Exploding the Phone
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- Create Date：2021-04-30 11:58:12
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Phil Lapsley
- ISBN：0802122280
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
Before smartphones， back even before the Internet and personal computer， a misfit group of technophiles， blind teenagers， hippies， and outlaws figured out how to hack the world’s largest machine: the telephone system。 Starting with Alexander Graham Bell’s revolutionary “harmonic telegraph，” by the middle of the twentieth century the phone system had grown into something extraordinary， a web of cutting-edge switching machines and human operators that linked together millions of people like never before。 But the network had a billion-dollar flaw， and once people discovered it， things would never be the same。
Exploding the Phone tells this story in full for the first time。 It traces the birth of long-distance communication and the telephone， the rise of AT&T’s monopoly， the creation of the sophisticated machines that made it all work， and the discovery of Ma Bell’s Achilles’ heel。 Phil Lapsley expertly weaves together the clandestine underground of “phone phreaks” who turned the network into their electronic playground， the mobsters who exploited its flaws to avoid the feds， the explosion of telephone hacking in the counterculture， and the war between the phreaks， the phone company， and the FBI。
The product of extensive original research， Exploding the Phone is a ground-breaking， captivating book。
Exploding the Phone tells this story in full for the first time。 It traces the birth of long-distance communication and the telephone， the rise of AT&T’s monopoly， the creation of the sophisticated machines that made it all work， and the discovery of Ma Bell’s Achilles’ heel。 Phil Lapsley expertly weaves together the clandestine underground of “phone phreaks” who turned the network into their electronic playground， the mobsters who exploited its flaws to avoid the feds， the explosion of telephone hacking in the counterculture， and the war between the phreaks， the phone company， and the FBI。
The product of extensive original research， Exploding the Phone is a ground-breaking， captivating book。
Reviews
Cat Herine
，
This was another fun read （and took awhile as I had to keeping checking it out from the library）。 It delved into the history of the telephone system and the eventual expansion and monopoly of phone technology and how people would use work arounds for various reasons。 Phone phreakers were using blue boxes for shady purposes but in general it was used for kicks and giggles。 I first learned about this from the Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast and was fascinated at how tones were used in conjunction wi This was another fun read （and took awhile as I had to keeping checking it out from the library）。 It delved into the history of the telephone system and the eventual expansion and monopoly of phone technology and how people would use work arounds for various reasons。 Phone phreakers were using blue boxes for shady purposes but in general it was used for kicks and giggles。 I first learned about this from the Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast and was fascinated at how tones were used in conjunction with telephone calls and communications across the country。 This is definitely a book that is a specialized interest。 If you like history and history of technology this is a must read。 。。。more
Jerry Johnston
，
A fabulous readFrom such creative minds comes a fascinating story of innovation， fun and trying to beat the law。 Exploding The Phone is an insightful read full of unique characters and moments。 Highly recommended
Ronnie Cramer
，
This book is a great general history of the US telephone network （perhaps with a nod to John Murphy's THE TELEPHONE: WIRING AMERICA）， and a humorous look at the young "phone phreaks" who for various reasons made it their mission to infiltrate the network。 One of these phreaks was Apple's Steve Wozniak， who wrote the foreword。 This book is a great general history of the US telephone network （perhaps with a nod to John Murphy's THE TELEPHONE: WIRING AMERICA）， and a humorous look at the young "phone phreaks" who for various reasons made it their mission to infiltrate the network。 One of these phreaks was Apple's Steve Wozniak， who wrote the foreword。 。。。more
Scott Holstad
，
God， this takes me back。 I remember Captain Crunch， phreaking， warez， War Games， my C64， BBS's， Usenet， CdC， 2600， etc。， like it was yesterday。 I really miss those days。 While technically it can be argued that， yes， there has always been hacking and while hackers were considered "bad，" seems to me the government was just a tad overzealous in its treatment and prosecution of hackers （Mitnick？ Years in solitary？ Really？）。 If these people could have only looked ahead a decade or two to see what the God， this takes me back。 I remember Captain Crunch， phreaking， warez， War Games， my C64， BBS's， Usenet， CdC， 2600， etc。， like it was yesterday。 I really miss those days。 While technically it can be argued that， yes， there has always been hacking and while hackers were considered "bad，" seems to me the government was just a tad overzealous in its treatment and prosecution of hackers （Mitnick？ Years in solitary？ Really？）。 If these people could have only looked ahead a decade or two to see what the term and concept of "hacker" and "hacking" would come to be， it basically makes the old school hackers persecuted so damn brutally by the feds look like choirboys， which wasn't far off when you consider 99% of the kids doing it back then weren't in it to make a profit or attack damn countries！ They just wanted access to information they weren't supposed to have， but for learning and bragging purposes， not to abuse innocent people and make a killing of them by being the criminals of today as opposed to the so-called "criminals" of those days。 I bet the feds also look back on those years and wish today's "hackers" could magically revert back to the old school phreakers and hackers and I bet they'd be damn glad to have them instead of what we all have now， and maybe they wouldn't have been such assholes in prosecuting a bunch of curious kids。。。 。。。more
Giles Burrows
，
This is the story of the phone phreaks scene in the 60s and 70s where smart kids worked out ways to exploit the AT&T telephone system to make free long distance calls and other tricks。 I'd never even heard of this before I'd read Ready Player One and learnt about the Captain Crunch whistle。 Very interesting。 This is the story of the phone phreaks scene in the 60s and 70s where smart kids worked out ways to exploit the AT&T telephone system to make free long distance calls and other tricks。 I'd never even heard of this before I'd read Ready Player One and learnt about the Captain Crunch whistle。 Very interesting。 。。。more
Zachary Kreft
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Tells the history of the telephone system from the perspective of the people who hacked it—phone phreaks， in the modern parlance。 This is a great book for learning about network and information security。 The legal monopoly of the phone company required them to make far more of the technical details of their operations public than any private company would otherwiae reveal。 And the way it was set up was perhaps the worst way to design something， from a technical perspective。 A fun story， with muc Tells the history of the telephone system from the perspective of the people who hacked it—phone phreaks， in the modern parlance。 This is a great book for learning about network and information security。 The legal monopoly of the phone company required them to make far more of the technical details of their operations public than any private company would otherwiae reveal。 And the way it was set up was perhaps the worst way to design something， from a technical perspective。 A fun story， with much food for thought。 。。。more
Stan Modjesky
，
Intriguing account of a history of technologyPossibly the most entertaining tech history read since Tracy Kidder's Soul of a new machine。 I worked in the electronics industry during the time when much of this stuff happened， and had some personal experience fiddling with parts of the telephone system。 What I didn't expect to find was the extent to which the pioneers of the microcomputer industry -Gates， Jobs， Wozniak among them -started out in the world of phone phreaking。 Intriguing account of a history of technologyPossibly the most entertaining tech history read since Tracy Kidder's Soul of a new machine。 I worked in the electronics industry during the time when much of this stuff happened， and had some personal experience fiddling with parts of the telephone system。 What I didn't expect to find was the extent to which the pioneers of the microcomputer industry -Gates， Jobs， Wozniak among them -started out in the world of phone phreaking。 。。。more
Mike Voss
，
Allow me to introduce Phil Lapsey's non-fictional 2013 narrative Exploding the Phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws Who Hacked Ma Bell with some personal observations relevant to his research:Back in the 1970s， in the San Fernando Valley just north of Los Angeles， you could call a free-of-charge telephone number that read you the current time。 What the majority of the users of this service would never realize was that in some circumstances， due to a fluke of the telephone system， Allow me to introduce Phil Lapsey's non-fictional 2013 narrative Exploding the Phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws Who Hacked Ma Bell with some personal observations relevant to his research:Back in the 1970s， in the San Fernando Valley just north of Los Angeles， you could call a free-of-charge telephone number that read you the current time。 What the majority of the users of this service would never realize was that in some circumstances， due to a fluke of the telephone system， you could often hear faint voices in the background， not a part of the computerized recording reciting the time as it progressed。 If you listened closely， some of the voices were intelligible， clearly raising their voices to get through to others on the line。 They'd call out a telephone number， then follow up with variations on "Call the trunk line！" or "Call the busy signal！"or "Call the loop line！" That's how I was introduced to one tiny pocket of the much larger phenomenon that came to be called Phone Phreaking， and spent untold hours "hacking" the same still antiquated telephone system as more sophisticated - and often genius - kids with innate engineering talent and an inexhaustible curiosity about things mechanical or electric in their everyday worlds。 Like these other kids - I was in my late teens or early twenties when I started - I explored the bizarre nature of Ma Bell's ancient switching system solely by searching out these weird test lines， loop lines， and on-again off-again busy signals because， like them， I was intensely curious yet even more intensely drawn into myself， a lifelong loner others kids always saw as different， as socially awkward as anyone you'd ever meet。 Wandering the maze of numbers that allowed people like myself to connect anonymously with others like me was， it felt， perfectly natural， and great fun besides！ I discovered by "random" dialing similar numbers that I could find dozens of others that acted like the time line did， and relatively fewer numbers that would allow a one on one private conversation， and fewer yet that were true party lines where dozens of kids could be heard clearly having conversations in and around other voices， calling out the numbers to other busy signals， loops， or party lines， or just providing their own surreal monologue to the mix。 My favorite to this day was a guy who repeated， in measured tones that allowed him to stand out above the crowd， the phrases "I LOVE bodacious ta-tas！ Do YOU love bodacious ta-tas？" Characters like this added a certain spice - or if it obscured someone yelling out a number you wanted， a certain bit of annoyance - to the mix。In Exploding the Phone Lapsey doesn't mention the time line - and this surprises me given its role in bringing young people together on various types of private and party lines here in California。 How he never encountered anyone using loop and party lines in Southern California that might bring it up is beyond me。 But he does explicate the nature of some of these lines。 The "trunk line" time callers might refer to was more than likely one of the myriad test lines found throughout the telephone system for engineers and techs to use in performing various maintenance tasks。 The "busy signal" could be an identically functioning party line， where any number of people might join in - free of any charges - but constrained by having to talk over a constant busy signal。 Naturally， a line without a busy signal was much preferred - and much more rare。 The other item a busy signal might refer to was one half of a loop line， a pair of lines connected together for technical purposes but available to anyone dialing the two numbers。 One number， say 555-1118， would have a busy signal。 Calling that， you'd wait on the line for someone to call the other number， 555-1119。 Since you were already on 1118， he or she would not hear a busy signal， and because they had made the connection as half of a private call， your busy signal would drop out and you would both be able to speak with one another just like any other phone line。 Where's the fun in that， you ask？ The answer is simple: Anonymity。 Today on the internet you can join a chat and be anyone you like。 Back then on a private line you could do the same。 The other party had no idea who you were or what your appearance was， other than what you told them。 You could say and do anything you liked， if your private phone buddy was willing， in complete privacy （assuming nobody else was at home with either party）。 You can guess how addictive that might be for the lonely kind of personalities that would seek out these phone anomalies in the first place。 You could be a nerd and yet still have some kind of social interaction - possibly more so than those you were capable of having in public。 And sometimes the person on the other end had more numbers to call。 Hacking the phone system could take up hours of your time， make you late for work， and cut you off from friends or family trying to reach you and only getting a busy signal - the regular kind， not the chatty sort。Lapsey's work is based on hundreds of hours of conversations with the personalities who first discovered and learned to seriously exploit the sprawling United States phone system and the ways it's electro-mechanical switches were arranged to route calls throughout the country and the world。 Far from content to "just" exercise their nascent social muscles via anomalous private or party lines， these men， a handful of who were not just socially inept and isolated， but blind as well， literally could not help themselves from exploring this new world once they had discovered it。 The kind of four year old that tries to stick bobby pins in electrical sockets often turned into the kind of teenager that sticks figurative pins into the weird apparatus of what we all called The Phone Company to see what would happen。 （Lapsey even mentions the satiric James Coburn-starring cult film The President's Analysis， whose ultimate villain is - you guessed it - The Phone Company， run by audio-animatronic figures right out of a Disney exhibit， exhorting you to submit to their will as calmly as Disney's Lincoln reciting the Gettysburg Address）。 Lapsey also spoke with most of the law enforcement and telephone security officers tasked with finding and often prosecuting the phone hackers。 And， of course， some of the lawyers who did the prosecuting。 It's uncertain who first discovered the efficacy of billing by the minute - AT&T or lawyers。 With an ancient infrastructure providing openings everywhere for mischief and crime alike， AT&T was ceratinly destined to employ a lot of lawyers。The self-styled phone phreaks pushed the bounds of propriety and legality - frequently crossing either or both in their quest to learn the system。 What worked best for them - and against Ma Bell - was the open nature of the system， and the company's own early naivete about what they had created。 Caring only that the system worked well enough to build a telecommunications empire that served its customers very efficiently for the most part， Bell Labs and their manufacturing arm Western Electric were as open as the system itself， publishing technical articles in journals of the day that enterprising and curious people like the two Steves - Wozniak and Jobs， eventual creators of the Apple computer - might simply look up in the library。 Coupled with the accidental discovery， made independently by several different phreaks over time， that one could duplicate the tones that governed call routing and billing inside the phone system， the technical details such publications offered allowed these phone hackers to learn the system inside and out。 Once in， they bravely explored the system， often imitating technical personnel in order to convince Bell operators and tech support to do their bidding and reveal new secrets they could never have found by random exploration。 At one end of the spectrum were kids like me， just playing with numbers and lines。 Somewhere closer to the other end were these often brilliant engineers at heart going so far as to build equipment that duplicated the phone company's magic signals and moving freely - at no charge - throughout the country's phone lines。 And at the farthest end was a mini-spectrum of people， from the initially innocent and almost certainly mentally disturbed John Draper， known as Captain Crunch because his phone hacking began with the toy whistle from a box of that cereal - to organized criminals using the so-called "blue boxes" people like Woz and Jobs were manufacturing - and selling！ - to assist in making book。 Lapsey details it all， with valuable background and insight into the phone company's creation and development throughout， right up to the days Ma Bell finally put her foot down and found ways to modernize the Phreaks out of their favorite pastimes。 The heyday of phreaking was in the 60s and 70s， following a period of early discovery in the 50s， and something else was going on in parallel with the exploration of the phone company。 Similar brilliant young men at this time were exploring the very new world of computers， a story so similar to Lapsey's narrative that Steven Levy's excellent 1984 volume Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution includes a significant foray into phone hacking as well， making it the perfect companion volume to Exploding the Phone。 And for international espionage inside the early internet， another fascinating tale is Cliff Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage， written in 1989。 All three books are， afaik， currently still in print or otherwise easy to find， and essential reading if any of this stuff rings a bell with readers of this review。 All highly recommended。 [Edit: I also just found out Lapsley's book has it's own web page， including outtakes from the book！ Rubs hands together excitedly。 More exploring to do！] 。。。more
Karie
，
“Exploding the Phone” provides a look back into the past – into another generation of hackers…one that seems more innocent than the hackers of today。 This is a story of teenagers （many of them blind， which was an interesting fact） and of people who were born tinkers， interested in knowing everything they could about the biggest technological behemoth of their day: the telephone system。As portrayed in Esquire magazine in the early 1970’s – these “phone phreaks”， as they were christened， lived in “Exploding the Phone” provides a look back into the past – into another generation of hackers…one that seems more innocent than the hackers of today。 This is a story of teenagers （many of them blind， which was an interesting fact） and of people who were born tinkers， interested in knowing everything they could about the biggest technological behemoth of their day: the telephone system。As portrayed in Esquire magazine in the early 1970’s – these “phone phreaks”， as they were christened， lived in a kind of “an electronic mecca: a legendary conference call setup called “2111” that only phone phreaks could reach， one where dozens of teenagers would talk for hours， exchanging information on the telephone system and swapping tales of their adventures。 Their hobby may have been illegal but Rosenbaum portrayed most of the phreaks as possessing the innocence of monks， electronic seminary students studying the Bell System’s long-distance network as if it were scripture。”College students， high school students…and a young Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak explored the nation’s telephone system - curious to see what was possible。 Their exploration was not legal （most of the time） but it wasn’t one bent on destruction， which was refreshing。As Jobs put it， “It was the magic of the fact that two teenagers could build this box for $100 worth of parts and control hundreds of billions of dollars of infrastructure in the entire telephone network of the whole world from Las Altos and Cupertino， California。 That was magical！” He concluded， “If we hadn’t made blue boxes， there would have been no Apple。”To be honest， the connection with Apple was the most interesting element of the book for me。 At times it got too technical…which is probably what many people with an interest in the subject want…but I got a bit lost。 As a lay reader – I was fascinated by the mentions of the two Steves…and also the names of famous （and wealthy） people who were using their phone technology。And especially， at the end， to think about this “what if？” “Say Wozniak and Jobs hadn’t been so lucky when they wound up in the back of the police car that evening back in 1972， when they convinced the cops that their blue box was actually a music synthesizer。 Say they had been arrested， possibly gone to jail。 We might never have had Apple computer or any of the other things that Apple went on to make。 Would we be the better for it？” 。。。more
K。
，
One of those books that's just plain fun。 Full of colorful characters and exploits， it's an enjoyable read and will educate you on a barely-remembered aspect of our history。 One of those books that's just plain fun。 Full of colorful characters and exploits， it's an enjoyable read and will educate you on a barely-remembered aspect of our history。 。。。more
Sineala
，
If you've ever been curious about the history of phone phreaking -- or， hey， maybe you just passionately care about how the telephone system used to work -- this is the book for you。 I knew it was a bunch of nerdy engineers building blue boxes because back in the day there were technical publications that basically explained everything you needed to know about the phone system in order to exploit it; I didn't know that the mob and the FBI had gotten involved and that a lot of it was very counter If you've ever been curious about the history of phone phreaking -- or， hey， maybe you just passionately care about how the telephone system used to work -- this is the book for you。 I knew it was a bunch of nerdy engineers building blue boxes because back in the day there were technical publications that basically explained everything you needed to know about the phone system in order to exploit it; I didn't know that the mob and the FBI had gotten involved and that a lot of it was very counterculture。 I also didn't know that so many of the key participants here were blind， which I thought was interesting。 。。。more
Daniel
，
A very thorough and detailed history of Phone （ph）reaking。 The author did a great job of keeping the technical aspects that needed to be in there while at the same time not over doing it so as to make it unintelligible to those who aren't quite as versed in the subject。 The part I liked the most was he neither glamorized or "othered" the participants and told a straight story， that with the fun parallels between current MitM attacks and nascent DDoS through stacking brought a smile to my face as A very thorough and detailed history of Phone （ph）reaking。 The author did a great job of keeping the technical aspects that needed to be in there while at the same time not over doing it so as to make it unintelligible to those who aren't quite as versed in the subject。 The part I liked the most was he neither glamorized or "othered" the participants and told a straight story， that with the fun parallels between current MitM attacks and nascent DDoS through stacking brought a smile to my face as the more things change。。。。Enjoyed it and if you are a person of the technical bent or are just curious about the beginning of "l33t' culture its worth a read。 。。。more
Ben
，
Great read！ I was not familiar with phreaking before reading this book but have to admit to it being a riveting read。 Well researched and Phil’s style is very engaging。 Couldn’t put it down！
Brian McWatters
，
The fascinating story of the first modern hackers， who starting in the 1950s figured out how to control AT&T's telephone switching network for fun and in some cases for profit。 They made "blue boxes" that could be used to make free long distance calls。 They figured out how to set up their own chat rooms。 One routed unsuspecting callers to his own phone and proceeded to tell each one "There has been a nuclear explosion in Santa Barbara。"The book describes how these hackers came to have their own The fascinating story of the first modern hackers， who starting in the 1950s figured out how to control AT&T's telephone switching network for fun and in some cases for profit。 They made "blue boxes" that could be used to make free long distance calls。 They figured out how to set up their own chat rooms。 One routed unsuspecting callers to his own phone and proceeded to tell each one "There has been a nuclear explosion in Santa Barbara。"The book describes how these hackers came to have their own subculture。 They described themselves as phone phreaks。 Some published a newsletter。 One published cryptic classified ads。 Several of them were blind。 A few got in trouble with the FBI。 And several went on to use their technical skills in the business world， including Steve Jobs。The book also includes a wealth of detail about the history of the telephone network and how it worked。 This is a well researched book and a fun read。 。。。more
Arnaud Schenk
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Great introduction to phone phreaking， and the build up of the telephone system。
Josh Friedlander
，
It was interesting to contrast the AT&T of The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation with this one。 The first showed a brilliant lab with a model of scientific development funded by a government-controlled monopoly， a quite sensible idea inexplicably subject to multiple attacks by the Department of Justice， one of which eventually succeeded。 This shows another side: The Phone Company， more like the Evil Empire in Star Wars; a despised corporate monolith which price-gou It was interesting to contrast the AT&T of The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation with this one。 The first showed a brilliant lab with a model of scientific development funded by a government-controlled monopoly， a quite sensible idea inexplicably subject to multiple attacks by the Department of Justice， one of which eventually succeeded。 This shows another side: The Phone Company， more like the Evil Empire in Star Wars; a despised corporate monolith which price-gouged， illegally spied on users， and had its own police force; with Bell Labs as a barely mentioned appendage。 The company spent a decade hounding a business that made the Hushaphone， a rubber cap for the telephone receiver intended to reduce ambient noise， and issued a painstaking manual directing staff on how best to sweep the floors。Anyway。 If one considers the cultural shift described in the book What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry from computers as soulless corporate/military-industrial machines to the techno-optimism of Stewart Brand and the Whole Earth Catalog， the seeds are here: the first part in the soulless bureaucracy that invented the semiconducting transistor， the latter in the underground misfit hacker culture。 It helps that Lapsley comes from the same background as his subjects - he is an electrical engineer who authored one of the modestly-titled RFCs （Requests For Comment） which define the protocols of the Internet。 He describes the origin of phone "phreaking" （the spelling actually comes from an Esquire journalist） among college undergrads， loners， and the blind。 The phone network used the voice lines to send analog tones indicating how to route calls， so if one read up the company's （openly published） system specs and was able to generate a tone at 2，600Hz （with， say， a free Cap'n Crunch cereal whistle）， one could access free calls to anywhere， at least until the switch to modems and digital （eventually wireless） switching systems。 Lapsley summarises the history of telephony and the Bell monopoly without overdoing the technicalities。Still， the book sags a little at the end， as all the threads are wrapped up。 In a lesson in the nature of public scandal， Bell suffered almost no consequences for Greenstar， its creepy system of secretly and illegally recording millions of calls （it "just sounds illegal"， said one CEO of the company）。 But a spate of personnel scandals and antitrust suits brought about the company's demise。 The story ends with the dawn of Bulletin Board Systems， the internet-based community boards which provided the same type of hacker camaraderie。 Most of the phreaks went on to become computer programmers， including Steves Jobs and Wozniak。 A good modern parallel might be file sharing on BitTorrent or the binary message boards of otherwise moribund Usenet。 Originally， like phone phreaking， hackers did it for fun， but then everyone got wind of it and started using it to steal， and the lawyers came in （in this case with the DMCA）。 And this also led to the modern field of cybersecurity: if it's hackable， suggests Lapsley - and it is- better to let the curious play with it and find the holes。 We ignore them at our peril。 。。。more
Charles Hildreth
，
I checked this out of the library， but I’d like to have my own copy because of all the descriptions of phone tricks。 Then all I’d need is a time machine to make them work。 The technical descriptions aren’t terribly in depth but I learned more from this book than I did as a teenager reading phone phreaking textfiles。
Craig D。 Mitchell
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If you aren’t privy to blue boxes and the phone phreak scene of the 1970’s， this book will be fascinating。 Some friends called Captain Crunch / John Draper in the early 1980’s— ten or fifteen kids sitting on an appropriated bridge。（Disclaimer: I was sitting in the bedroom of a friend with the call on a speaker。 In other words， I was not directly involved。 ）If memory serves correct The Captain had just done his second stint in jail。 He seemed kind of confused at first， how he was suddenly talking If you aren’t privy to blue boxes and the phone phreak scene of the 1970’s， this book will be fascinating。 Some friends called Captain Crunch / John Draper in the early 1980’s— ten or fifteen kids sitting on an appropriated bridge。（Disclaimer: I was sitting in the bedroom of a friend with the call on a speaker。 In other words， I was not directly involved。 ）If memory serves correct The Captain had just done his second stint in jail。 He seemed kind of confused at first， how he was suddenly talking to a small battalion of teens from around the country， and that they had ALL called HIM。 But once someone explained “It’s sort of like a loopback except you can add people。 It’s a bridge， ya know？” Then he realized what was up。 He could have just hung up。 But instead， he must have spent five or ten minutes lecturing the kids on how much trouble they could be in， that his line was probably tapped。 Understandably， he was very paranoid。So the “master” of the call had to explain to him in general terms that he had covered his tracks ten ways to Sunday， and that as long as they kept the call to a half an hour or so， that there really wasn’t a problem— even if his phone was tapped。 Everyone knew all of the stories， about Whistler etc。 because by then they’d become the stuff of legend。 （The Captain himself was a legend！） At any rate， everyone had a chance to interview him about all of the stories that had gone around。 （Many of them are in this book！） He relaxed。 He confirmed them， and seemed to really enjoy talking with everyone。 “How old are you guys， anyway？” he asked at one point。 Only one person answered。 “Fourteen。”He really wanted to know what phreaks had been up to since he’d been away but no one dared give him any specifics in case his phone was indeed tapped （or he’d become an informant。） He wished everyone well and everyone bailed from the bridge。 I kind of wish the author would have gone just a little farther into the 1980’s because it was a whole new playground by then。 You had your local Bell Co。 But then you had the multitude of long distance providers— Western Union， MCI etc。 —and their networks had their own quirks and holes。 Add the personal computer and modems into the equation— such as the Apple IIe and Commodore 64— and there wasn’t the need to build blue boxes， or visit Radio Shack anymore。That’s my only criticism， really。 A few less very similar stories about 2600Hz’ers and more about what came afterward。 I don’t know。 Maybe Levy covered that period。 I haven’t read his book in many years。 。。。more
Anne
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Utterly fascinating account of the crossroads between curiosity， misfits， and engineering！
Claire
，
I tried plunking out on the piano the 1950's Bell long distance dial tones for a while。 I thought that was so cool！I didn't catch the FBI part that the inside cover alludes to， but THAT IS TOTALLY OKAY， because I was having enough of a blast with "dialing up" all my friends abroad on the piano。The "harmonic telegraph" is fun and useful！Maybe the use was only in occupying myself for the expanse of time it took me to finish this book。But did you know how the telephone networked people together， in I tried plunking out on the piano the 1950's Bell long distance dial tones for a while。 I thought that was so cool！I didn't catch the FBI part that the inside cover alludes to， but THAT IS TOTALLY OKAY， because I was having enough of a blast with "dialing up" all my friends abroad on the piano。The "harmonic telegraph" is fun and useful！Maybe the use was only in occupying myself for the expanse of time it took me to finish this book。But did you know how the telephone networked people together， including dial-up Internet？ Neither did I！ But sponsored by Bell Labs and AT&T you get to learn all about it and more， thanks to this handy book。 。。。more
Ben Rockey
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Pretty interesting， got a little bogged down in the last third but it wrapped up nicely。
Pete Sterpe
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An interesting read about a fascinating subject: phone phreakers。 Lots of technical detail about the processes these people used and plenty of fun stories about those involved。 Unfortunately the book gets somewhat dry and repetitive as you get through it。 It could really have been quite a bit shorter and packed more of a punch。 Overall worth the read but it might be tough to get all the way through。
L
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Quick， interesting read。 Packed with information， but reads like fiction。 Put me in the mood to watch WarGames， Sneakers， Real Genius。。。。
Dsant391
，
Pretty good book， I like how it explains the history and stories of the people and the telephone system
John
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A good read and throughly researched， but it comes across as a little repetitive after a while。 "There was this clever guy who used to get free phone calls with a blue box， but then the phone company and the FBI caught up with him。" I'm kind of disappointed the author didn't reference the WKRP in Cincinnati episode where Johnny Fever exclaimed， "Those phone cops play hardball！" A good read and throughly researched， but it comes across as a little repetitive after a while。 "There was this clever guy who used to get free phone calls with a blue box， but then the phone company and the FBI caught up with him。" I'm kind of disappointed the author didn't reference the WKRP in Cincinnati episode where Johnny Fever exclaimed， "Those phone cops play hardball！" 。。。more
Anna Cook
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This book was hard to put down and super fascinating。
Katarina Stenstedt
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This story is fascinating， and well told。 Not my usual reading， but I enjoyed it very much！
David Dinaburg
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A coworker asked， “Who’s ‘Ma Bell？’” the day before I returned Exploding the Phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws Who Hacked Ma Bell to the library。 I told her—somehow eschewing the pat and self-deprecating “。。。and then I turned into old dust” we of middle age must utter to ward off admission of actual decrepitude—about how the phone company used to be a governmentally approved near-monopoly。 And unless you conflate surviving the relentless march of time with purposeful knowledge A coworker asked， “Who’s ‘Ma Bell？’” the day before I returned Exploding the Phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws Who Hacked Ma Bell to the library。 I told her—somehow eschewing the pat and self-deprecating “。。。and then I turned into old dust” we of middle age must utter to ward off admission of actual decrepitude—about how the phone company used to be a governmentally approved near-monopoly。 And unless you conflate surviving the relentless march of time with purposeful knowledge acquisition， there is no reason to shame a person whose youth precludes anything but a cellphone as their sole touchstone in the world of the telephonic communcation。 This hypothetical youngster is， however， not likely to search their local library—as I did—for books about blue boxing。 Exploding does seem to be the only non-fiction book on the subject， which is fine because it is an excellent one。 It will answer all your blue box questions， though it didn’t answer the root: Are blue boxes common knowledge or esoterica？ I am an aberration; I worked in the telecom department of Columbia Business School for a bit right around when I started using goodreads， so the fundamentals of contemporary telecommunications are seared into my brain。 If you haven’t heard about Captain Crunch or Oaf Tobar or Berkeley Blue， though， how could you know there is a story to even find？ What level of interest in technology do you need for this to be appealing？ Ditto， culture。 And history。 Mayhaps a mélange of all three is the requisite？ I simply don’t know。I wasn’t alive during the heyday of phone phreaking， but I grew up with the old black rotary dialer—the world of landlines and busy signals isn’t foreign to me like it is for the aforementioned coworker born in the mid-to-late 90s。 I can picture a world without connectivity—as foreign as that feels now—and how much work teenagers were willing to do to chase away their loneliness: Certain telephone exchanges in some areas of the country， notably Los Angeles and San Jose in California， had busy signals that were shared among all callers。 An example was San Jose’s 291 exchange in the 408 area code。 If you and I both happened to call busy numbers in 408-291 we would be connected， faintly， over the busy signal—along with anyone else who happened to have called a busy number at that moment。 If we shouted we could hear each other。 Of course， we’d be constantly annoyed by the baaa。。。baaa。。。baaa of the busy signal。 And that busy signal was loud; our voices would be in the background to the busy signal in the foreground。 “It was an insane way to try to communicate，” recalls Jim Fettgather… There are so many things to learn in this book， from the fundamentals of multifrequency harmonics to the advent of transistors and how they altered so many industries。 You see modernity collapse the barrier of distance through communication technologies， and then watch as clever folks smash that magical infrastructure into even more amazing bits。Which brings us to the most important part: Exploding is fun。 These are smart people outwitting a monolithic system。 It’s cool and the writing makes sure you know exactly how cool by never losing irreverence even when things get heavy: And FBI memo [indicated]: “As a source of income， the underground is manufacturing and selling ‘red boxes’ in large quantities。 These boxes duplicate the tones generated by coins deposited in pay telephones。 Through the use of ‘red boxes’ an individual is able to make long distance call[s] without depositing money。 These boxes cost the underground $6 or $7 to manufacture and are currently retailing on the street at $100。 All money obtained from the sale of red boxes is going towards purchase of technical equipment for further research。”Swell。 Just swell。 A shadowy underground organization made up of technical wizards—wizards who might have spies within the phone company—can monitor your calls from anywhere and who might， if they chose， sell the results to of their wiretapping to the highest bidder。 Anyone with even the slightest interest in communications technology—or modern infrastructure; or the analogue-to-digital transition; or counter-culture; or regulatory history—should jump all over this book。 And if you’ve never heard of “Ma Bell，” well， this is a wicked place to start learning。 。。。more
Brook
，
Pretty close to 5 stars， but that's because I had very limited first-hand knowledge of this beforehand （and may or may not know of some later techniques in the 90s that the author does not go into）。 A casual reader will probably rate it lower。 Below I will give an example of methods I was familiar with to give you an idea of what this book is packed with。 The book deals with phone freaking/phreaking mostly 50s-70s， but touches on later technology。EDIT: Interesting factoid from the book。 About ha Pretty close to 5 stars， but that's because I had very limited first-hand knowledge of this beforehand （and may or may not know of some later techniques in the 90s that the author does not go into）。 A casual reader will probably rate it lower。 Below I will give an example of methods I was familiar with to give you an idea of what this book is packed with。 The book deals with phone freaking/phreaking mostly 50s-70s， but touches on later technology。EDIT: Interesting factoid from the book。 About half of the original freak/phreakers were blind。 Something you sort of expect （I knew of only one）， but when you see just HOW MUCH the telephone opened up the "world" to the blind， you see how natural it is that young men and women who are blind would gravitate towards the phone for all sorts of learning， in an age before the internet。The book deals largely with 2600hz spoofing， which allowed some enterprising young men and women to make calls all over the world， and to use other locations as what we'd now call "conference call centers。" It also deals with blue box and black box phreaking， the former allowing you to make calls， the latter to receive long distance。I remember coming across， in the early 90s， what was basically an electronic rolodex for speed dialing。 It was free， in a box of tossed out office supplies from a closing company。 About the size of a wallet， you would manually enter #s in what looked like a simplified calculator with an LCD display （think calculators produced for home use in the 80s and 90s）。 It flipped out like today's flip phones。 The other half had a small speaker。 You would store your numbers and then， when you were at a phone （pay， home， whatever） and wanted to dial a stored #， you would just find "Bob Jones" in your electronic rolodex and hold its speaker up to the mouthpiece of the phone。 The rolodex would send the equivalent rotary or touch tone tones， and the call would connect。 This does not allow you to do anything you couldn't do with your fingers。 It was just better and quicker than physical rolodexes or slips of paper。With multi-channel administration of the phone lines that started in the 90s， tones sent down the "voice" channel would no longer allow you to "phreak，" as routing of the calls to places other than local still required long-distance service， and routing of calls to destinations like switches required traffic on the administrative channel。 So much of what this book about was rendered moot by the late 90s。 Much。If you had time， you could still find old circuits where a 2600hz whistle would get you somewhere， or where other methods （that you might have been able to implement with this digital rolodex/whistler） would still allow you to a） make long-distance calls， or b） talk to people who were administrators， not subscribers or operators。 This worked， at least where I lived， well into the 90s。 So if you could hack these mini-rolodexes （and the technology was actually there， as many were made by the phone company and just used the same freaking circuits， but without the buttons， design laziness）， you could do all sorts of fun stuff。This book is basically a few hundred pages of that。 Detailing the players on both ends， from the white and black hat hackers to the FCC/AT&T/FBI investigators on the other。 It's not Tom Clancy， but to certain readers it will be just about as exciting。 。。。more
Jeffrey Calkins
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covers the original hackers 。。。 a nice read
Reference
google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Exploding the Phone
hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Exploding the Phone&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft
The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Exploding the Phone&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0