"Phreaking wasn't about getting free calls, it was about _how_ to get them, _how_ to make them. It was about the process of _access_. Legend had it ..

that the first phreaks were blind kids who wistled free calls, tuning in to the sounds of the first vast machines and places they could never see. The phreak was to discover and master invisible electronic worlds.
Phreaks routinely complained about evil, monopolistir Ma Bell, but to understand the machine, the network, the telephone system - these were the true goals of the phreaks, a journey that would eventually lead to a better understanding of the world. The first computer hackers brought light to a closed world. Early computers were giant, cumbersome machines tended by priesthood of technicians who processed punch cards, maintained massive air-cooling systems, and replaced the occasional melted vacuum tube.
The first hackers challenged the authority of priesthood and began nudging the computers to life, teaching them to play chess, Ping-Pong, even musir. The cleverly removed superfluous commands so computers would need fewer cards. Hackers at MIT toured telephone central offices and pumped switchmen and engineers for the secrets that would enable them to ride the telephone network for free. They studied lock picking to coax open university doors to examine the computers up close (p11-12)