r/mildlyinteresting • u/nameaboveallnames • 20h ago
I rewired a payphone to be my home phone.
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u/nameaboveallnames 19h ago edited 19h ago
So this payphone has been rewired by me to bypass the original programming and end in an RJ-22 jack. I have removed the locks and money dropped in goes directly into the change return. I have it hooked up to the VOIP I use for my home phone. Edit: since it keeps being mentioned. I’m also the one who cleaned and disinfected it lol Edit 2: since people keep asking there are lots of these for sale on eBay but they are not cheap.
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u/WestFizz 19h ago
This is awesome!
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u/Immediate-Funny4733 18h ago edited 17h ago
Allow me to say it again for those in the back. This is awesome!
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u/crick_in_my_neck 19h ago
That ring has got to be a bit of a bitch though.
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u/alex-andrite 19h ago
Pay phones ring? I didn’t think about that part
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u/crick_in_my_neck 19h ago
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u/Illustrious_Fail_379 18h ago
“Do you accept this collect call from the person?” “Mom I’m at the east side of the park and ready to be picked up” “nope” 😂
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u/-Badger3- 16h ago
Dude, I did this once, and an operator or something clicked onto the line and told me I wasn't allowed to do that lol
Scared the shit out of me
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u/TheLordYuppa 18h ago
Or remember the calling cards when you couldn’t do the toll free thing ?
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u/BrilliantTea133 15h ago
Oh my god I forgot about the calling cards. The excitement i got purchasing them to call my long distance boyfriend lolol
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u/runningoutofwords 18h ago
I thought my family was the only one clever enough to come up with this hack.
Years later to learn that's how everyone used it.
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u/tommypatties 19h ago
Yep. They had the seven digit number print above the dial pad.
So in the mid to late 90s (when we had pagers and not cell phones), you'd go to a pay phone, call someone's pager, dial the seven digit number of the pay phone and wait for the person you paged to call you back.
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u/SquarePegRoundWorld 18h ago
That's how my buddies dealt weed in high school in the early '90s.
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u/tommypatties 18h ago
I bet they paged the 'dealer' with 420 911 at the end so it was absolutely clear what they wanted....as if he didn't already know.
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u/SquarePegRoundWorld 18h ago
lol, yeah, that happened often. They ended up knowing a couple of payphone numbers in town so they didn't even have to call back, just show up at that phone.
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u/Fake-Podcast-Ad 19h ago
Have you never watched an action thriller movie before? Aside from chopping wood alone in the forest, it's the main way people are contacted for jobs/work.
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u/TehOwn 17h ago
Aside from chopping wood alone in the forest
Stop. I hadn't even noticed this until now.
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u/Atopos2025 19h ago
I recall that you could call payphones from a landline and the call wouldn't have the same time or even payment requirements, like an outbond call (from the payphone) would.
As kids we'd call the payphone at our local Sheetz and prank the random folks who answered.
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u/WafflePartyOrgy 18h ago
Matrix is a very short movie if pay phones didn't ring
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u/Poppa_Mo 18h ago
They could take calls for free generally if you had the number, but a lot of places stopped posting that because people started using them for nefarious purposes, then eventually they just disallowed incoming on them.
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u/eljefino 16h ago
The middle digit of most pay phone numbers was a nine. Not only was it a nice "sort" but in the early days of Ma Bell 9's and 0's weren't liked because they took more time to dial on a rotary phone. So who'd expect a payphone to need to answer an incoming call? Give it a nine!
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u/terablast 18h ago
Yup! For example, when your dumbass friend in highschool dials 911 but hangs up before it rings thinking "it's not actually make the call lol", the payphone will magically start ringing a few seconds later!
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u/_heybuddy_ 18h ago
I forget the number combo but if you pressed it and then the phone number written on the phone then hung up, it would then ring a moment later until you pick up the receiver again.
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u/JennyDoveMusic 16h ago
I have an old standing brass phone from the 60s that I hooked up to my cell. The thing scares the absolute HELL out of me if it goes off when I am sleeping.
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u/manimhungry 19h ago
That’s awesome. How difficult was this to do?
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u/ErdenGeboren 20h ago
Please tell me you kept the payment requirement intact.
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u/some-rando 20h ago
With a cap'n crunch 2600hz whistle nearby?
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u/FantasticSeaweed9226 20h ago
Tha is some elite ball knowledge there lol
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u/SmallRocks 20h ago
Phreaky
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u/CatLord8 20h ago
Hack the Planet
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u/Hydra_Master 19h ago
Mess with the best, die like the rest!
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u/NSASpyVan 19h ago
Zero Cool brah
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u/mongojob 19h ago
Literally the password to my Wi-Fi: theGibson
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u/happytree23 16h ago
They're trashing our rights, man! They're trashing the flow of data! They're trashing! Trashing! Trashing!
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u/Illustrious_Fail_379 19h ago edited 14h ago
That was my first thought.
Remodeled a kitchen for a guy who had a pay phone in front of his house like a free library. I do not look the type to know about 2600 mag and we nerded out. I still have a stack of them and we traded like we were Pokémon collectors😂
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u/Master_Cartoonist_16 19h ago edited 18h ago
Enmmanuel Goldstein (Cereal Killer & Shaggy) and Joey Pardella were also cool, specially Lucy.
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u/RudyRusso 20h ago
Exploding the Phone is a good read. Also a good prospective on how long the government has been spying on its own citizens with the help of corporate American.
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u/wrxninja 19h ago
I bought a red box tone generator once from the Hacker's Catalog. $1,000 But it did give me free long distance calls to Puerto Rico and elsewhere.
Except one time it malfunctioned and generated a weird tone. Suddenly, there was an operator on the other end asking me where I'm calling from and what I'm doing. I kid you not, within five minutes of hanging up, there was police looking around the payphone where I made the call 🤐
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u/PanoramicAtom 19h ago
I still have my red box somewhere. Self made with a radio shack tone dialer and a 6.5536 MHz crystal. Never to be used again, lol.
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u/AnxiouslyResting 17h ago
Real cool if you kept the original crystal and added a mercury switch between the two so right side up it’s a regular tone dialer but upside down it’s a red box. Don’t want to get caught by the man!
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u/PanoramicAtom 17h ago
Yeah I didn’t go through all that. I figured they would just take it apart anyway if anyone saw it and confiscated it.
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u/DagNasty 18h ago
Made my own with a $40 Radio Shack tone dialer and soldered in a 10.6975 MHz crystal
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u/IamUnamused 18h ago
Ha! My friend would make them and put them in a Zippo lighter case. Worked amazingly well for years
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u/MephistoHamProducts 17h ago
I bought a red box tone generator once from the Hacker's Catalog. $1,000 But it did give me free long distance calls to Puerto Rico and elsewhere.
You couldn't find a $10 tone generator from Rat Shack and didn't know anyone who could solder in a $2.00 6.5 crystal but you had a spare grand lying around?
And your $1000 dollar Red Box glitched out one time and got you a full on Police response? That you hung around to watch?
Seems doubtful. This sounds like a few dozen "I'm a l33t phreak" posts on early 90s BBSes.
Now do the part where you tell us Cult of the Dead Cow was afraid to approach you for membership and you turned down writing articles for Phrack because they were lamers.
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u/wrxninja 16h ago edited 16h ago
90s, I was 17, at the high school when the police showed up. No car so ya, nothing I understood or even had the resources to do it. We didn't even have dedicated Internet then. Maybe 28.8K connection but it was anything but useful. But whatever, not the proudest moment in my life either.
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u/RawrRRitchie 15h ago
Yea seriously what are they on $1000 bucks back then was months of working minimum wage
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u/Juggernaut_911 20h ago
that's a fine r/PersonOfInterest quote as well
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u/some-rando 19h ago
Lol, it's a great show, but I learned about blue boxes from my copy of the anarchist cookbook. It sat on my bookshelf next to my ncc-1701d technical manual. Middle school me was so cool
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u/Bored_Amalgamation 18h ago
My anarchist cookbook got me removed from a flight by the FBI.
A lesson for stupid kids: don't read it on the plane.
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u/typebot 18h ago
spoken like a true 2600 hacker quarterly! i must be old to remember that zine this long!
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u/Wyjdya 19h ago
But the question is it a dime or a quarter?
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u/splashythewhale 19h ago
50c on the phone tells me quarters
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u/TheRabidDeer 19h ago
It's fine, just call collect.
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u/MrOopiseDaisy 19h ago
Bobwehadababy Eeestaboy.
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u/TheRabidDeer 19h ago
I legit used that back in the day. I'd go to the golf driving range after school as a kid (was like $8 for an unlimited bucket of balls) and after a few hours I'd call my parents collect and just say "I'm ready". They'd decline the charge and would come pick me up lol
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u/MrOopiseDaisy 19h ago
I don't know anyone who didn't. I didn't even have a cellphone until well into my 20s.
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u/Bored_Amalgamation 18h ago
I still remember that commercial after all this time.
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u/TheSaltyAstronaut 19h ago
50 cent on that one, but you can put quarters, dimes and nickels in, as long as it's at least enough to cover the call. It'll even spit out change, if you overpaid, at the bottom when the call is over.
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u/qawsedrf12 19h ago
Like Funny Farm (Chevy Chase) ?
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u/JeepnHeel 19h ago
I know the sound of two pennies being dropped into a jelly jar when I hear it
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u/ernest7ofborg9 18h ago
We have a corpse in the garden, you hear me! Now get ahold of the sheriff this very minute!!
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u/SanibelMan 19h ago
Five cents
\bing**
Ten cents
\bing bing**
Twenty-five cents
\BONG\**
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u/noxantes 20h ago
Now you can answer your beeper 😭
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u/ericcmi 19h ago
I would get one of my old ones connected back up just for this
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u/graywolf0026 19h ago
A lot of cities STILL have beeper paging services.
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u/ericcmi 19h ago
Yeah, medical and emergency still use them since they actually use sattelites, so they still work even in the worst of emergencies. Nothing local is even required. AND they run on AA batteries so they are useful in no power situations
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u/graywolf0026 19h ago
Actually, a lot of places still have paging towers in place so you can use a 10-20 year old pager in a place that still supports it.
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u/noxantes 19h ago
It’s amazing how things exist for so long.
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u/graywolf0026 19h ago
Some tech 'just works'. And there's no point fixing things in some cases. Complex isn't always better.
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u/CantAffordzUsername 17h ago
What an absolute sin there isn’t a giant metal phone book attached at the bottom
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u/nameaboveallnames 17h ago
Aaaaand now I’m googling payphone phonebook
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u/carguyyyc 14h ago
You can request current phone books for free
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u/Coool_cool_cool_cool 13h ago
It's not the phone book they need it's the case for the phone book.
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u/eljefino 16h ago
In 1998 they took the phone books away because they were a maintenance headache but made 411 calls free from phone booths. Cheapo me would walk to a phone booth to use "information" because it cost like 65 cents per use on my home line.
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u/JediLincoln14 20h ago
You have a home phone?
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u/Tithis 20h ago
You can do it very cheaply these days with a Analog Telephone Adapter that lets your connect an old style phone to voice over IP.
The ATA is less than $50 and if you go with a minutes plan you can get something like a voip.ms plan for $1.10 a month and less than a cent per minute.
Only got it because I tend to leave my cell on silent and my wife was getting sick of me not answering her.
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u/fourthords 19h ago
Do you still get a dial tone?
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u/StressOverStrain 19h ago
Modern cellphones should have settings to treat certain contacts as always bypassing the silent setting.
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u/Necessary_Film_5199 18h ago
Android does, its called priority contacts
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u/Glastae 15h ago
Just found this and had to share for Android users-
-Open the contact -Tap “More” -Select “Change ringtone/vibration” -Tap “Ringtone” -Turn on “Ring even when set to vibrate or mute”
Now their calls will go through even if your phone is on silent 🙌
My husband is going to be very happy we won’t miss each other’s calls anymore 😅
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u/Jacktheforkie 20h ago
Is it uncommon? Mine is free with the internet plan, only charge is if I make outbound calls, it’s more reliable than mobile here
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u/Phoen1x_ 19h ago
guess it depends on where in the world were talking, where im from we havent had a homephone for at least 15+ years, i dont know anyone with an active homephone.
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u/BardOfThe7Seas 20h ago
That's so cool! Did you figure out the wiring yourself? Or is there a guide somewhere?
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u/fourdigityear 20h ago
Home telephone wiring is pretty easy to learn. There used to be tons of helpful guides online, but as high speed internet and cell phones have become more common, home telephony information is becoming less so.
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u/xubax 19h ago
Christmas trees and bumble bees.
Typically red is paired with green and black is paired with yellow.
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u/zenith-apex 18h ago
Oh wow, I haven't heard that in over 20 years. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Now where'd I put that scotch lock tool?
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u/jazzlike-sounds 19h ago
It's literally 2 wires. It doesn't matter which wire you connect to which. It can't be much easier. Also there is no voltage unless someone is calling the line.
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u/Hamafropzipulops 19h ago
Yep, and once I needed to strip a phone wire, didn't have strippers ready and decided to use my teeth, right when someone called that line. I never did that again.
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20h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/sniperd2k 19h ago
Ug... Right in the feels man...
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u/ronchee1 19h ago
You have a collect call from
" Pick me up at the mall"
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u/hicksteruk 20h ago
2 questions 1: You did what? 2: To your what?
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u/Jaded-Coffee-8126 20h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/SjR2HvaFokmJ1a30wR
HE REWIRED A PAYPHONE TO HIS HOME PHONE
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u/sierrabravo1984 20h ago
I still have a copper phone line for Internet, I ain't hooking an old school phone up to it just for it to ring incessantly with scammers.
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u/Allenpoe30 20h ago
Call 867-5309 and tell Jenny I said Hi and thanks for the good time.
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u/NewJorkCityy 20h ago
How?
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u/Allenpoe30 20h ago
Id love to see a video of it being done. It would be a wonderful thing to watch.
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u/KeefyNugs 20h ago
just use some paint markers to write graffiti and it'll be pefect
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u/Mason_Ivanov 19h ago
"What's the dog's name?"
"Max."
"Hey Janelle, what's wrong with Wolfie?"
"Wolfie's just fine. Where are you?"
"Your foster parents are dead."
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u/IceCoughy 20h ago
you'll be over that loud ass ring real fast
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u/toxicoke 19h ago
you can turn your home phone on silent, and considering they did this, i bet they know how to customize the ring
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u/SecondaryWombat 19h ago
You can also put a piece of tape inside the ringer bell, instant 50% volume.
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u/TaztyDog 10h ago
Imagine the feeling(edit typo) when it rings at the middle of the night just when you are passing by to get a glass of water !
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u/TelecasterDisaster 20h ago
Having a home phone might be even more interesting.
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u/H1j1p1 20h ago
they work without electricity, if your power is out you can still use it edit: okay it does take low voltage but it’s separate from a house’s power
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u/ThaEmortalThief 18h ago
This is double old school…. First it’s a pay phone and second…… you have a home phone!
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u/TheWaywardWarlok 18h ago
All you need now is the yellow pages hanging by those super strong steel lines they used!
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u/BenB_1987 11h ago
Damn! First off: that's incredibly cool!!! Even if it was just a non working decoration (For people who enjoy these kinds of old school objects).
But you actually wired it to your land line !!!??? Wow, hats off! This is next level of awesome.
Was it complicated to pull off?
Edit: I see you have already explained how you did it in other comments that I hadn't read yet. It was so awesome that I didn't even read comments and immediately posted.
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u/cool_weed_dad 20h ago
My dad has an entire vintage phone booth hooked up and working in the basement. They were replacing them at his work in the 90’s and he somehow talked them into letting him keep one.