Trunk calls were very expensive for me
I was at boarding school in Melbourne and telephone calls to my parents in Ardmona quickly used up all my coins.
To make a trunk line call from a public telephone, instead of ringing 011, the normal trunk line number, we had to dial 0176 where the operator would ask us to insert coins and press button A before connecting the call. Dialling 011 from a public phone only gave a wrong number tone.
So I wondered what would happen if I dialled 78 to get Frankston exchange and then dialled 011.
I tried it and got the trunk line operator. I gave her the phone number of the telephone box.
She told me that I was ringing from the wrong area and that I had to ring from the Melbourne exchange.
I had found out the phone number of the telephone box by making a key to open the mechanism and looking at the record card in there.
I later thought of ringing 78 3 011 to get Melbourne exchange via Frankston exchange. It worked! I gave the operator the phone number that I wanted to call and the phone number of the phone box I was calling from.
Some months later I was asked to go to the headmaster's office. I didn't know what for until I went in and the headmaster introduced me to two detectives and an engineer from the Postmaster General's department. They kept asking me who I had found out from how to make the free telephone calls. They just didn't believe me even though the headmaster did. Eventually after what seemed a very long time I was allowed to go.
Apparently one of the other schoolboys was caught making a 15 minute phone call to Sydney. He hung up the phone when the operator came on the line but the operator got his details from the other person on the call.
I also heard that one of those people from the PMG asked the headmaster what they should do about me and he told them that they should give me a scholarship.
The other boys had to pay for their calls as they all used the one public phone for all their calls. However as I always made my calls from different public telephones, there were no records of my calls.
Within a day, dialling 783011 resulted in a wrong number tone instead of a call to the trunk line operator.
To make a trunk line call from a public telephone, instead of ringing 011, the normal trunk line number, we had to dial 0176 where the operator would ask us to insert coins and press button A before connecting the call. Dialling 011 from a public phone only gave a wrong number tone.
So I wondered what would happen if I dialled 78 to get Frankston exchange and then dialled 011.
I tried it and got the trunk line operator. I gave her the phone number of the telephone box.
She told me that I was ringing from the wrong area and that I had to ring from the Melbourne exchange.
I had found out the phone number of the telephone box by making a key to open the mechanism and looking at the record card in there.
I later thought of ringing 78 3 011 to get Melbourne exchange via Frankston exchange. It worked! I gave the operator the phone number that I wanted to call and the phone number of the phone box I was calling from.
Some months later I was asked to go to the headmaster's office. I didn't know what for until I went in and the headmaster introduced me to two detectives and an engineer from the Postmaster General's department. They kept asking me who I had found out from how to make the free telephone calls. They just didn't believe me even though the headmaster did. Eventually after what seemed a very long time I was allowed to go.
Apparently one of the other schoolboys was caught making a 15 minute phone call to Sydney. He hung up the phone when the operator came on the line but the operator got his details from the other person on the call.
I also heard that one of those people from the PMG asked the headmaster what they should do about me and he told them that they should give me a scholarship.
The other boys had to pay for their calls as they all used the one public phone for all their calls. However as I always made my calls from different public telephones, there were no records of my calls.
Within a day, dialling 783011 resulted in a wrong number tone instead of a call to the trunk line operator.
posted by Peter at 10:08 AM
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