List of Phreaking Boxes
This is not a comprehensive list. Many text files online describe various "boxes" in a long list of colours, some of which are fictional (parodies or concepts which never worked), minor variants of boxes already listed or aftermarket versions of features (line in use indicators, 'hold' and 'conference' buttons) commonly included in standard multi-line phones.
This list of boxes does not include wiretapping "bugs", pirate broadcasting apparatus or exploits involving computer security.
| Blue box | Tone generator, emitted 2600Hz tone to disconnect a long-distance call while retaining control of a trunk, then generated multi-frequency tones to make another toll call which was not detected properly by billing equipment. Obsolete as it relied on use of in-band signalling. |
| Black box | A resistor bypassed with a capacitor and placed in series with the line to limit DC current on received calls. On some mechanical relay switching systems, separate relays were used to stop ringing on an inbound call and to start billing timers. The black box was intended to trip one but not both relays, allowing ringing to stop but not showing the call as answered for billing purposes. Obsolete with the replacement of mechanical relay exchanges by electronic switching systems. |
| Red box | Tone generator, emitted an Automated Coin Toll Service tone pair (1700Hz and 2200Hz) to signal coins dropping into a payphone. Obsolete. |
| Green box | Tone generator, emits 'coin accept', 'coin return' and 'ringback' tones at the remote end of an Automated Coin Toll Service payphone call. Obsolete as these tones controlled phones designed to rely on manual operator assistance for coin-paid long distance calls. |
| Clear box | Microphone and amplifier, coupled inductively to payphones where the handset microphone (and just the microphone) was disabled until a coin was inserted. An "opaque box" was a variant which also included a keypad. Obsolete as specific to a rarely-used post-paid coin phone design which is no longer deployed. |
| Violet box | A resistor (several hundred ohms) which could be clipped directly across the line to make it appear off-hook or in use. |
| Gold box | Diverter. Calls received on one line are forwarded elsewhere using a second telephone line. |
| Beige box | Telephone installer's test handset; a standard telephone set on which the plug has been replaced with a pair of alligator clips. |
| White box | Portable tone-dial keypad with speaker, used to generate tones if the telephone is rotary-dial or its keypad is locked. |
| Silver box | Tone-dial keypad with four extra buttons (A, B, C, D) formerly used to indicate priority on military autovon calls. This sixteen-key tone keypad is factory-installed on many amateur radio rigs for controlling repeaters but the extra keys are rarely used. |
| Magenta box | AC ringing current generator, connected directly to a telephone to make that phone ring. |
| Orange box | Caller ID frequency-shift keying generator, connected directly to a telephone to send CID. The combination of a magenta box and an orange box is a vermilion box. |
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“Every morning I woke in dread, waiting for the day nurse to go on her rounds and announce from the list of names in her hand whether or not I was for shock treatment, the new and fashionable means of quieting people and of making them realize that orders are to be obeyed and floors are to be polished without anyone protesting and faces are to be made to be fixed into smiles and weeping is a crime.”
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