[VoIP] Wikipedia entry on Phreaking, the section about Wawina

[Lucky 225]

Jayson- I'd love the recordings you have from wawina of the conference
before the N2 trunks died if you got any of 'em

On 10/9/06, Jayson Smith <ratguy at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>    Hi,
> I have no idea who wrote this, but in case you haven't seen it, here's the
> section of the "Phreaking" entry at Wikipedia concerning Wawina.  I have
> to
> say, they got it mostly right, although I certainly am not one of the
> 'famous' phone phreaks.  I guess you could say I'm a phreak, except that I
> never did play around with MF back in the day, etc.  Anyway here goes, and
> hope you enjoy it!
> Jayson.
>
> The End of MF
>
> The end of MF phreaking in the lower 48 United States occurred on June 15,
> 2006.
> The last exchange in the continental United States to use a "phreakable"
> MF-signalled trunk replaced the aging (yet still well kept) N2 carrier
> with
> a T-1
> carrier. This exchange was located in Wawina, MN, (218)-488. This
> particular
> exchange was run by the
> Northern Telephone Company of Minnesota.
> The days building up to the cutover were comparatively eventful, as many
> phone phreaks from across North America and the world made calls into what
> was
> the last group of MF-able inward trunks in the continental United States.
> A
> message board was set up on +1 (218) 488-1307, for phone phreaks across
> the
> world to "say their goodbyes" to MF signalling and the N2 in Wawina.
> During
> the days prior to the cutover, many famous phone phreaks such as
> Mark Bernay,
> Joybubbles,
> Bob Bernay,
> and
> Captain Crunch
> could be heard leaving their comments on the message board. The official
> date for the cutover from N2 to
> T-carrier
> was Wednesday, June 14. As early as June 7, there was a noticeable static
> on
> what had previously been clear lines. By Monday, June 12, many numbers
> were
> unreachable, and the static had peaked. The recording on +1 (218) 488-1307
> was generally inaccessible, and MFing through the switch was becoming
> increasingly
> more difficult due to the increased static. By the 15th, the end had come.
>
> The cutover occurred around 1:38, Eastern Daylight Time. The Wawina
> switchmen had disallowed any more incoming calls to the N2 system,
> however,
> a few phreaks
> were still on the lines. The last two phone phreaks to sit on a
> telephone-company-operated MF trunk in the continental United States were
> Lucky225
> and Josh from Pittsburgh. Lucky and Josh were idling in a conference, from
> the N2 side. A few phone phreaks were sitting on the same conference, but
> coming
> in through the T-carrier or the
> Collector's Network.
> Later on, another phone phreak, Jayson Smith, pulsed 2600 through the
> Collector's Network (which does not respond to 2600 Hz or MF tones). That
> indicated
> to all parties on the N2 that the called party had hung up, which in turn
> winked off Lucky and Josh's last remaining trunks, and ended the last two
> inbound
> calls ever made on the Wawina N2. Shane, the switchman running the
> operation, then placed a ceremonial "last call" from the
> central office,
> and shut down the system for good.
>
>
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