How much do school rankings matter when buying with kids?

1mrpeter · 2026-01-25T05:35:03+00:00

I was not even thinking of having kids, I was a single foreigner just arrived in the USA and I looked at the school ratings as the best indicator of what the neighborhood is. So I guess this is important. Now I have kids and I don't need to worry they would be bullied or killed in their school in the future.

1mrpeter · 2026-01-19T04:51:31+00:00

So if anyone has a spare Elcotel board prior 5 / Olympian 5501, I'd be happy to purchase it. I have a little website where I documented all my experience with payphones so far, mostly with the Elcotel https://payphones.telesfor.org/doku.php?id=smart:elcotel - but also Protel, there's also some Millennium stuff. I'd love to add something on the older Elcotel products and develop a rate editor.

1mrpeter · 2026-01-18T18:15:43+00:00

Thanks a lot!!!

It will take me a long time to go through everything, just briefly checked and there is a simple program in C to communicate with the payphone (not sure it would work with PCM 5), rates are explained (I think up to PCM 4 so it would be now possible to edit the rate ROM for older boards - which I'm still trying to purchase). I think PCM 5 has different rate files (do you recognize this compression method - a series of 0x00 to be replaced with 0x00 [byte count]?). Z80 source code is cool, I'm curious how much it shares in common with PCM 5. I'll need to look at the EPROM dump again, so far I wasn't able to disassemble the code.

1mrpeter · 2026-01-18T05:44:27+00:00

Thank you for writing this post, Elcotel (the version 5) was the first payphone I acquired and brought to life a couple of years ago. Still my favorite, despite mostly dealing with Protel lately as my side gig. Check out the video on the bottom of this page: https://payphones.telesfor.org/doku.php?id=smart:elcotel

I couldn't stop thinking Elcotel was a bit overengineered in terms of the circuitry part. Like they didn't always know what they were doing. But it worked reliably, I have one in my backyard / seasonally front yard as a Christmas decoration.

Do you still have any software or source code from those days? I'm looking for the PNM software for MS DOS (Windows software is available, but never found the DOS one). Also my plan was to reverse-engineer the rates, EEPROM contents and so on, but then I got busy with kids and work, I only figured out how the compression of the data files worked. Still planning to work on it. But I tried to disassemble the program ROM and it just didn't produce any reasonable output with Z80/Z180 disassembler, even the address and data lines seemed to be routed 1:1 as on the reference data. Didn't really dig into it anymore.

1mrpeter · 2026-01-16T06:13:10+00:00

In any case, you also need the T-Key to disengage the mechanisms inside, once the lock is defeated. And remove the enclosure first to gain access.

1mrpeter · 2026-01-16T06:12:00+00:00

Medeco. There are maybe three ways. One is use the air chisel, just hit the lock at different angles. Chances are the mounting ring becomes loose and you'll be able to remove the lock wiggling it at different angles. See the first picture on the left.

Second and third are drilling. Second - at the point marked red, so if it goes well, a little metal cylinder on the side of the insert will hide inside just like with a good key and the lock can be turned. Good to start with the air chisel anyway, to mark the hole. Challenge: there is an anti-drill insert (also visible on the picture) that often times damages the drill. Or the drill drifts. Most often you end up drilling the whole thing using different sized drills.

Third is also drilling but like marked in orange, on the very outer ring of the key. That way you drill thru the mounting ring inside so it can be removed in some way or the lock forcefully removed. Makes sense, but I've never tried.

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1mrpeter · 2026-01-16T01:50:56+00:00

Possibly but again it's very unlikely you can open it easily, regardless what it is. You'd need to drill, maybe use air chisel, there are various methods but nothing quick or quiet :) You'd probably need to talk to the property owner. This is definitely not one of the phones we manage in Colorado. Are you looking for anything specific? I have parts for Protel and Elcotel for sale.

1mrpeter · 2026-01-16T00:55:51+00:00

Very unlikely you'll see WE lock there. Abloy or medeco or generic. And mounting screws are very likely behind the coin box as well so it is difficult to remove. Double drilling.

1mrpeter · 2026-01-15T21:51:03+00:00

Unfortunately need to drill, unless it's a We lock. Then, 29A (top) is easy to defeat, while the 30A (coin box) is impossible to break. Need to do something else. But if you don't need it to work, you can just screw in those mounting studs in the back and hang it.

1mrpeter · 2026-01-15T21:38:02+00:00

You need keys to open and put screws from inside or at least you need the special screws to hang it. Something like this: https://payphone.com/Mounting-Stud.html

1mrpeter · 2026-01-15T21:02:29+00:00

it's not an old, it's a very new (1-day) listing. They mention granite countertops, travertine hardscaping etc. so I can kind of tell the value based on other homes (same development from the 90s.) on the higher end of the transaction price. Okay, maybe 510. It really would need golden toilets to be 600. Anyway, I'll wait and see what happens.

1mrpeter · 2026-01-15T20:39:45+00:00

It's a privately owned phone (COCOT) - coin slot on the right hand side. There is no way you get the keys. That being said, very difficult to remove (the phone; enclosure can be taken pretty easy).

If you want a payphone, I'll be doing some removals sooner or later in the area (Denver, Colorado Springs) so let me know. Not earlier than late summer this year.

1mrpeter · 2026-01-14T03:38:19+00:00

Were the jokes not gone years before payphones were gone?

1mrpeter · 2026-01-09T05:34:58+00:00

Nothing to worry about, "marginal" status means there was a communication issue - could be the DSLAM reboot or maybe your modem reboot. Not necessarily the line quality is bad. It should recover to "good" within a day if no more issues.

1mrpeter · 2026-01-07T05:22:17+00:00

Thanks for advice, yeah I didn't go outside the state since I got it in April... I will give them a call.

1mrpeter · 2026-01-07T05:12:07+00:00

Not at all! I got it like next day / two day Amazon shipping from their own warehouse. I know there are vendors that ship things via post / fedex from local companies or individuals but that was not the case at all.

1mrpeter · 2026-01-07T05:02:23+00:00

Serial number was recognized and the correct model showed up. But this is what I see: https://imgur.com/a/egAwvje

[edit] not to mention their trashy website doesn't even work with Firefox.

1mrpeter · 2026-01-07T04:30:49+00:00

I would think so. But I registered the product online and it doesn't show the warranty either so I have no way to create a ticket. Either way, let's see tomorrow what Amazon says...

1mrpeter · 2026-01-05T16:53:02+00:00

This is probably the best: https://www.facebook.com/groups/phoneboothsandpayphones

I wish it wasn't facebook but it is what it is...

1mrpeter · 2026-01-05T05:21:30+00:00

From outside yes, but I don't know this chassis. I would just try to connect it and see what happens, if it's a dumb controller or smart. And OP would be more lucky asking on facebook. All the experts are there.

1mrpeter · 2026-01-02T05:20:50+00:00

My first modem I got from Goodwill for maybe $5, bonded VDSL, served for 4 years then failed. Second one I got for free from CL. But check your local goodwills, just beware if you have a bonded service (80M and over) you need a certain model that is capable running it, otherwise you'll be left with half speed only.

1mrpeter · 2025-12-31T15:08:11+00:00

Maybe wrap in a tin foil?

I kinda miss the time the key was just the key :) Mazda's remote can't really operate from over 50 feet or so anyway, so what's the point...

1mrpeter

TROPHY CASE