while on hook. Your loop is not opened until the tip voltage goes from 0V to -40V. The CO detects on-hook/off-hook conditions, and does not accept any command and control codes while in on-hook from Customer equipment.

However, the CO can send data down using AC current (1200 Baud signalling) while you (The customer equipment) is on-hook (And off-hook for that matter) down the tip line.

Rudy, you're out of your element. I help build the internet so you don't have to. I was wandering PBX's before you knew what a touch-tone dialing was.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

All fine and well,,,,except here that is the way it works.
The bell guys have a pretty much standard laptop with a cable that has a cap and shorting switch.
Want to access COSMOS? that is how we do it.
I was a military brat who just loved AutoVon.
Now it is 105 Auditorium Circle or 1010 North St Marys for me.
My first visit to the local telephone exchange in San Antonio was to a step office, San Antonio did not switch out some crossbar offices until the late 80s!
We still have REA telephone Coops!
And, prior to equal access there was SATELCO and MCI, dial an access number if from a bell system phone.
GTE became Verizon and the REA is still around.
Now we also have the cable companies offering phone service as well, and I say companies, there is Time Warner as well as Grande.
http://www.grandecom.com/
In addition to that we have clearwire.
http://www.clearwire.com/
And of course the wireless carriers proper.
Sorry, not impressed by being told that what I am doing is not possible.

[KC2UGV]

Hello.

All fine and well,,,,except here that is the way it works.
The bell guys have a pretty much standard laptop with a cable that has a cap and shorting switch.
Want to access COSMOS? that is how we do it.
I was a military brat who just loved AutoVon.
Now it is 105 Auditorium Circle or 1010 North St Marys for me.
My first visit to the local telephone exchange in San Antonio was to a step office, San Antonio did not switch out some crossbar offices until the late 80s!
We still have REA telephone Coops!
And, prior to equal access there was SATELCO and MCI, dial an access number if from a bell system phone.
GTE became Verizon and the REA is still around.
Now we also have the cable companies offering phone service as well, and I say companies, there is Time Warner as well as Grande.
http://www.grandecom.com/
In addition to that we have clearwire.
http://www.clearwire.com/
And of course the wireless carriers proper.
Sorry, not impressed by being told that what I am doing is not possible.

Wow! You're sending in-band control codes to the CO switch from the customer premises with a phone on-hook! Man, I guess I should alert the phreaker community that what we all thought E7 fixed is really still broken!

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

I never said anything about control codes.
What I said was access to COSMOS.
This is very old yet explains this to some degree.
http://www.phrack.org/issues.html?issue=26&id=5
And clearly you do not know what you are talking about, I am going to leave it at that.
Might I suggest you find a 2600 meeting to attend, perhaps you might learn something.
http://www.2600.com/meetings/

[kb2vxa]

I can see by your coat, my friend,
You're from the other side,
There's just one thing I got to know,
Can you tell me please, who won?

Phone Phreakers on the wire, very free and easy,
Easy, you know the way it's supposed to be,
Hy Phonbil on the CO, let us be,
Talkin' 'bout very free and easy...

[KC2UGV]

Hello.

I never said anything about control codes.
What I said was access to COSMOS.
This is very old yet explains this to some degree.
http://www.phrack.org/issues.html?issue=26&id=5
And clearly you do not know what you are talking about, I am going to leave it at that.
Might I suggest you find a 2600 meeting to attend, perhaps you might learn something.
http://www.2600.com/meetings/

May I suggest you look for information that is not 20 years old...


COSMOS, an acronym for the COmputer System for Mainframe OperationS, is a
database package currently supported by Bellcore. COSMOS is presently being
used by every BOC, as well as by Cincinnati Bell and Rochester Telephone.
COSMOS replaces paper record-keeping and other mechanized record systems for
plant administration. COSMOS' original purpose was to alleviate congestion in
the Main Distributing Frame (MDF) by maintaining the shortest jumpers.

You do know COSMOS isn't in use anymore, right? COSMOS was largely replaced circa 1998 or so. A whole nine years after that article was written. A large impetus for it's replacement was a faulty module in the code which brought down AT&T's Northeast network.

And, you said you can access COSMOS while the phone is on-hook from customer premises. Which is impossible, since the customer loop is closed until the CO open it, or the phone goes off-hook.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

The LEC, the local phone company, still uses COSMOS, as does 90% of all of the local phone companies.
AT&T long lines had an issue, yes, but again, this is the local phone company.
True, what was once a massive mainframe computer is now in essence a desktop but the role has not changed.
There are still 2 computers (Or 3) running updated versions of the same software.
The line cards have gone from 4 subscriber pairs to 256 in the same space but the protocol has not changed.
Remember, the telephone system has been around longer than computers.
Electronic Switching Systems evolved from the earlier crossbar switch, they had to, as everything has to be able to work together.
There are still a few step offices in use, and it all works together.
A 100 year old dial telephone can be connected to a modern line and will work.
Things have improved since then but there was no radical change.
Invented the internet?, stick to that, it is clear that you know very little of the PSTN, I am done with you.

[KC2UGV]

Hello.

The LEC, the local phone company, still uses COSMOS, as does 90% of all of the local phone companies.
AT&T long lines had an issue, yes, but again, this is the local phone company.
True, what was once a massive mainframe computer is now in essence a desktop but the role has not changed.
There are still 2 computers (Or 3) running updated versions of the same software.
The line cards have gone from 4 subscriber pairs to 256 in the same space but the protocol has not changed.
Remember, the telephone system has been around longer than computers.
Electronic Switching Systems evolved from the earlier crossbar switch, they had to, as everything has to be able to work together.
There are still a few step offices in use, and it all works together.
A 100 year old dial telephone can be connected to a modern line and will work.
Things have improved since then but there was no radical change.
Invented the internet?, stick to that, it is clear that you know very little of the PSTN, I am done with you.

Sure Rudy. I'm glad you think that phone switches don't use Cisco IOS, or other modern software, rather than a 40 year old software package you read about in Phrack, in an issue written in 1989.

Invented the internet? You must be doing the right-winger maneuver: Make things up. I never said I invented the internet.

Bottom line: You can not, from customer premises, connect to the central office core system while the phone is on-hook. Hell, you can't even do it while off-hook by sending command and control codes.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

Telecommunications is a large enough market to where it uses industry specific equipment.
One of the key players is Telcordia in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telcordia_Technologies
And, dated software? the POWERPC based Apple Mac with OSX runs the current apps just fine.
The entire system is Unix based but with limited computing power built into each line card.
Modern oil and gas controls as well as the electric grid use this very technology, it is that good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCADA
Next time you have a chance, take a tour through a telephone office, you will see what I am talking about.
Telephone service reliability is that good for a reason.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_old_telephone_service
Telco frame information is still 9600 baud and CND is 1200 baud for a reason.
First, it is very robust, the data rate is slow enough to where there is an excellent signal to noise ratio.
Second, there is no need to go any faster, even a full exchange is only 10,000 lines and there is just not that much information being transported.
Going off hook removes the Modem from the line, that is the trick.
On hook there is a Modem present, that is what gives CND.

[W7XF]

It's time!

http://www.transportsecurity.com/graphics/abloytrailerpage.jpg

[KC2UGV]

Hello.

Telecommunications is a large enough market to where it uses industry specific equipment.
One of the key players is Telcordia in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telcordia_Technologies
And, dated software? the POWERPC based Apple Mac with OSX runs the current apps just fine.
The entire system is Unix based but with limited computing power built into each line card.
Modern oil and gas controls as well as the electric grid use this very technology, it is that good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCADA
Next time you have a chance, take a tour through a telephone office, you will see what I am talking about.
Telephone service reliability is that good for a reason.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_old_telephone_service
Telco frame information is still 9600 baud and CND is 1200 baud for a reason.
First, it is very robust, the data rate is slow enough to where there is an excellent signal to noise ratio.
Second, there is no need to go any faster, even a full exchange is only 10,000 lines and there is just not that much information being transported.
Going off hook removes the Modem from the line, that is the trick.
On hook there is a Modem present, that is what gives CND.

Rudy,

SCADA has nothing to do with telco equipment... Except for maybe some equipment is monitored using SCADA devices. As for the software running fine on a PowerPC Apple computer: Big whoop. I can run a TRS-80 game on my PIII machine.

Bottom line is: You are talking out of your ass, and you are full of shit. There is not a "modem" present while on hook in the line. There is a MO there (Modulator), as all it does it send data down. You, however CAN NOT send data back from the customer premise while the phone is on-hook. You can not connect to, and administer (Or even see diag notes) from the customer premise. If you could send in-band signalling while on-hook, it would mean all the purported fixes with ESS7 are lies (They, of course are not).

BTW: I've been in telco offices quite often. In fact, I go in them quite often.

[KC2UGV]

Hello.

Telecommunications is a large enough market to where it uses industry specific equipment.
One of the key players is Telcordia in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telcordia_Technologies
And, dated software? the POWERPC based Apple Mac with OSX runs the current apps just fine.
The entire system is Unix based but with limited computing power built into each line card.
Modern oil and gas controls as well as the electric grid use this very technology, it is that good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCADA
Next time you have a chance, take a tour through a telephone office, you will see what I am talking about.
Telephone service reliability is that good for a reason.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_old_telephone_service
Telco frame information is still 9600 baud and CND is 1200 baud for a reason.
First, it is very robust, the data rate is slow enough to where there is an excellent signal to noise ratio.
Second, there is no need to go any faster, even a full exchange is only 10,000 lines and there is just not that much information being transported.
Going off hook removes the Modem from the line, that is the trick.
On hook there is a Modem present, that is what gives CND.

Tell you what Rudy, here's some information about how telco offices are REALLY built: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/solutions_docs/telco_dcn/tlcowhit.html

[N2CHX]

Hello.

Don't make me stop this car!

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

Don't make me stop this car!

Hello.

Than give me a Taco!

[W7XF]

Hello.

Than give me a Taco!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/NCI_Visuals_Food_Taco.jpg/800px-NCI_Visuals_Food_Taco.jpg

Happy now, Cowthief???

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

The NEWEST switch in the San Antonio Metro area is this.
http://www2.nortel.com/go/product_content.jsp?segId=0&catId=null&parId=0&prod_id=8789
The AT&T Paradyne MTSO is still in use for GSM in the San Antonio area.
My local dial tone comes from a genuine AT&T 5ESS switch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5ESS_switch
Note that "Approximately half of all U.S. telephone exchanges (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_exchange) are serviced by 5ESS switches."
That is today.
The local hackers got into an old 5ESS and have been having fun ever since.
One of my laptops runs the full operating platform for the 5ESS switch and I have been learning ever since.
It has been one full year since I have had a real introduction to this switch and I still do not fully understand it.
But, I have confirmed just a few weeks ago, even my local exchange runs COSMOS, just on a 19 inch rack mount and not a mainframe someplace.

[N2CHX]

Hello.

Than give me a Taco!

Sorry, no fish taco for you.

[KC2UGV]

Hello.

The NEWEST switch in the San Antonio Metro area is this.
http://www2.nortel.com/go/product_content.jsp?segId=0&catId=null&parId=0&prod_id=8789
The AT&T Paradyne MTSO is still in use for GSM in the San Antonio area.
My local dial tone comes from a genuine AT&T 5ESS switch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5ESS_switch
Note that "Approximately half of all U.S. telephone exchanges (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_exchange) are serviced by 5ESS switches."
That is today.
The local hackers got into an old 5ESS and have been having fun ever since.
One of my laptops runs the full operating platform for the 5ESS switch and I have been learning ever since.
It has been one full year since I have had a real introduction to this switch and I still do not fully understand it.
But, I have confirmed just a few weeks ago, even my local exchange runs COSMOS, just on a 19 inch rack mount and not a mainframe someplace.

Notice, none of them run COSMOS... And if your local CO runs COSMOS, I'm heading down there to do some consulting work. They need to switch over to ESS.

[WØTKX]

I dabbled in Phreaking when I was a kid. We discovered hooking into old switching equipment and using pulses was less traceable,

A lot of that was on rural "party line" systems. Used my bug and counted the pulses. Very lulzy when the party line got picked up. ;)

[KA5PIU]

I dabbled in Phreaking when I was a kid. We discovered hooking into old switching equipment and using pulses was less traceable,

A lot of that was on rural "party line" systems. Used my bug and counted the pulses. Very lulzy when the party line got picked up. ;)

Hello.

We could use the switchhook to dial a number on the phones that had no dial.
Later the little tone dialers that Radio Shack sold would do the trick.
I never was into long distance, I just thought that the switch itself was so neat.
Now you can use Asterisk and do pretty much anything you want and long distance is a thing of the past.
In fact the vast majority of the people I know do not even have a landline.

[W7XF]

Hello.

Don't make me stop this car!


Sorry, no fish taco for you.

Kelli, I seriously doubt that Cowthief has a taste for fish tacos.

[W3WN]

Hello.

Than give me a Taco!
Hell no. Go buy your own.

[KA5PIU]

Hell no. Go buy your own.

Hello.

Then there is no quiet in the car until we get there, and we need to stop, I gotta pee, and buy some more coke, and BEAN TACOS!!!

[NQ6U]

Hello.

Then there is no quiet in the car until we get there, and we need to stop, I gotta pee, and buy some more coke, and BEAN TACOS!!!

If you buy bean tacos, there won't be any quiet in the car afterwards, either.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

One thing I use quite a bit is google voice.
https://www.google.com/voice?pli=1#inbox
This is a free service that gives me an inward number.
I can set this to call several numbers at once, even a VoIP address.

[KG4CGC]

Kelli, I seriously doubt that Cowthief has a taste for fish tacos.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c79/bebop5/Taco_Parade.jpg

[N2NH]

Noting like a woman and tacos. Wait.... did I miss something? ;)

Spoiler may be NSFW

http://www.itgotweird.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/taco-bell.jpg

[KG4CGC]

Someone warn the admins not to pull up this thread at work. Some workplace nanny gear is extreme.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

Keep your buns to yourself. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ6xBaZ92uA&feature=related
I want TACOS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa6MUETcxWc&feature=related

[KG4CGC]

THIRD BASE!

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

Decided to set up an X.25 signaling set and decode the protocol, super easy.
From the very first cellular phones in the US to the very latest, (AMPS to HSPA+) it is the signaling standard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X.25
I simply monitor the Overhead Channel.
In most cases the Initial Paging Channel is the Overhead Channel.
This is very much like the Control Channel in trunked radio.
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone4.htm
There is no special watusi needed to get to the signal path.
In the case of actual land line telephones things are different.
When you lift the handset you close the loop and create a voice path.
Everything in an Electronic Switching System is done from that point on with a Vocoder.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocoder
But when the handset is on hook the loop is open, and in some switches this leaves a data path open.
In the case of caller ID a shared Modem is available, 1200/9600 baud.
This has nothing to do with the voice pathway and connects to the signaling portion of the switch.
Making use of X.25 signaling and a Modem following Packet Switched Protocol one can send and receive data to a computer at the switch that is used for administration.
Some older Modems that support FULL hardware control and leased loop as well are very cheap.
The Modem will have a 25 pin connector that you can not truncate to a 9 pin, you MUST use hardware control with this Modem, there is not enough time for the Hayes AT command set.
There are PCMCIA cards that support the full RS-232 standard.
Connect Modem in 2 wire leased loop mode to a Central Office pair and open terminal mode and open Modem.
Send a Carriage Return (Enter) and wait up to a second.
You should see an @SBCTCOxxx, where XXX is the switch ID.
Accepted data rates are 1200 and 9600 only.
I have tried this and it works for me.

[KC2UGV]

Tell me Rudy, how do you get the modem to to go into DTS without the off-hook signalling?

[KA5PIU]

Tell me Rudy, how do you get the modem to to go into DTS without the off-hook signalling?

Hello.

Read it again, leased loop modem configured for hardware control and X.25 packet.
There is no handshake in X.25, and why the modem MUST be under full hardware control.
A leased loop modem is just that, a modem that is set up for use with a pair.
You can connect 2 leased loop modems together with a pair of wires (2 wire mode) and they will work just fine.
In X.25 mode you send a packet and it sends it, no carrier beforehand, just the data.
This is not a dial up modem, but there are modems that can do both.
Here is something about leased loop modems but has nothing to do with a telephone switch that was written by a ham.
http://www.k1ea.com/hints/modem_network.htm
Remember, hardware control leased loop modem that does X.25 and 1200/9600, not hard to find but usually a large external box.

[W1GUH]

Blue 439 (http://www.cswap.com/1966/Blowup/cap/en/2_Parts/a/00_35)


Script from Blow-Up...the guy's car phone conversation about the antique shop where just bought a propeller.

http://www.idyllopuspress.com/meanwhile/images/bu_rebuses.jpg

Great site about the movie. (http://www.idyllopuspress.com/meanwhile/924/antonionis-blow-up-the-bread-and-the-wine-the-body-and-the-blood/)

[KC2UGV]

Hello.

Read it again, leased loop modem configured for hardware control and X.25 packet.
There is no handshake in X.25, and why the modem MUST be under full hardware control.
A leased loop modem is just that, a modem that is set up for use with a pair.
You can connect 2 leased loop modems together with a pair of wires (2 wire mode) and they will work just fine.
In X.25 mode you send a packet and it sends it, no carrier beforehand, just the data.
This is not a dial up modem, but there are modems that can do both.
Here is something about leased loop modems but has nothing to do with a telephone switch that was written by a ham.
http://www.k1ea.com/hints/modem_network.htm
Remember, hardware control leased loop modem that does X.25 and 1200/9600, not hard to find but usually a large external box.

Oh, so you're not connecting to a phone switch then... You're just connecting the customer end of a leased line. So, I'm not seeing what special thing you did there. You did exactly what the line is supposed to do.

Before, you were talking about on-hook signalling to the COSMOS system (Which no telcos use, AFAIK). SO, you can understand me missing the "flow of conversation" transition from phreaking the phone system to just setting up customer premise equipment in the usual fashion.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

No, I am connecting to the COSMOS system.
This is the South! stuff does not get updated that frequently.
San Antonio went from mechanical traffic control to electronic when they could no longer buy used controllers from other cities for parts!
Southwestern Bell still had operator dial lines when the Bell System broke up.
Our local Telco switch here is still a genuine Western Electric 5 ESS, with a bunch of upgrades of course.
But no, the response I am getting is from the Telco switch.
Pocket Communications just merged with Cricket Communications and Pocket bought whatever another wireless carrier upgraded from so they have the old stuff.
In fact Cricket just started offering internet access a while back, and only now is it anywhere near what you would call fast.
Clear and T-Mobile are the high tech companies on the wireless scene right now.

[KC2UGV]

Hello.

No, I am connecting to the COSMOS system.
This is the South! stuff does not get updated that frequently.
San Antonio went from mechanical traffic control to electronic when they could no longer buy used controllers from other cities for parts!
Southwestern Bell still had operator dial lines when the Bell System broke up.
Our local Telco switch here is still a genuine Western Electric 5 ESS, with a bunch of upgrades of course.
But no, the response I am getting is from the Telco switch.
Pocket Communications just merged with Cricket Communications and Pocket bought whatever another wireless carrier upgraded from so they have the old stuff.
In fact Cricket just started offering internet access a while back, and only now is it anywhere near what you would call fast.
Clear and T-Mobile are the high tech companies on the wireless scene right now.

I'm sure you are Rudy... Have fun, you wascally phreaker you.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

The easy trick is to DC isolate an audio connection to the phone line and listen.
If you have caller ID you will hear the 1200 baud modem.
http://www.tech-faq.com/caller-id.html
The local Telco went from this to full laptops, keeping the protocol in place.
http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/TELECOM_Digest_Online2005-1/3277.html
3853
I only know a little bit about what is happening but have been able to get a response from the switch at this point.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

To answer the question of why a 5-ESS has no super duper mega mainframe networked computer is due to this.
http://computer-refuge.org/bitsavers/pdf/westernElectric/3b20s/234-301-910WE_3B20S_System_Index_and_Description_Jul81.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Computer_Systems
When the switch was shipped that was the computer that ran it.
Now a 32 bit computer running 8 MHz with 1/2 Megs of RAM and a 300Meg hard drive would be hard to find.
A Mac iBook can be configured to run the entire suite of software that a 5-ESS needs, everything that 3 computers did in one laptop.
The demands that are placed on a telephone switch computer are not that much as most of the actual number crunching is done by the line cards, each of what has a CPU.
This is a very common SCADA setup.
http://blockyourid.com/~gbpprorg/mil/anac/5ESS.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCADA
Remember that if the central computer were to fail another that is its tandem would take over.
It can do this as the actual processes are run by the line cards themselves. (RTUs)
A computer failure outright would mean you would not be able to place a call, but a call in progress would not be affected.
Asterisk, on the other hand uses dumb cards and the central computer processes everything.
When I do the on hook thing I am in communication with the line card of a 5-ESS switch.

[ka8ncr]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/NCI_Visuals_Food_Taco.jpg/800px-NCI_Visuals_Food_Taco.jpg

Happy now, Cowthief???


None of the tacos I get from Taco Bell look anything like that.

[KA5PIU]

None of the tacos I get from Taco Bell look anything like that.

Hello.

This is San Antonio, even the bad tacos look better than taco bell!
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&newwindow=1&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS275&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=mexican+food+san+antonio&fb=1&gl=us&hq=mexican+food&hnear=San+Antonio,+TX&ei=5Gw7TbmjOcH98AbwnNisCg&sa=X&oi=local_group&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CAQQtgMwAA

[NQ6U]

WART

[KG4CGC]

third base
WART

[VE7DCW]

third base
WART

I'm guessing a home run gets a WART plaque..... :clap: