Hacking Payphones - Telstra Style from L33tdawg

OK well picture this... its around 4am your stumbling out of the dance
club your mobile phone battery is dead and you remember you need to call
a taxi or someone to come and get you ... after walking for an hour
around the city streets you finally find a public that phone that hasnt
been trashed by someone with a sledge hammer, so you dig into your
pocket to find some change and you realise *doh that last drink took all
my change* well from here you have a couple options ... you can look
like a tightass and reverse the charges like anyone will choose this
heh... or you can scam Tel$tra outa some cash with a drinking straw...

YES a humble drinking straw... naturally if you are reading this you are
like me and everyone else i know and wouldnt have even considered the
1st option i said ... All the above events could lead you to needing to
make the free call or of course you just dont wanna pay for something if
you dont absolutely NEED too ;o).

Well i guess i should let you in on the secrets of making free calls
with the straw shouldnt i, this works on most public phones in Australia
and possibly others around the world if you try this in other places
other than Australia please let us know how you went and if you needed
to do anything special to get it to work.

Anyway back to HOW you do this... basically all you need is a drinking
straw i have found the ones from McDonalds work the best because they
seem to be slightly thicker than the pissy ones you get at the corner
store so have a look around if there is a Maccas near by go and pinch a
straw or 2 from them if there ar no shops open or near by have a look
around on the ground you are bound to find a straw of some description
close to a phone box. Once you have the tools you need your half way
there !!!

Now just fold the straw in half and slip in down the left hand side of
the coin slot normally it wont go down far roughly about 2-3 inches is
all that is needed but you should feel the coin slot slope off to the
left a little bit more and there will be like a latch you will feel what
i mean when you do it ... the best way to describe it is like a speed
hump i guess, it takes a little while to get it the 1st time but once
you do it a couple of times you should be able to master it and be
making calls within a few seconds of getting the straw into the slot...
anyway once you have found the latch you need to push the straw just
past that about 1-2 cm's from there you should be able to dial the
number you wanna call and once the person picks up the phone you should
hear the coin slot attempt to drop the *coins you placed into the phone*
into the deposit box, and because the straw has broken the contacts just
as the coin would do if it was there the phone thinks you have tried to
make a leg it call and connects you as it would do if you had paid for
the call and BINGO you made your call you got your ride and whats even
better is it cost NOTHING.

Sorry there is no Technical Explanations as to why exactly this works
but Tel$tra are very tight fisted with their phone specs and anything to
do with them making money just like most Telco's in an attempt to stop
this happening BUT as the past has shown where there is a will to get
around something there is also a way to do it its just a matter of
finding that way... so if you have any info or links on the Telstra
Payphones specs drop me a line and let me know

OB-1