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The Payphone Project (github.com/jcs)
102 points by ed on April 12, 2013 | hide | past | favorite | 13 comments



This is awesome! I'm actually a little jealous.

If you can get your hands on (or build yourself) a red box [1], you could even hack your own hack.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_box_(phreaking)


wow, that brings back memories of 1994


I've been wanting to do this since I Asterisk-ized a 1975 Western Electric 500 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_500_telephone) I found at a garage sale.

I vividly remember the last time I used a payphone like this calling my then girlfriend (became fiance, became wife) outside a 7-11 in rural virginia before the turn of the century. Nostalgia by the bucketful.


For those interested, Citizen Engineer (http://www.citizenengineer.com/) did the same thing a few years ago. The video was produced by Phillip Torrone and Ladyada, and includes additional notes.


This is a true Hacker project.


I recall needing to insert the proper toll into the payphone before dialing a number. He's added some instructions to work around that old limitation, so you can dial the number first, then insert the coins.


USPS Mailbox locator courtesy of "Payphone Project"

http://www.payphone-project.com/mailboxes/


As much as I hate recommending the USPS for anything, they actually provide an official search tool for this on their site: https://www.usps.com/locator/ (collection boxes > Blue Boxes)


The only thing I like about USPS is my mailguy, who is always smiling when he rings our doorbell on occasions when we have a shipment from Amazon and it's too big to fit in the mailbox.

He never fails to brighten the day of whomever greets him at the door at our house :)


You don't like cross country mail for half a dollar?


Interesting. Thanks.

I suspect the Payphone Project's mailbox locator was one of the first crowdsourcing web applications and predated the USPS effort.


Well-seasoned fifty pound familiar vintage steel vault pay phone, with a cell inside, VOIP-ing on your own or any open wifi. Running Redphone, or Silent Circle app, label it SECURE and.... and paint it red.


Well done, I love this stuff.




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