It's mine, I tell you.
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I contacted a company who stocks spares for UK payphones, asking them to send me a set of keys to try.
They replied with "That will not be possible" and the following photo.
@jonty I think those are all for the customer-premises types of payphone (solitaire etc) - they all seem to be tubular locks
I'm not sure about the generation you've got, but earlier payphone keys wereregional, so each telecom region had their own set of bittings.
I expect yours is similar, so if there is any way to narrow down where it was originally installed - and then you try some of the ex-BT staff facebook groups, you might luck out and find someone who didn't return their keys?
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@jonty I think those are all for the customer-premises types of payphone (solitaire etc) - they all seem to be tubular locks
I'm not sure about the generation you've got, but earlier payphone keys wereregional, so each telecom region had their own set of bittings.
I expect yours is similar, so if there is any way to narrow down where it was originally installed - and then you try some of the ex-BT staff facebook groups, you might luck out and find someone who didn't return their keys?
@lpbkdotnet Yep, we realised that too!
This phone came from Bath (we've even found the phonebox), but I'm not sure I can be bothered to chase engineers. We know the lock was changed in 2007 as we did some keyhole surgery to extract the logbook.
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Do I have the keys? No. Can we pick the lock? Also no.
@jonty hook it up to a landline, insert coin, call the lockpicking lawyer
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I contacted a company who stocks spares for UK payphones, asking them to send me a set of keys to try.
They replied with "That will not be possible" and the following photo.
@jonty Send them the payphone...
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@jamesbridle I am torn between wanting some friends to have fun and wanting a functioning payphone quickly
@jonty @jamesbridle Can't they just have fun, then replace with a lock you have keys for? (Based on the assumption that it is like most locks that allow replacement when open.)
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@becomethewaifu Oh wait, you meant on the phone not in the background! No, that's just an LCD sadly.
I do have a Canadian payphone with a VFD in it which looks cool as hell
@jonty @becomethewaifu yeah; if I remember correctly, the LCD was used to display call duration, time left, and -- if it took phone cards -- credit remaining. But it's been a while, so...
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@sa I have an entire box of ATAs, don't worry - the main problem is going to be getting into the damn thing as we don't have keys!
The fun problem is going to be reverse engineering the firmware to figure out the phone-home configuration protocol, if you fancy helping with that
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It's mine, I tell you. My own. My precious.
"What are you doing?"
"Making a long-distance phone call."— Johnny Mnemonic, 1995
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It's mine, I tell you. My own. My precious.
@jonty what I can offer is that if you put 20p in, then whack it hard just under the key pad, your 20p comes out and the credit remains!
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I contacted a company who stocks spares for UK payphones, asking them to send me a set of keys to try.
They replied with "That will not be possible" and the following photo.
@jonty challenge lock for the lock people that come to emf?
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@lpbkdotnet Yep, we realised that too!
This phone came from Bath (we've even found the phonebox), but I'm not sure I can be bothered to chase engineers. We know the lock was changed in 2007 as we did some keyhole surgery to extract the logbook.
@jonty Oh it's that one!
I had wondered who won it.
Unfortunately, although I do know a few current and ex engineers from the westcountry, none of them were in Bath as far as I know.
However, I "might" know someone who knows someone... It may come to nothing, but it can't hurt to ask.
I had previously asked someone who I know used to steal cash from payphones in the early 90s how they got in
Unfortunately their methods were horrifically destructive - so not a suitable approach here!
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I contacted a company who stocks spares for UK payphones, asking them to send me a set of keys to try.
They replied with "That will not be possible" and the following photo.
@jonty aren't these all tubular keys and your phone has a "normal" key?
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@jonty aren't these all tubular keys and your phone has a "normal" key?
@nicoduck Correct! They have now concluded that they aren't allowed to sell us a key, but could unlock it for us.
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I contacted a company who stocks spares for UK payphones, asking them to send me a set of keys to try.
They replied with "That will not be possible" and the following photo.
@jonty that is a really cool response
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@nicoduck Correct! They have now concluded that they aren't allowed to sell us a key, but could unlock it for us.
@jonty why aren't they allowed to sell a key? Are they allowed to sell a key to another locksmith? Or if you can get the bitting, I could cut one (I happen to have a locksmith license now and a key cutting machine)
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Do I have the keys? No. Can we pick the lock? Also no.
When I bought a German 1990s "Clubtelefon 2", I was able to disassemble the set to remove the lock, and then take the lock to a locksmith to have a new key made for it.
Mind you, the Clubtelefon 2 is not meant for high-security. The lock mechanism is made of plastic.
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@NekoEd @becomethewaifu Correct! A friend brought one over for me in his hold luggage.
@jonty @NekoEd @becomethewaifu
When I was in Canada a couple of years ago, I nearly used one (at Grand Beach Provincial Park, Manitoba). But it wanted something incredible like $3 for the first minute, and I'm still not 100% sure it was hooked up.
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@sa I have an entire box of ATAs, don't worry - the main problem is going to be getting into the damn thing as we don't have keys!
The fun problem is going to be reverse engineering the firmware to figure out the phone-home configuration protocol, if you fancy helping with that
German payphones will not work with most ATAs, because they expect 60 V open-circuit and 32 mA loop current, as against 48 V and 20 mA from a typical ATA, but there are a few. Better still, there are ones which support both the higher power and the central-office time-pulse charging method. But how British payphones work I have no idea.
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It's mine, I tell you. My own. My precious.
@jonty Do you have the older 2-slot, Built-Like-A-Tank ones?
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@jonty Oh it's that one!
I had wondered who won it.
Unfortunately, although I do know a few current and ex engineers from the westcountry, none of them were in Bath as far as I know.
However, I "might" know someone who knows someone... It may come to nothing, but it can't hurt to ask.
I had previously asked someone who I know used to steal cash from payphones in the early 90s how they got in
Unfortunately their methods were horrifically destructive - so not a suitable approach here!
@jonty sadly I drew a blank on the keys
However, they did offer me these locks which look like they "might" be the right fit
They've had the pins removed, so will operate with a screwdriver - but (assuming they fit) will still hold the case shut without looking too "wrong"
Let me know if you want these spares as a backup option in case you end up with no options apart from drilling.
It might be more fun to lend it to the EMF locksport village as a challenge though?
