# How Much Were Long Distance Calls, Say Before 1960 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 22, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-were-long-distance-calls-say-before-1960/828209 "2019-01-22T17:22:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-were-long-distance-calls-say-before-1960/828209/21 "2019-01-28T00:59:41Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Several of the computer industries leading lights (Steve Jobs, etc.) sold devices that made free long-distance calling possible [Blue box - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_box) . The really advanced folks didn’t need the box [John Draper - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Draper) Ahhh…phreaking! The Blue Box was just one implementation of exploiting the old analog phone system. Two that I remember (though never got it to work myself) in the 60’a and 70’s, were rapidly clicking the phone hook on a payphone to emulate using the dial _Switch hook and tone dialer_ and using the aluminum foil from a gum wrapper (you had to carefully remove the foil from paper) and shorting out either the earpiece or mouthpiece (oddly, they weren’t glued onto the handset back then) by touching it to the metal in there to the coinbox. Edit: I’ve never seen the foil to the coinbox work, but I did witness a friend use the Switch Hood and tone dialer trick to make a local call. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-were-long-distance-calls-say-before-1960/828209/22 "2019-01-28T01:15:42Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > yep. I was a child back then, and my family would call between England and the USA sometimes. I think you started the process by calling the international operator and asking for a reservation spot. Maybe a half hour later, she called you back and said that an opening was now available on the undersea cable. She dialed for you, calling the international operator in the other country, who called another operator who put you through to your number. > And then my parents would talk to the relatives. It must have been very expensive, because and at the end of the call, us kids would be allowed about 30 seconds to say a very quick hello. I remember making having to wait for a spot to open up for a LD call, which in Hawaii was anywhere outside the State and I believe even interisland calls were at a higher rate. I don’t think it happened to Hawaii, but I recall hearing stories of other outlying island countries having their phone communications cut off when their undersea cable was cut or damaged. I don’t know how true it is, but I’ve heard that at the beginning of the internet age circa the mid-90’s, early 00’s, Hawaii had only one non-fiber connection to the mainland U.S. (not counting what the Federal Government must have for their own use), which slowed expansion of broadband. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-were-long-distance-calls-say-before-1960/828209/23 "2019-01-28T01:24:43Z")
Sorry for the flood. About phreaking. In the 60’s and 70’s, it wasn’t very underground at all (as even I knew about the Switch Hook and tone dialer “hack” as a pre-teen and like stealing cable Black Boxes before the switch to digital, everyone knew a cousin of a friend who could get a Blue-Box. There was a sense of sticking it to Ma Bell, which was known to be grossly overcharging for their services because they had a monopoly. I knew about Ma Bell’s monopoly because it was a favorite target of _Mad_ magazine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-were-long-distance-calls-say-before-1960/828209.md?page=1)