Sigh. Fond memories. Back in the days of the old British Telecom Strowger exchanges it was very easy to make a box that would give free calls, or using a DPDT switch, allow incoming calls for free for the other party. I started making a load of these and sold them to some "gangster" type who wanted to sell them on to bookies in Manchester. Last I heard he was looking for me to break my legs. I didn't know Manchester had upgraded all their exchanges to System-X and the boxes didn't work anymore

. A very famous Liverpool actor put me on to him.
Later, pre-internet days, I would use a sneaky piece of software on my Commodore Amiga called "RoxBox" that would generate the internal DTMF tones that similar exchanges to System-X (which was by ancient by then) used. The great thing was, lots of less developed countries still used this stuff. So I would call the international operator of Argentina, say, using their freephone 800 number. Before the operator answered with ¡Hola! I could send a break signal, then the DTMF for numerous USA wide BBS systems. So much warez for free!

Nowadays, with the internet, it's all there on a plate. Kids don't know they are born these days. I mean I had to find my nudie mags in the woods that mysterious people would stash in plastic bags. YOU PESKY KIDS, GET OFF MY LAWN!
