> . The bit about "dummy 1-800 numbers" --- and someone could tell me that did really happen in a bunch of places --- rings false, because at the time, 800 numbers were perceived as risky, due to ANI
This was my thought as well. 800 numbers were very rarely seen in my experience. What was common though was line extenders of various forms, first via diverters but later via call forwarding. Install call forwarding on a businesses alarm line that never received incoming calls (perhaps without their knoweldge) and forward calls to a distant but still local BBS. Because of overlapping calling areas you could greatly extend the calling area of a BBS.
What the video didn't really go into is how these various components, -- warez origination/cracking/distribution, art, phone stunts (conference calls/diverters/long distance codes/etc. ), bbs operation, etc. formed a bit of an economy. Lots of people who could do something useful but wanted to get something in return, exchanging things of value that wouldn't have otherwise been created except to get access to other stuff...
> I got in trouble for phone bills like everyone else, but really, unless you were actually downloading warez, dialing into random BBS's across North America wasn't that expensive.
You could easily spend a lot more time connected to far away boards in chat than from downloading...
This was my thought as well. 800 numbers were very rarely seen in my experience. What was common though was line extenders of various forms, first via diverters but later via call forwarding. Install call forwarding on a businesses alarm line that never received incoming calls (perhaps without their knoweldge) and forward calls to a distant but still local BBS. Because of overlapping calling areas you could greatly extend the calling area of a BBS.
What the video didn't really go into is how these various components, -- warez origination/cracking/distribution, art, phone stunts (conference calls/diverters/long distance codes/etc. ), bbs operation, etc. formed a bit of an economy. Lots of people who could do something useful but wanted to get something in return, exchanging things of value that wouldn't have otherwise been created except to get access to other stuff...
> I got in trouble for phone bills like everyone else, but really, unless you were actually downloading warez, dialing into random BBS's across North America wasn't that expensive.
You could easily spend a lot more time connected to far away boards in chat than from downloading...