Shopper's Guide to COCOTS

by Count Zero  (Restricted Data Transmission - "Truth is Cheap, but Information Costs!")

So you're walking down the street and you see a payphone.  Gotta make an important call, so you dig into your pocket to get a dime.  Picking up the handset, you suddenly notice that they payphone wants a quarter for a local call!  What the hell, and where did this synthesized voice come from?

Let's make this article short and to the point.  COCOT is an acronym for Customer-Owned Coin Operated Telephone.  In other words, a COCOT is a phone owned or rented by a paying customer (most likely, a hotel or donut shop).  A COCOT is not a normal payphone.  The telco doesn't own it, and the telephone line is usually a normal customer loop (unlike payphones, where the phone line is a "special" payphone loop, allowing the use of "coin tones" to indicate money dropped in!)  So!  A COCOT may look and smell like a telephone company payphone, but it is not.

Why do COCOT's exist?  Simple.  (((Money!)))  A customer-owned payphone is money in the bank!  You pay more for local calls and long distance is typically handled by sleazy carriers that offer bad/expensive service.  The owner/renter of the COCOT opens the coinbox and keeps the money him/herself!  Also, a particularly sleazy quality of COCOT is the fact that it does not receive incoming calls.  This, of course, is because of (((money))).  If people are calling in to a COCOT, the COCOT is not making money and businesses always want to make as much money as possible even if it hurts the consumer.  Think about it.  It really sucks to call someone at home from a COCOT and then not be able to have him/her call you back to save money.  "Guess I'll have to keep feeding the COCOT quarters!"

Where is a good place to look for COCOTs?  Outside Dunkin' Donuts shops, restaurants, clubs, bars, and outside/inside hotels and "convenient" locations.

How do I figure out if I have found a COCOT?  Simple.  A COCOT will have no telco logos on it.  It may look just like a telco phone chrome with blue stickers and all that.  Also, a COCOT typically charges more for a local call than a regular telco payphone.   (In Massachusetts, local calls are a dime.  In places like New York City, they are 25 cents.)  A COCOT will most often have a synthesized voice that asks you to "Please deposit 25 cents" or whatever.  Also, some fancy COCOTs will not look like payphones at all.  Some in hotels have weird LCD displays and look totally different, but they always charge you more than a normal payphone.

I found this weird payphone in Boston that wants a quarter, and this synthesized voice is harassing me.  When does the phun begin?  Soon.  First of all, you must understand that the COCOT is a mimic.  Essentially, it wants you to think that it is just a plain ol' payphone.  Pick up the handset.  Hear that dial tone?  Hah!  That dial tone is fake, synthesized by the innards of the COCOT.  You are at the mercy of the COCOT.

Remember, a COCOT runs off of a normal customer loop so, unlike a telco payphone where you must deposit money to generate coin tones that are read by the central office, the security of a COCOT depends solely on the COCOT phone itself.  It's as if you took your own phone and put a sign on it saying "Please put 10 cents in this jar for every call you make."  COCOTs are not naive.  They won't let you near the unrestricted dial tone until you fork over the cash-ola.  Or so they think!

See, the Achilles' heel of the COCOT is the fact that all payphones must let you make 1-800 calls for free!  It's not just a fact, it's the law.  Now pick up the handset again and place a 1-800 call.  Any 1-800 number will do.  When they answer at the other end, just sit there.  Do nothing.  Ignore them.  Wait for them to hang up the phone.  Here's an example:

Dial: 1-800-LOAN-YES

[RING, RING]...[CLICK]  "Hello, you wanna buy some money?  Hello?  HELLO?!"  [CLICK]

(You will now hear some static and probably a strange "waffling" noise, like chh, chh, chh, chh, chh...)

[CLICK]  DIAL TONE!

Now what have we got here?  A dial tone?  Yes, you guessed it, the dial tone you now hear is the unrestricted dial tone of the COCOT's customer loop.

So what?  So I got an "unrestricted dial tone."  Big deal?

Meathead!  With an unrestricted dial tone, all you need to do is place a call via DTMF tones (the tones a Touch-Tone keypad generates).  Now, try dialing a number with the COCOT's keypad.  Whoa!  Waitasec, no sound!  This is a typical lame attempt at protection by the COCOT.  Just whip out your RadioShack Pocket Tone Dialer and try calling a number, any number.  Place it just as if you were calling from a home phone.  Call a 1-900 sex line.  Call Guam.  You are free and the COCOT's customer loop is being billed!

Note:  Some COCOTs are more sophisticated at protecting themselves.  Some will reset when they hear the dial tone.  To get around this, make a loud hissing sound with your mouth into the mouthpiece after the 1-800 number hangs up.  Get your tone dialer ready near the mouthpiece.  When you hear the dial tone, quickly dial the first digit of the number you want to call.  If you hiss loudly enough, you may be able to mask the sound of the dial tone and prevent the COCOT from resetting.  Once you dial the first digit of the number you are calling, the dial tone will disappear (naturally).  You can stop hissing like an idiot now.  Finish dialing your free phone call.  Also, some COCOT's actually disable the handset after the call hangs up (in other words you can't send DTMF tones through the mouthpiece).  Oh well, better luck next time.

However, most of the COCOT's I have run across only disable the DTMF keypad.  So all you need is a pocket dialer to circumvent this!

Other things to know:  Sure you can't call a COCOT, but it does have a number.  To find out the COCOT's number, call one of the automated ANI services that tell you the number you're dialing from.  (The numbers keep changing but they are frequently printed in 2600).

Now try calling the COCOT from another phone.  You will hear one of two things:

1. Synthesized voice: "Thank you."  [DTMF tones...]  [Click]  [Hang up...]
2. Weird carrier.

A COCOT's number is only used by the company that built or sold the COCOT.  By calling up a COCOT, a technician can monitor its functioning, etc.

In case number 1, you must enter a 3- or 4-digit password and then you'll get into a voice menu driven program that'll let you do "maintenance" stuff with the COCOT.

In case number 2, you are hooked to the COCOT's 300 bps modem (Yes, a modem in a payphone).  Likewise, if you can figure out the communications settings, you'll be into the COCOT's maintenance routines.

Personally, I haven't had much luck (or patience) with calling up and hacking COCOT maintenance functions.  I just like making free phone calls from them!

COCOT Etiquette:  Now, remember, you are making free phone calls, but someone has to pay for them and that is the owner.  The COCOT's customer loop is billed the cost of the calls, and if the owner sees a big difference in the profits made on the COCOT (profit equals coins from the COCOT minus the bill from the telephone company for customer loop), they'll know something is up.

So the rule is don't abuse them!  Don't call a 1-900 number and stay on the line for 12 hours!  If a COCOT is abused severely, an owner will eventually lose money on the damn thing!  And that means bye bye COCOT.

Also, remember that a record of all long distance calls is made to the COCOT's customer loop and COCOT companies will sometimes investigate "billing discrepancies" so don't call anyone you personally know unless you are sure they are "cool."

[RING, RING]  "Hello?"

"Hello, this is Cointel, Inc.  We'd like to ask you a few questions about a call you received from Boston on 2/12/91.  Could you tell us the name and address of the person who placed the call?"

Cool Dude:  "What?  I don't remember.  Go to hell!"  [SLAM!]

Meathead:  "Uh, sure, his name is Evil Corley.  You want his address too?"

Get the picture?  Good...

COCOTs are a great resource if we use them wisely, like our environment.  We've gotta be careful not to plunder them.  Make a few long distance calls and then leave that particular COCOT alone for a while.  Chances are your bills will be "absorbed" by the profit margin of the owner and probably ignored but the smaller the owner's profit margin gets, the more likely suspicions will be aroused.  'Nuff said!  I have found COCOTs everywhere.  COCOT technology is relatively new, though.  I know many towns that have none.  Check out big cities.

As for a tone dialer, don't leave home without one!  A true phreak always has a DTMF tone dialer at hand along with a Red Box!  My personal favorite is the COMBO-BOX (Red Box plus DTMF tones).

Take a RadioShack 33-memory Pocket Dialer.  Open up the back.  Remove the little 3.579 MHz crystal (looks like a metal cylinder).  Unsolder it.  Solder on a couple of thin, insulated wires where the crystal was attached.  Thread the wires through one of the "vents" in the back of the tone dialer.

Get a hold of a 6.5536 MHz crystal (available through Fry's Electronics, 89 cents a piece, phone number 415-770-3763.  Go out and get some quick drying epoxy and a RadioShack Mini-Toggle Switch, DPDT, (Part No. 275-626).  Close the tone dialer, with the two wires sticking out of one of the back vents.  Screw it up tight.  Now, attach the crystals and wires to the switch with solder as in the diagram below:

|^^^^^| | XX <--- 3.579 MHz Crystal (small one) | | Toggle Switch -> ooooooooX xxxxs [2 wires] | | | XX <--- 6.5536 MHz Crystal (big one) | | ^^^^^^

Each "XX" prong in the diagram is actually two prongs.  Hook up the two leads from the crystals to separate prongs (same with the wires).

Now, epoxy this gizmo to the side of the tone dialer.  Use a lot of epoxy, as you must make the switch/crystals essentially embedded in epoxy resin, as in the diagram below:

Front View ---> ----------------------- | | T <--- Toggle Switch | oo oo oo |--- | | | | |--- | 1 2 3 | B s <--- two crystals | | | (b=big, s=small) | 4 5 6 |--- in epoxy "blob" | | | 7 8 9 | ^ 2 wires running to back | | of unit | * 0 # | | | ----------------------- ----------------------- Back View ---> | | T | o ____ o <--------------- Vent (1 of 4) --| / \ | | | | <---------------- Speaker --| | | | s B| | | | 2 wires -> \----o | ---- | o | running into | | vent | | | | | | | | -----------------------

Make sure the epoxy is really gobbed on there.  You want to be certain the switch and crystals are firmly attached and secure in a matrix of epoxy (it doesn't conduct electricity, so don't worry about shorting out the connections to the toggle switch).  Just don't gum up the action of the switch!

Basically, you've altered the device so you can select between two crystals to generate the timing of the microprocessor in the tone dialer.

Turn on the tone dialer.  Now you can easily switch between the two crystal types.  The small crystal will generate ordinary DTMF tones.  By simply flicking the switch, you generate higher tones, using the memory function of the tone dialer, save five stars (*) in the P1 location.

Now dial the P1 location using the big crystal.  Sure sounds like the tones for a quarter, doesn't it!

Carrying this around with you will always come in handy with both telephone company payphones and COCOTs!  No phreak should be without one!

References for this article include Noah Clayton's excellent piece on COCOTs in 2600 Magazine, Autumn 1990.  Also The Plague's article on tone dialer conversion to Red Box, 2600 Magazine, Summer 1990 (which inspired me to create the COMBO-BOX (Red Box plus DTMF dialer).

Information is power... share it!  And drink massive amounts of Jolt Cola.  Trust me, it's good for you.  Keep the faith, and never stop searching for new frontiers.