First, I need to thank the PLA, napalmoliv, hackcanada, and phreakboxes for all of the background information that they provided for free on each of their respective sites. Now, turn the page if you don�t want to do anything illegal, as even possessing a box is a federal crime. Otherwise, read on, and you shall be rewarded with free telephone calls

Step I: Go to a certain chain electronic store (lets call it Rat Shack) and buy :
RS 33 Number Memory Pocket Tone Dialer (#43-146)
AAA Batteries (3)
Soldering Iron and Solder
6.5536 mhz crystal (XC 49CT-ND or RSU #10068625)

The costs should be small ($20-$30). Make sure that you don�t spend much onany of the components. Especially the solder itself. A spool of it should run around $1-3. The crystal is around $1-5, and the batteries should be around $2. I�m not sure about the solder gun or the dialer, though.

Step II: Open up the back of the tone dialer. Look for the crystal currently in it. There used to be a completely visible crystal, but now Radio Shack modifies the dialer to prevent phreakers from going in and modding the box. Now, look for a capacitor-looking thing that says Z3.58M and sauter it out. Next sauter your crystal in its place. Note: if Z3.58M isn�t to be found, look for the one piece that looks different from the capacitor. You are now done with the box. Try to close it up. If you can�t get it to fit, open the box back up and look for a cylindrical thing that faces right. Bend that to the opposite direction, and you then should be able to close up the box.

Step III: Programming. Since you have everything mechanical finished you can do the fun stuff: programming. You will need to program keys : Nickel, Dime, and Quarter. For the tone dialer, rat shack has a programmable model, but any model will work, provided that you put the 6.5536mhz crystal in as a replacement. However, the programming should be about the same. Prepare the dialer to be stored. Now, the rest of the instructions are for the radio shack dialer, but can be ported to any other dialers. For a quarter tone hit memory, tone 4 times, and whatever button you wish. To store a dime, it is the same procedure but the tone button only need be hit twice, and only once for the nickel.

Step IV: Using it : After programming the box, now all you needs to do is to find a GTE or Bell pay phone. If you try to use any other type of phone it simply wont work. These other types of phones either use another frequency or have went and made modifications to the phones themselves so that they may not be boxed. Finding a phone may be a little problem, but after you find one, you are in business. First pick up the receiver and dial whatever number you want. If you don�t have a number in mind, call (740) 653-6262. It is the time/date service here in Lancaster, Ohio. You will hear an automated voice saying "Please insert whatever amount of money". Now, hit whatever combination of buttons you wish to fulfill the money for the call. One note: do not go and hit the buttons at a regular clip. One should always use the tones as if they were actually going and putting money in the box. If the tones sound of high enough quality, the call will go through. If not, the call may be re-routed to a real operator. One should hang up at this point.

The call connects, and all one has to do is keep putting in change when the automated voice ask for it. The only other thing to worry about is repeatedly boxing the same payphone or area. If the phone company repeatedly comes up short on their take for a specific phone for a specific city, they may get suspicious and start watching that specific area. However, the company will only send its own security force, which are about as powerful as mall security. So, if you see anyone pull up, or uniforms coming toward you, run. The only way one can be arrested is if they can evidence of you boxing. So, watch for any delays on the connection of the call, and always remember to never have the person that you call say your name. You would be incredibly fucked in that case, but if they don�t say anything, then everything should be okay. If the phone company goes for the caller, just have the caller feign ignorance. I mean, how does the caller know that you didn�t legally pay for that call. V: Last Thoughts. Have fun with this. A red box can come in so many different forms that it isn�t funny. If you can�t get the materials, just get online and find the tones, or create them on a program like Sound Forge. One would then burn them in some connected form on a CD and then play it into the receiver. This will not work sometimes, unless you can directly port the sounds at a high enough quality from mp3 to CD, and have decent speakers.