SS5 was derived from AT&T's US MF signaling system, described in "Signaling Systems for Control of Telephone Switching" by Breen and Dahlbom, Bell System Technical Journal, November 1960. PDF here: https://explodingthephone.com/hoppdocs/breen1960.pdf
The BSTJ article has a discussion on international signaling on pp. 1430-1441.
for an early technical article describing the implementation details of the familiar DTMF "touch tone" dialing system, noting that the precise details differ from the final implementation — in particular, the high group frequencies increased from 1,094/1,209/1,336/1,477 Hz to 1,209/1,336/1,477/1,633 Hz, possibly to mitigate the "pulling" effect described on pp. 251–252 (though I can find no reference for the rationale).
Yes! This is what I concluded when, a few years back, I did a similar analysis to what matthiasl posted. <shameless plug> If you're interested in this kind of thing, please check out my book, Exploding the Phone. https://explodingthephone.com </shameless plug>
Someone mentioned phrack above. There was (still is!) also 2600, and before that, YIPL/TAP, the original phone phreak newsletter: https://archive.org/details/YIPLTAP_1-91
If you want something really ancient, check out YIPL/TAP, which was the first phone phreak newsletter (started publishing in May 1971) that was the granddaddy of 2600. You can get it on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/YIPLTAP_1-91
Not surprised at all to see the author on here. Your book is marvelous. I demolished your book on a flight a few years back, thoroughly enjoyed it, and was sad that it was all over so quickly (both the book, and the phreaking era). It has a permanent home on my shelf next to "The Cuckoo's Egg" as one of my favourite old tech storybooks and I recommend it to anyone vaguely interested in the subject.
Nice! I just ordered a copy and can't wait to read it! Getting Steve Wozniak to write the forward is quite literally a "ringing" endorsement. ;-)
Woz spoke at UC Berkeley (might have been 1998 commencement), and I asked him to sign an issue of 2600 magazine. After he signed it he flipped through it and asked if 2600 was still good and worth reading because he was thinking of getting a subscription for his son.
Hey, I notice you sell via a variety of sources. Which one ensures you the most ROI? I've always been curious, and like supporting others, but I worry that there's so many hands between you and your customer that by the time it the money reaches you, there is not much left.
That's a very kind question, thanks! In terms of what I get in the end, it doesn't really matter where you buy it (e.g., Amazon, local bookstore, whatever), although I'd love it if you supported your local bookstore -- they need help! Format matters a bit more in terms of royalty percentage (I get a higher percentage on ebooks)but ebooks also are priced lower, so the net to me between paperback and ebook is not much different.
I was going to suggest this book as well, but no need if you're here doing it. Just a quick thanks for the book! I've read it multiple times whenever I feel nostalgic, and recommend when the subject comes up. I've even gifted a few copies.
Author of Exploding The Phone here, thanks for the mention and glad you enjoyed it! One thing I did that I'm pretty proud of is that I put almost all the research documents that I dug up (FOIA, newspaper articles, etc.) up on my website, where you can dig through them. E.g.: http://explodingthephone.com/search.php?q=blue+box&sort=rele... (please pardon the lack of https!) And to the other commenter about Evan Doorbell's excellent tapes about phone phreaking: I was lucky enough to get Evan to narrate the Audible version of my book!
Shameless plug for my book on the history of phone phreaking: "Exploding The Phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws Who Hacked Ma Bell". Plus tons of original research documents here: http://explodingthephone.com/
Yeah! This stuff is a total gas. Here's this professional-broadcaster-quality voice, narrating a personal story about 50 year-old recordings of noises made by equipment that doesn't exist any more. (With threats by 'Ernestine') So: pure entertainment.
After the series of many narrated tapes, there's another series of raw tapes (unnarrated ... test what you've learned).
SS5 was derived from AT&T's US MF signaling system, described in "Signaling Systems for Control of Telephone Switching" by Breen and Dahlbom, Bell System Technical Journal, November 1960. PDF here: https://explodingthephone.com/hoppdocs/breen1960.pdf
The BSTJ article has a discussion on international signaling on pp. 1430-1441.