Dose anyone remember when the odd phone box would give out free calls?

Run_to_da_hills

Something that you would never see again in this day and age since mobile phones and bundle packages etc.

Back in the 70's you would get the odd faulty P&T phone that would enable free unlimited calls across the country. Students would be queuing outside waiting to make trunk calls to family and friends as word got around.

christmas2012

ah more innocent times not like now mobile phone scams coming from god knows where..

Degsy

There were also some phones that if you whacked "Button A" with the palm of your hand money would come out the slot.

It didnt damage the phones or anything,it just meant kids would be standing around waiting for somebody to finish using it sdo they could go in and get the 10p or whatever.

Also you could tap out the phone number you wanted on the cradle instead of dialing it..one tap corresponded to one click on the line which corresponded to the number 1 being dialled..two taps for 2 and so on.

darkdubh

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Something that you would never see again in this day and age since mobile phones and bundle packages etc.

Back in the 70's you would get the odd faulty P&T phone that would enable free unlimited calls across the country. Students would be queuing outside waiting to make trunk calls to family and friends as word got around.

There was a phonebox here in Cork where you could do that in the late 90's.You had to key in a few numbers in a certain sequence.

who the fug

One in the middle of no were near Bantry (10p to call the USA stay on till the weather drove you back to your car) , very popular

we recorded the money going in on a walkman and played it back on the old A & B phone thing at boarding school

Run_to_da_hills

Degsy wrote: »

There were also some phones that if you whacked "Button A" with the palm of your hand money would come out the slot.

It didnt damage the phones or anything,it just meant kids would be standing around waiting for somebody to finish using it sdo they could go in and get the 10p or whatever.

Also you could tap out the phone number you wanted on the cradle instead of dialing it..one tap corresponded to one click on the line which corresponded to the number 1 being dialled..two taps for 2 and so on.

You also had kids stuffing rags up the refund slot. (They stopped that with a door in later pay phones.)

As a kid I was an expert at tapping the receiver buttons on top of those old analogue phones to get free calls.

0, 9 and 1 were free numbers and could be dialled as they were used in operator & emergency services. All other numbers had to be tapped on the receiver. My parents phone was easy to do as it contained three zeros and an nine.

ardmacha

we recorded the money going in on a walkman and played it back on the old A & B phone thing at boarding school

Good plan. Operator calls relied only on the sounds. Generally the time period for good recording technology and A & B button coinboxes didn't overlap.

0, 9 and 1 were free numbers and could be dialled as they were used in operator & emergency services. All other numbers had to be tapped on the receiver. My parents phone was easy to do as it contained three zeros and an nine.

Yes indeed. Pay phones had special dials with 0, 9 & 1 wired differently, the others passed through a relay that only operated when the money had been inserted. Numbers with 0, 1, or 9 and lower numbers could be tapped, it was tricky tapping 785677!

In the North there was more scope for creative dialling than in the South, which had a better planned phone system. I could do this successfully for quite a while, but there was no international dialling then to take full advantage. You could even dial the south, which is where I wanted to call.