UK Payphones Face Axe In BT Plan
Payphones across west Wiltshire look set to vanish under BT's plans to scale back on its network across the country.
Shrinking Portals to the Past - New York Times
With its taped advertisements and garbage-laden ledges, the pay phone in New York, that familiar feature of the streetscape, is becoming a grimy museum relic.
Sprint, AT&T and payphones go to the Supremes
Sprint and AT&T next week will argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court on revenue from payphones.
Pay phones cling to life in U.S.
For the residents living in the 7 million households without a phone, pay phones are still a necessity.
Last Call for D.C. Area Phone Booth
It was a Washington monument of sorts, one of the last known working phone booths in the region and one of only a handful left in the United States.
Now it's history.
Grand Prairie hotel's rotary pay phone has withstood change
Decades after first installed at historic hotel, rare rotary-dial device still a smooth operator
Cellular use closing doors on red phone booths in Britain - USATODAY.com
Those sturdy red telephone booths, a staple on Britain's streets since the 1920s, may one day be like the Empire — just part of history. The iconic domed boxes are slowly disappearing.
Pay phones may appear to be gathering dust, but some still use them
And so the public pay phone limps along, its place as the mainstay of away-from-home dialing usurped by the cellphone.
Quad City: Pay phones were everywhere
Pay phones are disappearing slowly and have been since the 1990s, when cell phones began gaining popularity. Now, telephone industry officials are blaming those ubiquitous portable gadgets for the pay phone’s demise.
BBC: Why I Don't Have A Mobile
A mobile phone may seem like an essential tool for modern life, but is it really? A recent Magazine feature on people who still use payphones sparked a flurry of comments from readers who don't own a mobile phone.
Ohio: Calling all phone booths
The phone booth near Price Park along West Maple Street stands as a memorial to a simpler communications era
Who uses phone boxes?
Making a phone call was something of a social event, uniting not just the caller and the person on the other end of the phone, but neighbours as well.
BBC: Who uses phone boxes?
Few features of British life are so loved, yet so neglected, as the phone box. Behind the iconic red door, a Pepsi cup and a discarded four-day-old receipt are the only evidence of conversations past.
Answers: Where have all the payphones gone?
"Have you ever witnessed a payphone being dismantled and hauled away? Where do they go?"
Kane County: Payphones not dead - yet
“It was like no one was ever using them at all.”
Came of Age Before Computers: Looking for Kindred Spirits on the Internet
COABC's are people who came of age before (or without) computers, and who straddle the "Digital Divide". This is a thought-provoking and nicely produced feature about disappearing payphones in British Columbia.
A payphone for your home?
Hey, why not! See how it's done at Instructables.com
Cellibacy?
Could you survive 60 days without a cell phone? Amy Borkowsky gives it a try by relying on payphones, landlines, and voicemail. Oh, and wrist watches! Lots of 'em!
A Place in Our Hearts for Pay Phones - The Lede - New York Times Blog
The NY Times revisits the Payphone Project in The Lede, a Times blog. The comment board has some interesting observations.
For The Once Popular Pay Phone, The Line's Almost Dead
Look around now, because in a few more years the coin-operated pay phone may be just a jangling memory in many places, a victim of the ubiquitous cell phone and deregulation of the communications industry.
Pay phone decline hits homeless -- baltimoresun.com
Homeless for more than two years, David Pirtle combated the isolation by taking quarters people threw into a fountain at the National Museum of African Art in Washington and dropping them into a pay phone to call family in Ohio.
Comedian makes New Year's vow to ditch her cell phone - & blog about it
It may seem extreme to those who can't imagine not using their cell phones for eight minutes, but Amy Borkowsky is determined to get back to face-to-face communication with friends, family and the rest of the human race.
Retro iPhone
It's the iPhone Payphone dialer.
Outside the Loop: The Payphone Experiment
OTL Radio makes random contact with someone at one of Chicago's Union Station payphones. The segment starts at about 17:00 into the program.
As pay phones disappear, so does a lifeline for homeless people
"Everyone who's in the middle class thinks, 'Oh, no one uses pay phones anymore.' But not everyone is in the middle class," said Tracey Timpanaro...
Kane County won't hang up Judicial Center's last pay phone
The pay phone stays. That's the last word of Kane County officials, who agreed last week to keep the last remaining pay phone at the Judicial Center in St. Charles -- even if it means paying a monthly fee to do it.
A Day Without a Cellphone
This may not seem like a big deal to the average Joe, but trust me when I say that I felt totally paralyzed for the next 16 hours.
Are public pay phones going the way of T-Rex?
Now the independent operators that will shape the pay phone industry's future are concentrating on profitable pay phones typically located on sidewalks, at convenience stores and at big-box retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Ohio: Busy? Not so much … but pay phone is far from dead
Oberlin College graduate Mark Thomas was building Web sites before most people even knew what a personal computer was. In 1995 — the Internet’s infant years — Thomas built his first Web site, www.payphone-project.com.
AT&T to Disconnect Pay-Phone Business After 129 Years
Who knew AT&T was still *in* the payphone business?
Nebraska Payphones Becoming Dinosaurs
A payphone in Strang, Nebraska (population 42) was last used July 4, 2007
June 22, 2007
NY Legislature Stops Unjust Prison Phone Contract
From a Malkin & Ross press release:
"The New York State Senate and Assembly reached agreement at the end of this year's legislative session on legislation that would treat prison telephone service as a right, not as a revenue generator.
"'Words cannot describe what this victory means to me -- unless they are written on a phone bill that I can now afford to pay,' said Cheri O'Donoghue, whose young son is incarcerated in New York State. 'It is such a relief that I can now talk to my son more frequently without financial hardship.'"
Read more at Readmedia.com, or visit telephonejustice.org
UK: BT Takes the Phone Out of the Box
BT is re-vamping the design of its public payphones. The new design, by ad firm JCDecaux, accommodates more advertising on the phones in a drive to compensate for dwindling revenues from payphone usage.
"The new, cutting edge design, is the first new design of telephone kiosk in the UK for 20 years. The latest style kiosks, called the Street Talk 6, are being installed this week and has a payphone on one side and back illuminated scrolling six sheet advertisements on the other."
Read more at Assodigitale
June 04, 2007
Canada: Remove pay phones to fight crime?
"SaskTel is being urged to remove pay phones from an inner city neighbourhood in Regina amid accusations that they're facilitating drug dealing and prostitution.
"But other people argue that the phones, located near the General Hospital in the Core neighbourhood, provide a vital service for low-income people in the area who don't have their own phones at home."
Read more at CBC News
June 02, 2007
Cell Phone Booths Find a Home at Libraries
"There is a new take on phone booths at Eastern Connecticut State University, and it is designed to keep the library the way it is supposed to be - quiet."
I looked at these booths last year, and expressed skepticism at their usefulness. Depending where these booths are used, it would seem that the dramatic step of entering one of these booths would only serve bring even more attention to the cell phone user. In a library, though, this contraption would seem to be a sensible addition.
Read more at WTNH.com
May 30, 2007
Canada Payphones: Use Them Or Lose Them
"According to Statistics Canada, the number of pay phones across Canada dropped by almost 40,000 -- or more than 20% -- from 178,116 in 1997 to 140,431 by the end of last year. The pace of removal is quickening, with almost 10,000 of those disappearing between the end of 2005 and 2006.
"Right now the company operates 50,000 pay phones in Ontario and 30,000 in Quebec.
"When it comes to the business of pay phones, it's just as Gladstone says: Use it or lose it."
Read more at the Edmonton Sun
May 27, 2007
For every cell phone sold, 10 more pay phones turn to mold
There are still holdouts. Luddites, you might say, who oppose new technologies. To a limited extent I am one such holdout, as is Mark Rutledge, at Reflector.com:
"I've been sucked so far into this cell-phone culture, I completely forgot that public telephones still exist.
"Someone had extinguished a cigarette on the top of the phone, and the receiver was smeared with something awful, but it worked. Praise God, it worked."
Read more at Reflector.com
May 14, 2007
Canada: Not everyone's willing to hang up on pay phones
The Payphone Project gets a mention in this story from Victoria, Canada, which explores ambivalence to the expected rate increase for calls made from Telus payphones.
"Plenty of people eschew, can't afford, or just don't need cellphones. The question is whether there are enough of those people to keep pay phones profitable.
"Maybe not, to judge by the reaction (or lack thereof) to the news that the 50-cent phone call is coming. There was damn near a revolution when the toll jumped to two bits from a dime in 1981. This time, a collective yawn."
Read more at the Victoria Times-Colonist
May 08, 2007
Japan: Payphones vanishing fast
"Despite their bleak future, pay phones can still serve as a vital communications link during times of disaster. Service for cellphones and home phones could be disrupted or knocked out by an earthquake, for example. However, public phone service will be available.
"'During a disaster we will set up public phones at shelters. Using them along with cellphones and the Internet will be more effective than maintaining the network of public telephones,' said an NTT East official.
"'To remove public telephones amounts to decreasing the means of communication during emergencies,' said Hitoshi Omachi, director of Chiiki Bosai Laboratory (Local disaster-prevention laboratory) in Yokohama. 'People should think about measures to maintain public phones, including financial assistance from the central or local governments.'"
Read more at Asahi.com
May 03, 2007
MCI's Prison Payphone rates exploit poor families
"This is a state-sponsored scam," said state Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford. "It's an outrageous intrusion on the rights of families with people in prison. And that's who bears this cost - the families." McDonald said the money generated from the calls should instead be spent on inmate re-entry programs, and he plans to work with state officials to implement such a reform.
Read more at Courant.com
Canada: Pay phones provide a lifeline
"Not surprisingly, your need for pay phones increases as your income decreases: 88 per cent of low-income Canadians use pay phones at least a few times a year, according to a 2003 national survey conducted by the Montreal-based Union des consommateurs. That includes 22 per cent who use pay phones daily."
Read more at the Globe and Mail, and read the comments on this story.
April 24, 2007
Nevada Payphone: A thing of the past?
The Nevada Appeal accompanies its fine story about declining payphones with a strangely erotic photo of a rotary dial payphone.
"The pay phone, like a lot of old technologies, has become somewhat of an endangered species these days. Once found up and down Highway 50 at every gas station, liquor store and convenience shop, they're now harder to find."
Read more at the Nevada Appeal
April 18, 2007
Supreme court rules in favor of payphone industry
"The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the right of companies to sue over alleged violations of federal communications law and reinforced the regulatory authority of the Federal Communications Commission.
"In a 7-2 decision, the court said that pay-phone provider Metrophones Telecommunications Inc. may pursue a suit against Global Crossing Telecommunications Inc.
"At issue are payments for coinless calls on Metrophones' payphones over Global Crossing's network. The calls involve special access codes such as 1-800 or 10-10-220."
Read more at San Jose Mercury News
April 03, 2007
San Diego: Sun sets on beach pay phones
The Union-Tribune's Michael Stetz writes:
"Mark Thomas, who started The Payphone Project, digs pay phones. Thomas used to call them out of the blue and play a tape of one of his piano performances over the line to whomever answered. He liked the odd connection between perfect strangers. Today, most pay phones won't take incoming calls, though."
Read more at SignOnSanDiego.com
April 02, 2007
World's most famous phone booth claims world record
Scotland's Pennan phone box, declared by a local tourism board as "the most famous phone booth in the world," was the scene of record breaking achievement. 16 gymnasts filled the famous phone box, breaking the booth-stuffing record set in 2003 in Edinburgh, where 12 adults and 2 children succeeded on their second attempt to fill a booth with themselves.
The Edinburgh record only includes 2 children, though, while the more recent Pennan booth-cram was all youngsters. Is it inevitable, then, that another record-seeking group will fill a booth with, say, 29 infants or 30 dwarfs?
The Payphone Project asks: When will standards be set in defining the terms of this critical world record?
March 06, 2007
Scotland claims "the most famous phone booth in the world"?
Because of its central role in the movie "Local Hero," a phone booth in Pennan, Scotland has become one of Scotland's leading tourist attractions. While many calls come in to this phone, however, few calls seem to go out, causing concerns that this phone would be purged along with other money-losing phone boxes throughout the country.
BT states there are no plans to remove this phone:
"A BT official spokesman wanted to make it clear that there are no plans to close the Pennan box, – or any other kiosks in Scotland.
"He said: 'We are committed to keeping these rural boxes open. There was a five-year programme to thin out the least used boxes, but that is finished.'"
Too bad we don't have a photo of this famous phone box. Is it really the most famous phone booth in existence? It's debatable, but hey, why not?
Read more at the Banffshire Journal
February 25, 2007
Two calls from a Texas payphone: $122.90!
This story is from Texas, but could happen in any U.S. state. A man makes two phone calls from a payphone and gets socked with a bill for $122.90. This is a story to keep in mind the next time your cell phone bags out and a payphone is your last resort at communicating with the rest of the world.
Fortunately there is a silver lining from this story:
"Since Congress deregulated the pay phone industry, 20 years ago, it has become the Wild West of telecommunications. You never know what you might pay for a call. With little fanfare, a state regulation took effect last week that could cut the costs of some pay phone calls, the Public Utility Commission of Texas says. In the meantime, regulators urge customers to complain to federal and state authorities about pay phone overcharges."
Read more at the Star-Telegram
Scotland: £560 for a call from a phone box?
By BT Scotland's math, annual maintenance costs for a phone box are about £1,600. This story profiles a Scotland phone box that was only used for three calls in an entire year, making its cost-per-call ratio rather conspicuous.
This story also mentions a "legendary" phone box: Ferness 261, featured in the 1983 film Local Hero, starring Burt Lancaster.
"A BT Scotland spokesman said: 'BT is very conscious of its social obligations and has pledged its commitment to retain payphones particularly in remote and rural communities and for people who depend on the service. For example, no payphones have been removed from the Scottish islands under our rationalisation programme which began five years ago.
'More than 60% of our payphones are loss-making but, despite the commercial pressures, we pride ourselves on providing a service that offers real value for money.'"
Read more at Scotsman.com
Uganda: Phone Operator Disconnects Client
"There was drama in Nateete recently..."
This all-too-short story reads like a screenplay-in-waiting.
From this story, it sounds as if a man in Nateete, Uganda, used a community payphone to make a call. Africa is largely without any sort of landline telephone infrastructure, and a community payphone is essentially a pay-as-you-go mobile phone. Such a phone is often owned and operated by an independent business owner.
Photos of these community payphones can be seen in this picture on the Payphone Project: Benin, Africa, Community Payphone. Similarly, Tele-vendors in Cotonou, Benin, sell telephone service on a sort of "door to door" basis.
Evidently, calls made through these community payphones may be subject to the approval of the telephone owner. The caller in this story (from allAfrica.com) learned this when his abusive rant directed at the person on the other end of the phone was overheard by the community payphone operator who disapproved of his side of the conversation and thus ended it.
Read more at allAfrica.com
February 23, 2007
Penn State student asks: 'How do you make a collect call?"
A long article from Penn State University's "Daily Collegian" describes the inexorable decline in payphones from the university's campus.
Canadian company Freefone might be in line to replace college campus payphones with free (ad-supported) public phones, such as those seen around New York and other cities.
This article also touches on the reality of behaviour changes between older and younger generations. Today's college students may never have made a collect or bill-to-third-party phone call.
"Though competition from wireless phones and other communication methods such as the Internet has caused a decrease in payphone use, there is a need for them, Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski said. The company operates all the payphones on Penn State's campus.
"People may need access to a payphone because they don't have a cell phone, their cell phone battery may be dead or they may simply have no phone available to them, he said. Four percent of Pennsylvania households do not have access to a home or cell phone, according to the FCC."
Read more at PSU's Daily Collegian Online
February 20, 2007
New York: Prisoners' lawsuit over payphone fees revived
"The Court of Appeals, in a 4-2 decision, reversed a lower court's determination that the lawsuit should be dismissed for a lack of timeliness. That was incorrect, the high court ruled. While not making any judgment on whether inmates would eventually win the claim, the Court of Appeals ordered that the case go to trial.
"Inmates are required to call collect to family, friends and others at a rate of 16 cents per minute plus a $3 connect fee. The average phone call from prison lasts 19 minutes and costs $6 -- a 630 percent markup from normal phone calls, according to prisoners' advocates.
"When the case goes to trial, the prison families and the defense groups will be seeking to recoup some of the money spent over the years on the phone calls."
Read more at the Press & Sun-Bulletin
February 18, 2007
Payphones? Of course!
The Daily Herald warns against getting ripped off by unscrupulous payphone operators, and also includes a few interesting facts and figures about the state of the payphone business.
"Some billion and a half calls were made on pay phones last year nationwide, many by low-income families with no other option.
"Who uses pay phones? Many are located in low-income areas, but even Blackberry-strapped professionals find themselves without a choice at times. Batteries go dead or reception is terrible, and there in the airport or hotel stands a pay phone silently waiting.
"Natural disasters also bring the mass public to the long-forgotten phone booth. Remember the pictures of scores waiting in pay phone lines during the 2003 Northeast blackout or in the wake of Hurricane Katrina?"
Well, who knows what picture this article refers to, but I've long been proud of my picture from the 2003 blackout. Much of the Northeast was cast into darkness and many people stood on line for hours waiting for a payphone. Many payphones and other land lines failed to work, calling into question the old saw that a land line phone should always work with or without electricity. Despite the assumption that payphones are an obsolete technology, events such as the 2003 blackout illustrate that their value in emergency situations is reason enough that they should endure, regardless of their profitability.
Read more at the Daily Herald
When a serial murderer calls... from a payphone
Here is an interesting story about one reporter's involvement in the infamous Zodiac serial murderer case. In September, 1969, the Zodiac called police from a payphone, bragging about his most recent murder. Unable to track payphones to exact locations, police fanned out to try and find a payphone with its receiver off the hook.
"This reporter jumped into action. After a brief stop at the Sheriff's Department, I drove north on Main Street. Driving past a car wash and the historic Sam Key Laundry Building, I spotted a pay phone, but thought the call must have come from closer to the lake, nearly 30 miles away. At the last second, though, I swerved my car toward the phone booth and was shocked to find the receiver off the hook. Could this be the phone, I wondered?"
Read more at the Napa Valley Register
January 19, 2007
New York: Subway Pay Phones Harder to Find
It is fair to assert that most New Yorkers are probably indifferent to the decline in payphones in the subway system. Despite the fact that cell phones generally do not work in the city's subways, I would think that most cell-phone carrying straphangers are connected to the world constantly enough to a point where the brief time spent out of touch is a welcome respite, at least for a little while.
The danger is not so much in declining numbers of subway phones but with the fact that many of those remaining either do not work at all or function unpredictably. As the New York Sun mentions (link below), a 2006 Straphangers survey found that 29% of payphones in the subway system were useless for any of several reasons. One need not think too hard to imagine scenarios in which access to a working telephone might be critical in a space where cell phone service does not work.
Furthermore, subway information (weekend changes, delays, etc.) are available for free by dialing #3333 from subway payphones. Any city subway rider knows that in-station announcements about delays and route changes are often inaudible over the subway's speaker systems, making reliable access to this free payphone service of some significance.
But how many people use #3333, I wonder, and does the MTA plan to eliminate that service at some point?
The Sun summarizes the immediate future of payphones in the subways with these numbers:
"Between 2003 and the end of this year, the number of phones on subway platforms in New York City will have declined by about 20%. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Tim O'Brien, said there were presently about 5,100 phones in subway stations and by the end of the year the number would decline to 4,700 or 4,800. He said there were no plans to decrease this number further. The number of subway phones was at a high in 2003-04, with a total of about 6,000, he said."
Read more at the New York Sun
January 07, 2007
Calling cards dropping their anonymous shield?
For many years, one of the most frequently visited sections of The Payphone Project has been the pages explaining what it means when phone numbers such as (720) 587-9978 and (404) 461-9978 show up on your caller ID.
Many people, seeing these strange and unknown numbers on their phone, type the numbers into an Internet search engine to try and trace the call or somehow figure out who called them.
The answer in the past was that the call was made using an AT&T prepaid calling card. When a call is placed using one of these calling cards, the receiving party's Caller ID would show one of a series of numbers, but never the phone number from which the call was actually placed. For better or worse this granted the calling party a shield of anonymity.
It appears that this is changing, though. A reader of this web site (thanks, Shevas!) wrote to describe how a recent call made using an AT&T prepaid card showed the actual phone number on the receiving party's caller ID. Having used these cards for some time Shevas (and I, for that matter) had come to expect that our actual phone number would be shielded when placing calls with AT&T calling cards.
As Shevas explains: "I used the same card about a week ago to call my house from out of town, and instead of that erroneous number showing up, the actual number I was calling from showed up instead! So I tested it from a couple of different phones, cell, land, pay, etc. and it was all the same result. The actual number showed up. I have no idea when this started happening, as I don't usually have the
opportunity to see what number is showing up on caller ID."
We don't know when or why this change was implemented.
If you think your calls are being anonymized by going through one of these AT&T calling cards, think again, and test it first, because you may find that you are not as anonymous as you think.
Read more about these calling cards here
Loren Everly: International Payphones
By far the most impressive individual's collection of payphone pictures I have seen in a long time, Loren Everly has travelled the world keeping an eye out for, among other things, phone booths and payphones.
As the number of public phones decreases the cultural value of documenting their presence increases, making Loren's photo collection both unique and valuable.
Of special interest to me are the three photos of Laotian payphones. I lived in Laos as a child and hope to return someday.
Have fun browsing his site, which includes payphones from Belarus, Belgium, Botswana, Burma, Bulgaria -- and that's just the countries starting with "B" -- then check out the rest of his site, which includes lots of interesting accounts of travels throughout the world. If you're like me you'll end up with quite the travel bug.
Click to visit loreneverly.org
Miami Herald: Pay phones a dying breed
"80,000 pay phones were taken out of service in the past seven years. 150 calls a month must be made for a phone to be profitable.
For a phone to remain profitable, it must be in an ideal location and be used for at least 150 calls a month. The best areas for pay phone use tend to be low-income neighborhoods and tourist spots..."
Read more at the Miami Herald
November 11, 2006
Ocala: Pay phones being put out to pasture
A lively but ultimately rote story about the declining number of payphones in America. What surprises me about this story is the expensive multimedia feature buried a couple of screens down. My lord, when I worked in a newsroom you couldn't get away with blowing this kind of production money on anything but sports and 9/11. These are golden days for web journalism, apparently.
Read more at Ocala.com
Wilkes-Barre: Law targets outdoor phones
"In an effort to curb prostitution and drug dealing, city council passed an ordinance Thursday that gives the city the authority to shut down pay phones that are used for illegal activity."
Read more at the Times-Leader
October 08, 2006
Maine: Good Old Pay Phones
This story describes how the residents of Cliff Island, Maine, took advantage of Maine's "Public Interest Payphone Program" to restore access to a public telephone in an area where cell phone coverage is spotty to non-existent.
"... the new communications order has left some people in the lurch. Maybe they find themselves in one of the many [cell phone] dead zones. Or maybe they can’t afford or just plain don’t like cell phones. Some people on Maine’s offshore islands feel especially deprived."
Similar programs exist from state to state, and were enacted as part of the 1996 Telecommunications Reform Act -- see the Establishment of Public Interest Payphones section. Rules for who might qualify for a Public Interest Payphone can differ significantly from state to state. Residents of rural or remote areas are encouraged to follow the example set by the residents of Cliff Island, Maine: if lack of access to phone service constitutes a public safety hazard then get your lawmakers involved.
Read more at Bangornews.com
Mendocino: Pay phone removals provoke worries
The Mendocino Beacon refers to the Payphone Project, and to the "This Ain't Livin' blog cited in this story about the Headlands Payphone in Fort Bragg, CA, in a nicely done story about the removal of public phone in areas poorly served by cell phone coverage.
There is only criteria for removing public telephones in the United States: Profit. If a payphone is not profitable then the owner will have it removed without benefit of public hearings or any other feedback.
"... the California Public Utilities Commission provides funding for pay phones that don't make enough money to support themselves. That means Mendocino County Supervisors could apply for funding for a Public Policy Pay Phone. But that program demands that phone service not be available or that the phone be in a spot designated as an emergency gathering area, according to the state Website."
Read more at the Mendocino Beacon
September 25, 2006
Payphone Warriors: A New York City Street Game
From the maybe-you-had-to-be-there department:
"In 'Payphone Warriors,' teams of four players spread out from Manhattan's Washington Square park in a mad dash for dominance over the area's many pay phones. The idea was that at each new bank of pay phones--and who knew there would be so many in such a small area?--a player would pop in a quarter, call a prescribed number and then punch in his or her team's code.
"The game, which was designed by several people, including Abe Burmeister and festival co-organizer Greg Trefry, lasted for only about 30 minutes, but I can honestly say I've never had a more fun--or exhausting--half-hour of making phone calls in my life."
Read more at CNET's News.com
September 16, 2006
(707) 964-9760 -- No Incoming Calls
A friend writes to share this story of the Headlands payphone in Fort Bragg, California:
"... the Headlands payphone is a staple of my life. When I moved back to town and didn't have a phone yet, I gave out the Headlands number on employment applications, and when I got my first job in Fort Bragg, I found out standing in the pouring rain at the Headlands phone. The DMV still thinks it's my phone number."
Read more at Meloukhia.net
September 11, 2006
Amish opening up to "community phones"
This is an interesting story. I am still thinking about it, because I think its message reaches beyond the Amish and offers a metaphor for how all communities can manage the influence of technology in their lives.
"Off the side of a dirt road in southern Maryland stands an odd answer to the swiftly changing telecommunications industry. ...a telephone.
Called 'community phones,' they are the latest example of how the groups in Maryland and elsewhere have been cutting deals with technology for the past century. "
Read more at the Mail Tribune
September 04, 2006
Maine towns queue up for access to public telephones
Welcome to the 21st century. Access to public communication must now be litigated and passed through political channels:
"We knew that, for a state like Maine, pay phones are not just a relic of small-town Maine, but a necessity of life, part of the landscape," [Rep. Herb Adams, D-Portland] said.
"They're there for that emergency you hope you never have."
Credit goes to the Maine Legislature and the Maine Public Utilities Commission for helping make telephone access available in areas whose access to communications might otherwise be that of the mid 19th century.
Read more at the Kennebec Journal
August 23, 2006
Scranton: Pay phones disappearing
Look for a couple of quotes from me in this story by Coulter Jones, which also mentions the Freefone business model that I think represents a substantial part of the future of the public telephone.
"In the past nine years, a million pay phones have been shut off in the United States — nearly a 50 percent decrease. Competition with cellular phone companies and maintenance costs have led to a 10 percent to 12 percent drop in the number of pay phones each year for the past decade, according to the Federal Communications Commission."
Read more at the Scranton Times-Tribune
August 22, 2006
Columbus: Wireless dealing a blow to pay-phones
"[Howard Meister, president of Cleveland-based North Coast Payphones] said he believes that pay phones always will exist on the American landscape, even at reduced numbers.
"'Until the country gets to a point where there’s universal service or every person breathing has access to cell phones, there will be a need for this public service,' Meister said.
"'It’s viable and necessary,' Twiss said. 'It’s not all doom and gloom.'"
Read more at the Columbus Dispatch
WebPhone: Australia VoIP Pay Phones
"The new VoIP pay phones, dubbed the WebPhone, has (sic) a handset, color monitor, full keyboard and looks similar to digital photo-printing kiosks. [Pie Networks] said the VoIP pay phone will be able to draw in mobile phone users by offering lower rates than some mobile plans."
Read more at VOIP News
August 17, 2006
AT&T Removes Public Access to Telephones in Tomales, California
I hope your car does not break down in Tomales, California. If it does, you may have no way to reach the outside world in this town with limited cell phone coverage and (now thanks to AT&T) no access to public telephony.
"Like other areas of West Marin, the isolated town of Tomales has no reliable cell phone coverage; lost motorists or residents in need of emergency assistance relied instead on the payphone in front of the Tomales Bakery, or on emergency call boxes along the highway."
Profitability is the only criteria invoked by U.S. phone companies when justifying removal of public telephones. Public safety concerns are irrelevent to the phone companies.
Read more at Point Reyes Light
August 06, 2006
Australia: Telstra to remove 4000 payphones
"[Telstra] has told its pay-phone provisioning staff to begin taking out the extra phones later this month, despite being warned that the information used to determine the profitability of many phones in NSW and Queensland was unreliable."
Read more at AdelaideNow
Los Angeles: Pay phones out, cells take over
"... as cell phones have given pay phones a run for their money, some in the industry are hoping for a comeback with new technologies, like Wi-Fi connections.
"About 40 pay phones recently launched at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas now also operate as Wi-Fi spots. Wal-Mart may be next in line. So anyone looking to download music or access the Internet from laptops while sitting in the parking lot there could find access points through these pay phones."
Read more at the LA Daily News
August 04, 2006
Free Phones: Pay phones get second life
I first pointed out Popa Media's Free Phones last summer. It seems they have endured as a viable business model, and I think their success is well deserved. Free calling time is a product everyone can agree on, and billboard advertising is no great nuisance in most urban areas. I look forward to seeing this business model evolve into unlimited free calling time with more creative advertising solutions.
Read more at Pressconnects.com
July 31, 2006
AP: Pay phones becoming scarce across U.S.
"A full 7.1 percent of the nation's households had no phone of any kind in November 2005, up from 4.7 percent three years earlier, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
"For those people, and for the estimated 43 percent of U.S. residents with no cell phones (as of June 2004), pay phones are especially crucial, advocates say."
Read more at the Houston Chronicle
July 27, 2006
Nevada's "Loneliest Road" has become even lonelier
Abby Johnson describes how SBC/AT&T's removal of unprofitable public phones in rural Nevada has created public safety concerns, stranding some with virtually no phone communications.
"The availability of a pay phone in each outpost community along the Loneliest Road is a matter of public safety and courtesy. It is what Nevada owes the tourists and travelers it is attracting to Nevada's outback. Most city folk expect that their cell phones will work everywhere. Well, on Highway 50, it depends. And in many areas, even in towns, there is no coverage at all."
Read more at the Nevada Appeal
July 21, 2006
Brother, can you spare a quarter?
I get quoted at far greater length than I deserve in this nice story about the potential removal of a payphone in Farmington, New York. I did not know that this was going to be the front page, big-time boffo news story of the day at this paper; nor did I know I would be dubbed the "fearless leader" of the payphone world. Jessica Pierce, who wrote the story, was nice enough to send me a couple of copies of the print edition. Thanks, Jessica! It was great to see my payphone graveyard photo in print.
Read more at MPNnow.com
July 17, 2006
Daytona Beach News: The Lost Jobs
The pay-phone maintenance man is cited as an example of a job that will eventually disappear.
The maintenance man quoted in this story offers this insight into the state of the payphone business:
"'There is a large section of society, the have-nots, who use pay phones,' he said. And pay phones can be essential during hurricanes when the electrical power goes out or towers are damaged and many home phones and cell phones don't work."
I would add to the list of fading jobs that of the electronics repair-person. I can remember not that long ago taking VCRs and video game consoles in for repairs, but today those things are so cheap that it's often cheaper to just get a new one - unless you have the skills to fix these things yourself.
The Daytona Beach News story also focuses on the full-service gas station attendant as a doomed job. That may be true in most of the country, but not in New Jersey or Oregon. Pumping your own gas is illegal in those states.
I would think, too, that the physically handicapped would hope for a future with some quantity of full service gas station attendants.
Read more at the Daytona Beach News
July 01, 2006
The Mailbox Project? US Mailbox Location Data Released
Update, 9/26/2006
Of interest to Payphone Project readers -- and of interest to all who believe public information should be publicly available -- comes an interesting release of a comprehensive database of mail collection boxes throughout the United States. This database is believed to include locations, descriptions, and scheduled pick-up times for every postal collection box in America.
Credit for this release of information goes to Mr. Douglas F. Carlson, an attorney and postal service activist who has successfully challenged the postal service on numerous issues. Most recently the PRC agreed to hear Mr. Carlson's case regarding prices of Disney-themed stationary (link below).
Mr. Carlson was forced to invoke the Freedom of Information Act to get release of this mailbox location data, a strategy which suggests the Postal Service was not altogether happy about making this information publicly available in this format.
Two separate releases of data are available for download from the Postal Rates Commission (prc.gov) web site. These are large zip file downloads containing several Excel spreadsheets.
Recognizing the value of this information, I got to work and turned this data into a fully searchable reference for the Internet. The Mailbox Locator has quickly become the most highly-trafficked site on my network, and I believe its usefulness speaks for itself.
Douglas Carlson's accomplishment in securing release of this data deserves recognition. By making this public information publicly available, Mr. Carlson has done for USPS blue mailboxes what I wish someone could do for public telephone information. It frustrates me that a similar release of data for public telephones is not available. I believe that the decline in number of public telephones makes their location information more valuable, not less.
Links:
Bill McAllister comments on Douglas Carlson's work
Updated Release of expanded database
Zip file containing the first release Excel spreadsheets (~15mb download)
Washington Post: Disney Stationery Animates a Postal Spat
Search for mailboxes by zip code!
APCC Services Files Complaints Against 25 Carriers
The American Public Communications Council (APCC) is targeting carriers who fail to pay compensation to payphone providers for coinless payphone calls ( calls made with credit card and calling card).
The APCC's president, in sharply worded comments, said:
"This failure to comply with the FCC's rules could not be more
egregious and the incredible arrogance these carriers have
shown in thumbing their noses at the FCC is truly profound. In
addition to collecting our unpaid compensation, we hope and
expect the FCC will soon begin imposing significant penalties
and sanctions on these and the other non-paying carriers."
Read the press release at APCC.net
The 25 companies targeted in the APCC complaint, with links to available web sites, are:
1. Access International, Westlake Village, CA
2. AllCom USA, Inc., Rancho Cucamonga, CA
3. BAK Communications, Inc., Los Angeles, CA
4. CCI Network Services, Salt Lake City, UT
5. Compass Global, Woodcliff Lake, NJ
6. Economy Telephone, Inc., San Diego, CA
7. Fone Corp International, Inc., Lincolnwood, IL
8. Geo Group Communications, Inc., Commerce, CA
9. Intelco Communications, Montreal Quebec Canada
10. International Telecom Exchange Group, Inc., Huntington Beach, CA
11. LataOne LLC, Beverly Hills, CA
12. Macro Communications, Inc., Duluth, GA
13. Multiphone Latin America, Inc., Miami, FL
14. Network Management, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT
15. Next-G Communications, Inc., Houston, TX
16. Red River Networks LLC, Oklahoma City, OK
17. Southwest Communications, Inc., Kansas City, MO
18. Southwest iNet, Inc., Fort Worth, TX
19. Network US, Inc., Naperville, IL
20. Telecents Communications, Inc., Walled Lake, MI
21. Telefyne, Inc., Pace, FL
22. Volume Telecom, Littleton, CO
23. WestStar Telecommunications LLC, Sandy, UT
24. Wildgate Wireless, Inc., Culver City, CA
25. WorldOne Telecommunications LLC, Los Angeles, CA
Are there any phone booths left in Pittsburgh?
Kim Lyons finds a handful of phone booths in Pittsburgh, illustrating how Superman would likely be out of luck should a crisis occur in that town.
Interestingly, Superman's association with the phone booth seems to be overstated. In the movies, at least, Superman has apparently never stepped into a phone booth.
Read more at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
June 29, 2006
Verizon to end its Airfone service
The Airfone, owned by Verizon, is essentially an extremely expensive in-flight payphone. I remember using one of these phones to make a call in 2001 -- the bill was alarming to say the least. I don't recall the exact number but I seem to remember a 10 minute call costing 40 or 50 bucks. I have since used these phones occasionally to make calls in-flight, usually when a flight is late and someone expecting to meet me at the airport might not be aware of the delay.
I don't travel enough by plane any more to say whether or not I'll miss the Airfone, but I do hope that someone buys this division and keeps this option available in some form.
I am surprised to find that the Airfone division employs 140 people. That seems like a lot of overhead for what is essentially a small payphone operation.
Read more at Reuters.com
June 06, 2006
Lacking payphones, Indiana chaplain starts cell phone ministry
"There's one pay phone at the crossroads near the docks the men can walk to. The men are there all hours of the day and night making phone calls. There isn't even a light there."
Read more at Northwest Indiana News
June 03, 2006
These phone booths take cellphones
When I was a kid the church I attended installed baby booths. These were soundproof (almost) rooms where parents could take their screaming babies so as not to disrupt the service. I never stepped into one of these booths, but they were considered innovative. I have never seen these booths again, but as a lapsed Catholic I guess I would have been likely to miss them.
Salemi Industries, Inc., has introduced CellZone, which is a cellphone phone booth. Restaurants, libraries (and perhaps churches) are the target market for the CellZone product, which functions as a phone booth for those rare cell phone users sensitive to having their conversations overheard.
This concept is not new. C.P. Booth, L.L.C. has been marketing such products for some time. It was a C.P. Booth that was somewhat famously installed at Manhattan's Biltmore Room in 2004.
And our friends over at the Half Bakery proposed Cell Phone Booths back in 2003. (On a different tack, check out their more recent "I'm not crazy" idea.)
CellZone strikes me as evidence that venture capitalists are burning money just like the old days. Costing up to $3,500 a pop and with no obvious way for buyers to recoup their investment I find it hard to imagine this product being installed as anything more than a novelty.
I believe the concept fails on merits, too: Instead of insulating the cell phone user from their surroundings these booths seem like they would draw more attention to the talker.
Read more at Boston.com
Read more at USA Today
June 02, 2006
Save the Bombala Payphone!
The Bombala Times: Australia's Telstra issues a corporately obscure announcement warning the Bombala community that their payphone will be removed pending evaluation of comments received about the matter. Few Bombala locals appear to be aware of the matter or that their comments are being solicited. If you are willing to help save this payphone please call (in Australia) 1800 011 433 or send your comments in writing to Telstra Payphone Siting Manager, Locked Bag 6658, Sydney, NSW, 2001.
Read more at the Bombala Times
May 22, 2006
Pay Phones? How About Pay Computers?
Prepaid mobile phones and calling cards serve as a model for Microsoft's initiative to bring pay-as-you-go computers to developing nations:
"In an effort to replicate the success of prepaid mobile phones in emerging markets, the PC industry aims to expand PC use in countries where consumers must cope with a lower income and limited access to credit.
"The pay-as-you-go model lowers the initial costs of buying a PC by 50 percent or more and the consumer owns the PC after a set amount of minutes are purchased, the companies said."
Read more at CNN International
May 21, 2006
Missouri: For a quarter you can't even make a call
'"AT&T does continue to operate 'as many pay phones in St. Francois County as possible,' Moesner said. He added that entities who have had a pay phone removed may ask the company to reconsider its decision. Entities can also pay a fee to have a pay phone if they really want one."'
Read more at the Daily Journal
May 20, 2006
You Must Remember This...
MacAllister Stone writes:
"My personal experiences with payphones over the years tend toward the middle-of-the-night, damn-I'm-in-a-fix variety. You know the kind I mean, right? Your car broke down and you've just hiked along the shoulder of some lonely two-lane highway, in the dark. You find a roadhouse with a payphone in the back, through the smoke and past the pooltables."
Read more at Stones in the Field
NPR: There's No Tech Like Low-Tech
NPR delivers a flailing, unfocused piece that nevertheless opens some interesting windows into the paranoia of Americans who for some reason assume that use of public networks comes with a right to anonymity.
'"What I decided to do was go out and buy with cash a pre-paid phone card," Hensley says. "Then through other means, [I'd] arrange to call them, where they're receiving the call on a payphone."'
"Is a pre-paid phone card the solution?"
Read more at National Public Radio.
May 18, 2006
UK: Phone boxes converted to card-only use
"Rural payphones saved from having the plug pulled on them are being converted to take cards instead of coins.
"Merely losing the ability to pay for a telephone call by using coins at these locations is better than BT having to remove the kiosk altogether, which would be the alternative," said (BT Manager Rick) Thompson."
Read more at Market Rasen Today
May 17, 2006
UK: End of the line for payphones
"British Telecom is to scrap three Wirral payphones and remove cash payment facilties from a fourth.
'"We appreciate that some people will wonder why the phones are being removed, but often when you ask those same people when they last used a public payphone they have a lot of trouble remembering."'
Read more at the Wirral Globe
May 15, 2006
Boston Globe: A Port in the Storm
"You're climbing your way out of homelessness and trying to get a job. And a place to live. And meds for your bipolar illness. And school placement for your 8-year-old who's in a shelter with you.
Do you know what you need on the way back up? A phone. That's what you need."
Read more at the Boston Globe
May 12, 2006
Forbes: Want to chat in private? Use a pay phone.
"'A pay phone and a roll of quarters is the best way to protect your privacy if you're really interested,' said Jim Dempsey, policy director for the Center for Democracy and Technology watchdog group."
Read more at Forbes.com
May 03, 2006
NYC Subways: 25% of Verizon Payphones Don't Work
Quoted in the New York Times (May 3, 2006), Verizon blames its customers:
Heather Wilner, a Verizon spokeswoman, said: "The difficulty comes when people don't report problems. A lot of times, when the phone doesn't work, they just walk away."
Read the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign Web Site
April 14, 2006
Wales: Couple hope to keep lonely pay phone
"John and Jane Hughes have a telephone at home, but it only takes incoming calls. They got into the habit of using the public phone box to call out when their children were teenagers because it was a good way to keep the phone bill down."
Read more at UPI
April 12, 2006
Architecture of Waiting
Alexander Trevi on the architecture of waiting: "... landscapes of waiting. The anticipation of a call, or the prank call, ticking silently but surely like a bomb counting down to an as yet unknown detonation time.
Read more at Pruned
March 27, 2006
North Carolina: Cell-phone use growing among the homeless
"Cell phones are increasingly popular among the Triangle's homeless. With public pay phones quietly disappearing and prices on cell phones dropping, many homeless people say that it just makes sense."
Read more at Journalnow.com
February 23, 2006
Atlanta: Payphone Scammer Heads to Jail
"An Atlanta man will spend the next 13 years in prison for defrauding more than 12,000 people out of $400 million in a payphone fraud scheme.
U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp sentenced Charles E. Edwards, 67, of Atlanta, to prison on charges of wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Edwards also was ordered to pay $320.4 million in restitution."
Read more at the Atlanta Journal Constitution
February 21, 2006
Walhem, MA: Phone Booth of 30 Years is Removed
This story (link removed since the story is no longer on the Salem News web site) makes me wonder if the phone booths I saw in Goodrich, North Dakota; Osceola, Nebraska; and Mappsville, Virginia; are still there. Any North Dakotans know about the phone booth in Goodrich?
What happened in Wenham has been happening across the country, ever since cell phone technology become affordable in the mid-1990s. Before then, the pay phone was the only way to make that quick call home or to a friend. But since 2001, Verizon has seen its collection of pay phones throughout the country drop by 32 percent, to just 300,000.
Australia: Payphones in Indigenous communities to stay
"We need to make sure that people have access to basic telephonic services, and one way of doing that is ensuring that public telephones, where they are, actually work and are properly maintained."
Read more at ABC Online
February 19, 2006
New York Times: Sorry, Superman
The New York Times, which did a front page profile of the Payphone Project on May 13, 2004, today has a more perfunctory piece on the demise of the payphone.
The real story, as usual for this type of piece, is stuffed at the end:
"'But what about older people who have never used cellphones, or poor people who can't afford them, or people who just don't want one?'"
This article also includes no mention of the free phones around the city, which offer free (ad supported) calling time within the U.S.
The title of the story, incidentally, references the fact that the Superman comic book character snuck into phone booths to turn from Clark Kent to Superman. Phone booths are not mentioned in this story, but in New York City there are 4 remaining outdoor, freestanding phone booths, all of them on West End Avenue in Manhattan.
Full story no longer online, but click here to access the story at the New York Times.
February 10, 2006
Boston: Officials seek restrictions on pay phones
"Saying that pay phones attract drug dealers and prostitutes, city agencies are pushing for an amendment to the zoning code meant to restrict installation of coin-operated phones."
I don't know Boston, but it sounds like the drug dealers are already there in these neighborhoods. The pay phones did not bring them there. Taking away emergency telephone access from the entire community seems like a drastic measure. Some have suggested that public phones should be monitored or wiretapped, offering no guarantee of privacy. As unpallatable as that sounds at first you quickly realize how much surveillance goes on in private communication channels. Why should public channels be excluded as well, particularly when criminal activity is suspected? I do not advocate wiretapping of pay phones, but I would not be surprised to see it happen.
Read more at Boston.com
February 06, 2006
Maine: Commission may require free public telephones
"On Thursday, the Maine Public Utilities Commission will hold a public hearing on a rule change that would allow it to direct phone companies to install coinless phones around the state."
Maine's remotest areas often lack any cell phone coverage, but the rush to remove money-losing payphones has left some areas with no access to phone service in the event of an emergency.
Establishment of public interest payphones, discussed in the 1996 Telecommunications Reform Act, has long been at the discretion of individual U.S. States.
Maine's proposal goes a step further. Described in this story as "pay phones," Maine actually wants to make these phones absolutely free to consumers.
Free phones, supported by advertising, are becoming common in larger cities, but the remoteness of the locations in Maine make it hard to imagine advertisers being interested in sponsoring these phones.
This article mentions that the phone companies take a "dim view" of this legislation, but offers no comment from those companies.
Read more at Bangor News Daily
Oregon: Phone Booth Stakeout
Nothing new in this lively story about the demise of the payphone, except that this story goes so far as to include the number of a payphone. That payphone, 503-227-9844, does not accept incoming calls. No pictures, either.
The disappearance of the phone booth is a bit over-stated. It's true that outdoor, freestanding phone booths are not being installed as often as in the past. But indoor phone booths, with the signature accordian type door and even a local phone book, abound in most cities. Since these booths are part of the structure of the buildings they are likely to be around for a while.
Still, the cocoon-like feeling of an outdoor phone booth is distinct, and as one person quoted in this story says, it feels like you're making a "secret phone call."
I find the nostalgia over phone booths to be rather twee. Step into the phone booths on the New Jersey Turnpike and I bet that any sentimentality for this enclosed space will be chased off by the rank smell of urine and who knows what else.
Read more at Oregon Live.
See my phone booth pictures from New York City, Tampa's Swan Motel, Delaware, Virginia, and North Dakota.
January 16, 2006
UK: BT hangs up on internet payphone
BT has pulled the plug in an ambitious scheme to replace 28,000 red phone boxes with all-singing, all-dancing Internet-enabled payphones.
Read more at the Register
January 11, 2006
Canada: The Vanishing Pay Phone
Telus says they're considering "curfewed" payphones, which function normally during the day but only allow for emergency calls after dark.
“Obviously we’re very, very cautious about removing pay phones from a low-income neighbourhood,” says Hall. “If you’ve got an area where the demographics (indicate) that a lot of people can’t afford to have a home phone, you want to make sure that there are a lot of pay phones in that neighbourhood. People rely on them not only for day-to-day phone calls, (but) also for emergency access.”
Read more at Victoria News
January 06, 2006
Calling all payphone webcams...
Can you call payphones in Times Square and see who answers live on an Internet webcam? Are there other payphone webcams for you to call?
Click here to find out.
Groups Fight N.Y. State Prison Collect Call "Kickbacks"
"A portion of the “overcharge” paid by inmates’ families on high priced prison calls is extorted by the State of New York, leaving families with outlandish phone bills or out of touch with incarcerated loved ones."
Read more at The New Standard
December 30, 2005
The Payphone: A Lifeline That's Often Out of Order
"In some neighborhoods, pay phones always seem to be broken. It hurts poor people the worst. There are still many people in this city who cannot afford phone service, period. Public pay phones are an absolute essential for a lot of people."
Read more at TMC.net
December 29, 2005
Fugitive tracked through pay phone
In case you thought calls made from payphones were anonymous, read this story.
Read more at the St. Pete Times
December 24, 2005
Ireland: Immigrants revive payphones
"Immigrants living in Ireland are rescuing the humble public payphone from near redundancy, according to a new survey."
The same could be said of immigrants in the U.S. reviving the pre-paid calling card industry.
Read more at the Irish Examiner
December 12, 2005
Oklahoma: Payphones Disappearing From the Scene
AT&T removes a payphone, then considers re-installing it when it's revealed that this payphone some historical significance.
AT&T spokesperson makes an interesting comment: "A pay phone has to make a dollar a day to break even..."
Read more at the Tahlequah Daily Press
December 07, 2005
Scottsdale firm lets callers dial for free
"A Scottsdale company believes it has an answer for the struggling pay-phone business: Let customers dial a call for free."
This is not really new. Popa Media, as covered by the Payphone Project several months ago, has offered free public telephones throughout New York City for some time now. I think that free (ad-supported) public telephony represents a significant part of the future of public telephony.
Bummer. Outdated link removed from The Payphone Project
New York: City Losing Revenue From Public Pay Phone Advertising
"[New York C]ity is being cheated out of millions of dollars a year in advertising revenue generated by street pay phones, Comptroller William Thompson has charged in a new report.
"...the biggest offender was Telebeam Telecommunications Corporation which owes 1.5 million of the total."
Read more at NY1.com
October 26, 2005
Pittsburgh: Pay phones losing connection
I was asked to comment for this story, but unfortunately my travel plans interfered with my ability to do so. My apologies to Jason, and kudos on a fine story about the enduring place for payphones in modern life.
Read more at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Telecom New Zealand to remove 400 payphones
"There was a time when payphones were one of the only ways that New Zealanders could access the telephone when they were away from home or the office. Today, there are nearly as many mobile phones in New Zealand as there are people..."
Read more at Cellular News
October 16, 2005
Cell phone use changes life in Africa
This article implies that payphones are irrelevent in the African communications revolution being brought about by cell phone service. In fact satellite powered community payphones are changing whole communities throughout Africa where most citizens can not afford personal or business phone service. Nevertheless, this is a good story showing the signal changes happening in Africa as telephone service becomes widely available for the first time.
Read more at San Jose Mercury News
October 13, 2005
New Hampshire town saves its only pay phone
"The phone was the first in New Hampshire to be protected under a state law passed in July. The law sprang from the 1996 federal Telecommunications Act, which deregulated pay phones but allowed states to enact "public interest" laws to save endangered phones. At least eight states have similar laws, including New York, California and Maine, which also enacted its law this year."
Read more at Indystar.com
October 12, 2005
FTC Targets Internet Kiosk Fraudsters
"It seemed like a great idea: own fee-based, public Internet terminals located in malls and rake in the cash. Too good, in fact, according to the Federal Trade Commission."
Read more at Internetnews.com
Jerusalem ‘payphone war’ heats up
Growing phenomenon in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods: Payphones locked by chains on weekends and holidays 'to prevent Sabbath desecration by Christians’
Read more at YNetNews.com
October 06, 2005
End of an era: Benner-Nawman produces final phone booths
"Globally, telephones are still a growing business with over 60 percent of the world's population having yet to make their first phone call," said Ed Kientz. "In the developing world the telephone business is growing, but the technology has changed favoring the development of wireless systems. Unfortunately people with cell phones don't need phone booths."
Read more at the Wickenberg Sun
September 30, 2005
Man convicted in $414 million phone scam
"A jury found Charles Edwards, who founded ETS Payphones a decade ago, guilty of 83 counts of wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy."
Read more
September 25, 2005
Were ETS Payphones a Fraud?
"Charles Edwards was a failed entrepreneur who found gold in 1996 when the pay telephone industry was deregulated.
"But Edwards' success was merely a mirage built on deceit, federal prosecutors say. Edwards is accused of running a Ponzi scheme..."
Read more (Sorry, registration required, but it's free and this is an interesting story for the payphone industry)
September 16, 2005
UK: 'Save our Phone Boxes' Campaign continues
"These phone boxes provide a lifeline in many rural communities, both for visitors and the people who live there.
"In an emergency, the closure of these payphones could cause real problems. The phone box closure programme must be stopped before it is too late."
Read more
August 16, 2005
Sprint sees profitable future for payphones
This memo from Sprint's corporate intranet was sent to the Payphone Project by a Sprint employee. While the death knells continue to sound, Sprint sees a distinct and profitable future for the payphone. With this memo Sprint calls on employees to scout out locations for modest cash rewards.
Sprint is giving employees a chance to make some extra money. Our National Public Access (NPA) organization, which oversees Sprint pay phones, is offering a $25 gift certificate for every lead that results in the installation of a pay station.
“Sometimes the general consensus is that pay phones are dinosaurs,” said Darlene House, interim public access sales manager. “But the truth is, pay phone services remain in demand, and public access contributes to Sprint’s revenue streams.”
The company is looking for good pay phone locations. Good locations may include coin laundries, apartment complexes, convenience stores, gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, shopping centers, schools and hotels, just to name a few. As other public access competitors have backed out of the pay phone business, many local business owners have found themselves without pay phone service. NPA wants to find these locations, as well.
That’s where employees can get involved – and win cash! (Actually it’s gift certificates that spend like cash.)
“Employees are the eyes and ears in our communities,” House said. “Many years ago, large sales teams made cold calls to secure pay phone locations. In today’s market, NPA, like all other Sprint organizations, is working to maximize revenues while containing costs. Employee referrals can help us do that.”
Employees who make a pay station referral that results in a successful installation at that location will receive a $25 gift certificate. Make two successful referrals, get two certificates – or $50. There’s no limit.
While locations in which Sprint is the primary local service provider are optimal, National Public Access will consider locations outside franchised Sprint territory.
“The NPA Employee Referral Program is a money-maker for Sprint and for employees,” House said. “It’s a win-win situation.”
August 05, 2005
Stehekin, Washington: A Town Without Telephones
"If telephones ever come to Stehekin, a lot of tourist brochures will need editing.
Most locals use two-way radios to communicate within the valley, so you can't say anything that you don't want your neighbors to hear.
But the modern world is encroaching."
Read more
UK: Phone boxes are vanishing from streets
"Councillor Keith Sharp said: "We have made a request for the phone box in Francis Gardens to be removed because we have been inundated with complaints about youths using it as a to | 
