[VoIP] Bogus CallerID (oops)

[Rusty Dekema]

On 7/9/07, Dennis D Hock <hockd at dteenergy.com> wrote:
> Rusty,
>
> I noticed your choice of office code 616.  Are you in Michigan?  I am on
> the eastern side between Mt Clemens and Pt Huron.
>
> Dennis Hock 269


Sure am!

I grew up in Kalamazoo back before Grand Rapids stole the 616 area
code from us :).

I'm living in Ann Arbor at the moment, but am moving out to BLVLMIBV
territory in August. They're running a Siemens EWSD out there,
although I don't suppose it's likely to display (m)any characteristics
to distinguish it from the 5ESS (my current apartment) and DMS-100 (my
dad's place in Kzoo) switches I'm used to. Having been born in the
early 80s, I missed out on the golden age of phone exploration and
phreaking per se, but I've always been interested in
phone/electronic/computer/etc technology.

On another note about different types of switches, there is supposedly
a 1AESS still operating in Ann Arbor's main CO, although I have not
been able to find anyone with a line in one of the exchanges it is
said to serve that I could play around with to try to see whether it's
really on the 1A. It seems that most people my age here don't even
have a POTS line anymore, although I would imagine that new lines are
probably provisioned on the 5ESS anyway. If I weren't moving in a
couple weeks, I would consider ordering a new line and asking for a
number in one of the 1A's NXX blocks. Even then, though, I wonder if
they might simply port the number over to the 5E.

When I first found out about Asterisk a few years ago, it was just
"too much fun," and I ended up acquiring various FXS and FXO hardware
to play around with. I had already set up some silly applications and
scripts and was using the machine as a "tandem" to route my family's
international phone calls over cheap VoIP carriers when I heard about
CNET. Although I don't have any interesting electromechanical
equipment to connect to CNET, I do enjoy calling peoples' various
recordings and whatnot. Also, people can call up dynamically generated
recordings of the spam I receive at 616-0010, although I suspect it
may be of limited interest :).

Maybe someday I will acquire some vintage switching equipment, but I
suspect that by the time I have a place big enough to put it, there
won't be much left. I guess there's always the option of trying to
build one's own, though!

Cheers,
Rusty