Nova Scotia Phone Phun
                  

902 area code, Nova Scotia. (Canada?!?! They have phones in igloos now?)

Specifically this is out of Halifax. Hell knows what kind of crazy fun
those backwoods freaks are having with their tin cans and string...

For the first part of this year there was a number 958-1001 which
would read back the number you were calling from. It would work from
payphones without having to insert a quarter, yet now it doesn't. It
still works, mind you, just not from payphones. I called the operator
(from a payphone) and had her switch me to repair service. While making
my way through the touch-tone menus of the repair I came across the
prompt "to report a technical issue with the number you are calling
from, press 1, the number you are calling from is XXX-XXXX, to report
an issue with another line..." to reach the technical menu you can
dial 811 from anywhere, even payphones. It's free from a payphone too. 
958-1001 will still work from a home or work line. Helpful if you
are sitting outside in the cold with an old wall mounted phone and some
alligator clipped wires running into a box, eh? Don't get me wrong, thats
just an obscure metaphor.

This appears to be some sort of special prefix... as no operators will
admit to there being ANY 958 numbers...

The VMB system run by the local telco (MTT(previously MT&T)) is
accessable by dialing 429-6245 from your home phone. (Which will put you
into the box without asking you for a password, as long as it's coming
from your phone line. You don't need to log in at all.) It can also be
accessed from *99 these also function as backdoors, hitting 5 from the
main menu will allow you to leave a message for any other box on the
system, and hitting # again will let you log into another box. The trick
here is that your box number is your phone number, and your pass is
whatever you changed it to. *IF* you changed it. The default pass is your
telephone number, by the way, and many people keep this as their password.

Many people also, they tell me, think that if you do onto others as you
would have done onto you, things will all be ok.

Many people use inflatable dolls regularly. What was I talking about?

The number 429-6245 (the backdoor number) has a box too, which hasn't (yet)
been set up, but it's default password aint 429-6245. 

There are plenty of junction boxes around, unlocked save for those
hexagonal latches, easily opened with a wrench... 

No luck yet finding any other numbers in the 958-XXXX region.
But there's pretty well gotta be...
It would be interesting to know what it replied when called from long
distance, though, good luck convincing an operator to put you through.
"958 isn't a valid exchange, sir."


Thats about all for now, 
untoward @ efnet

04/99