Back in 2003 a friend and I noticed that the elevator where we lived had a GSM unit placed on top with the number dymo'ed on it, visible through the glass walls around the elevator shaft. So we started catfishing randoms on the internet and gave them that number to call around the time of day when people came home from work. Every time they complained that it was the wrong number because there were some random on the other end, we just replied "You've been elevated!" and logged off.
this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2025
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I've already been punished for tomfoolery/idiocy with that elevator. We noticed that the sensor that checked whether the door was properly closed was just and open contact with 230V across it. I don't remember why, but we used that to try and roast potatoes, and ended up blowing a fuse, putting the elevator out of commission. This was two days before moving out. Moving furniture down four floors via the stairs was not fun.
What?? Why? How? I have so many questions. This is hilarious!!
And you shall get no answers, apart from this: we were into a lot of stupid shit, such as figuring our how to open the main junction box for the door bell/intercom. People could still ring to get in, but it was impossible to speak through it and be heard downstairs. Because we had an old leftover discman available and found a DC powersupply inside that we could jury rig. That way we could play Dimmu Borgir on repeat 24/7 for anyone on street level. The "Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia", if I remember correctly.
You just made my day
A debt collector once called an elevator? Did the elevator pay up?
Yes, and in so doing, payed down their debt.
This joke works on so many levels
Could you explain more about what you observed? Many elevator phones have an inbound number, so that emergency responders can return a call, although it would be unlisted for obvious reasons. So far as I'm aware, the phone is akin to a normal phone line, rather than being a special line like a payphone. So if you did find the number, it may be possible to call it.
That said, I can't endorse messing around with the emergency equipment in an elevator, even though it's not actively in use. Enough prank calls might cause the property management to disconnect the line, making it unavailable when an actual emergency arises. And even though that would incur legal liability for the management, that would still mean someone who needed help couldn't get help.
EDIT: And just to get ahead of anyone suggesting that calling the emergency phone is a way to test it, it really isn't. A true test would be making an outbound call to the emergency dispatcher, and then asking them to verify the caller ID and return the call. Good property management should already be doing this regularly, in the same way as testing the fire alarms and checking extinguishers.
Is there a risk in calling the speaker of an elevator that I'm currently inside of?
I mean, you're still using a resource that was provisioned only for emergency use. The rough analogy is borrowing the exterior-mounted fire extinguisher of your apartment building to use it as a temporary paperweight, and then putting it back after two minutes.
Your use of it in this way might be benign, but if everyone is doing that, someone will eventually mess up and that resource won't be there when it's truly needed. Plus, what is the objective from calling your own elevator while you're in it? Just yell lol
I don't mean to sound boring, but while there's a time and place for pranks and fun in an elevator, I personally think the emergency equipment is off-limits. Everything else is fair game, up to and including playing Doom on the LCD screen that modern elevators seem to have.
Deviant Ollam has two great lectures on YouTube about elevators you may find enlightening. He's a security researcher and physical penetration tester. Short answer, no lol play with that phone
you could cause a screeching feedback loop
I was helping someone move and the elevator in the apartment received a call from "Walmart" saying they were trying to verify a charge for a PS5 Super Deluxe edition plus controller, and to give them a call back. Y'know the emergency call button in an elevator, and how it says when the light is flashing someone has answered the call? It was flashing. Very weird.