Jonty WareingIt's mine, I tell you. My own. My precious.
Do I have the keys? No. Can we pick the lock? Also no.
Anyway this is your prompt to reply with endless jokes about answering after one ring
Sara Joy 
@jonty I have no jokes, but I pulled out my old scout shirt the other day and was amused to find there was still a 10p and a 20p for phone box calls, in the pocket with the record book :)
ides.devI contacted a company who stocks spares for UK payphones, asking them to send me a set of keys to try.
They replied with "That will not be possible" and the following photo.
Andreas Sikkema@jonty “but can I visit you and try to find the right key?”
But how did BT solve this problem, their engineers surely didn’t carry all possible keys around?
patter
jamesbridle@jonty I feel like you know many, many lock pickers who will see this as a challenge.
@jamesbridle I am torn between wanting some friends to have fun and wanting a functioning payphone quickly
Evelyn Estelle@jonty @jamesbridle Can't they just have fun, then replace with a lock you have keys for? (Based on the assumption that it is like most locks that allow replacement when open.)
Dr David Mills@jonty got to like a company that provides a reason.
lpbkdotnet@jonty I think those are all for the customer-premises types of payphone (solitaire etc) - they all seem to be tubular locks
I'm not sure about the generation you've got, but earlier payphone keys wereregional, so each telecom region had their own set of bittings.
I expect yours is similar, so if there is any way to narrow down where it was originally installed - and then you try some of the ex-BT staff facebook groups, you might luck out and find someone who didn't return their keys?
@lpbkdotnet Yep, we realised that too!
This phone came from Bath (we've even found the phonebox), but I'm not sure I can be bothered to chase engineers. We know the lock was changed in 2007 as we did some keyhole surgery to extract the logbook.
@jonty Oh it's that one!
I had wondered who won it.
Unfortunately, although I do know a few current and ex engineers from the westcountry, none of them were in Bath as far as I know.
However, I "might" know someone who knows someone... It may come to nothing, but it can't hurt to ask.
I had previously asked someone who I know used to steal cash from payphones in the early 90s how they got in
Unfortunately their methods were horrifically destructive - so not a suitable approach here!
@jonty sadly I drew a blank on the keys
However, they did offer me these locks which look like they "might" be the right fit
They've had the pins removed, so will operate with a screwdriver - but (assuming they fit) will still hold the case shut without looking too "wrong"
Let me know if you want these spares as a backup option in case you end up with no options apart from drilling.
It might be more fun to lend it to the EMF locksport village as a challenge though?
@lpbkdotnet Oh yes please! I kind of wanted it functioning for EMF so we'll see how desperate I get...
Megan@jonty @lpbkdotnet Love the fediverse for conversations like this one!
@jonty I'll see what I can sort out. It may take a week or two for me to be in the same place as the locks - but I'll send them your way when I can.
I don't expect they'll cost enough for me to be worried about passing the costs on - but I'll let you know if they're above that threshold.
Extreme Electronics@jonty Send them the payphone... :)
Emily_S
Nico🦆@nicoduck Correct! They have now concluded that they aren't allowed to sell us a key, but could unlock it for us.
@jonty why aren't they allowed to sell a key? Are they allowed to sell a key to another locksmith? Or if you can get the bitting, I could cut one (I happen to have a locksmith license now and a key cutting machine)
1000millimeter@1000millimeter @jonty In Germany, you can only do locksmiths stuff (for money) if you're reliable (money/tax wise) and don't have a criminal record.
license in that term meas "just" that the administration registers your business and doesn't decline the application.
license in that term meas "just" that the administration registers your business and doesn't decline the application.
@1000millimeter @jonty it escalated a bit and maybe one day I earn the money I just invested in machines and key blanks?
boreq
Barry Rowlingson
Will
Tryst 🏴 🇮🇪 
jamesb (MW1CGG)@tryst
Spider Redistribution.
Spider Redistribution.
Kraftwerk-Das Model Collapse@jonty hook it up to a landline, insert coin, call the lockpicking lawyer
publiusWhen I bought a German 1990s "Clubtelefon 2", I was able to disassemble the set to remove the lock, and then take the lock to a locksmith to have a new key made for it.
Mind you, the Clubtelefon 2 is not meant for high-security. The lock mechanism is made of plastic.
polprog68k@jonty Do you have the key to the coin box?
Emelia/Emi@jonty Is that a CRT display up by the coin slot? Hell yeah.
(I've been meaning to acquire a payphone, but I haven't found one in half-decent condition for a reasonable price yet)
@becomethewaifu Yes, but not one you can use easily - it's actually a DEC VT520 terminal
@becomethewaifu Oh wait, you meant on the phone not in the background! No, that's just an LCD sadly.
I do have a Canadian payphone with a VFD in it which looks cool as hell
@jonty Yeah, meant the one on the payphone, the seal on the top edge and shadow on the right sorta looks like the curve of a tube. (The VT520 is still cool though, I kinda want a dumb terminal even though my apple 2 can do an "authentic" emulation of one just fine)
@becomethewaifu You're totally right, the moment I saw it I can't unsee it! Now I want to retrofit one...
Neko May@jonty @becomethewaifu Nortel Millennium!
@NekoEd @becomethewaifu Correct! A friend brought one over for me in his hold luggage.
@jonty @NekoEd @becomethewaifu
When I was in Canada a couple of years ago, I nearly used one (at Grand Beach Provincial Park, Manitoba). But it wanted something incredible like $3 for the first minute, and I'm still not 100% sure it was hooked up.
Roger Lipscombe@jonty @becomethewaifu yeah; if I remember correctly, the LCD was used to display call duration, time left, and -- if it took phone cards -- credit remaining. But it's been a while, so...
Alex Willmer@jonty @becomethewaifu wat!? Was that a standard feature? I don't remember seeing any, but it's been a long time. edit: never mind, saw your concurrent reply.
@alex @jonty Now I have a Cursed Idea for if I do ever acquire said payphone... I do have a very small CRT display floating around on a shelf somewhere, though it's a good bit bigger than the LCD in this model. (It's an old portable TV, so about 4-5 inches I think? It's currently in storage, so not accessible to measure)
Add an old serial modem into the mix, and a payphone with a built-in terminal seems like it might actually be somewhat realistic, akin to the old Minitel system over in France?
@becomethewaifu @jonty it’s an lcd, and from the dark line across the top it looks like it might be failing?
I really hope I’m wrong there!
I really hope you don’t give up on the lock, I’ve seen too many people give in and drill them. I’m sure there must be some locksport people in your orbit who could get into it eventually and you only need to open it once!
@lpbkdotnet @becomethewaifu I've got a lead on potential keys, but unfortunately the serial number is nowhere to be found so finding the right one might be tricky!
I have a feeling it might be bypassable, will break out the boroscope and take a look next week
Russ Garrett@lpbkdotnet @becomethewaifu @jonty I spent about 45 minutes on it and didn't get it open, it has security pins and a fiddly little keyway.
kieran