Gregory's Server
@vfrmedia @skymtf @Em0nM4stodon Mobiles were not common at all here until maybe 2005. Only reason I had one in 2k was for work because I was on call (and it was amazingly, stupidly expensive).
In the late 90's, it was not uncommon for USian companies to have conference lines through one of the big telcos; where I lived it was Hell Atlantic. The numbers were all over the place, and once you guessed an admin passcode you could set up your own conf on their account until they noticed. They more or less replaced red boxing, which had died by 1998 or so where I lived.
@drwho @skymtf @Em0nM4stodon by the mid-late 90s most young people already had GSM mobiles and telephone calls in Britain were dirt cheap or even free (most mobile plans gave free minutes) - whole subcultures such as the rave scene, pirate radio stations were built on this access to affordable and fairly secure comms (even before the Internet became widespread, which was only from late 90s/early 00s)