The Payphone Project

This is awesome! I'm actually a little jealous.

If you can get your hands on (or build yourself) a red box [1], you could even hack your own hack.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_box_(phreaking)

I've been wanting to do this since I Asterisk-ized a 1975 Western Electric 500 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_500_telephone) I found at a garage sale.

I vividly remember the last time I used a payphone like this calling my then girlfriend (became fiance, became wife) outside a 7-11 in rural virginia before the turn of the century. Nostalgia by the bucketful.

For those interested, Citizen Engineer (http://www.citizenengineer.com/) did the same thing a few years ago. The video was produced by Phillip Torrone and Ladyada, and includes additional notes.

This is a true Hacker project.

I recall needing to insert the proper toll into the payphone before dialing a number. He's added some instructions to work around that old limitation, so you can dial the number first, then insert the coins.

USPS Mailbox locator courtesy of "Payphone Project"

http://www.payphone-project.com/mailboxes/

Well-seasoned fifty pound familiar vintage steel vault pay phone, with a cell inside, VOIP-ing on your own or any open wifi. Running Redphone, or Silent Circle app, label it SECURE and.... and paint it red.

Well done, I love this stuff.