Fresh LinkNYC Carnage
I had not seen this kind of damage to a LinkNYC machine in some time, though I’ve not paid as much attention to these machines as in times past. They remain about the same as ever in terms of reliability. Sometimes a phone call works, sometimes it does not. You just never know what to…
History is Being Rewritten, One AI Prompt at a Time
On three separate occasions I asked ChatGPT what it knew about LinkNYC. It got several facts wrong but presented a typically convincing-sounding mishmash of accuracy and lies. Even I wanted to believe the bullshit. It didn’t occur to me right away, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to see what AI thought it knew about…
LinkNYC Lights Up the Pre-Dawn Hour
LinkNYC is now failing upward into a new iteration: Link5G, 32-foot towers that will fill a need no one is certain really exists.
![The New Link5G LinkNYC Skyscrapers Close-Up [Video]](https://www.payphone-project.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/DSC09621-250x180.jpg)
The New Link5G LinkNYC Skyscrapers Close-Up [Video]
The Intersection/Google/CityBridge Smart City monopoly continues to fail up. The future of public communications, the next evolution of the payphone, looks like this. Meet Link5G. Some shoddy workmanship and general ugliness. If the LinkNYC rollout was any indication we can look forward to 7 or 8 of these 5G absolute necessities on every intersection in…
267-691-2424 On Your Caller ID? That’s LinkPHL Calling.
Thanks to a friend from my YouTube Payphone Channel I now know what LinkPHL kiosks, the Philadelphia version of LinkNYC, sends out as its caller ID. If you received a call from (267) 691-2424 that most likely means someone tried to reach you from a LinkPHL Smart City kiosk in Philadelphia. If LinkPHL is set…
What happens when you try to make a call through a CityBridge payphone?
If you can find a CityBridge payphone with dial tone your attempts to make calls will send you into a confusing series of billing options, including calling card or even collect calls. CityBridge has let its Verizon Wireless account expire, leaving ownership of their payphones up for grabs, it seems.
Last of the Outdoor Times Square Payphones (They Don’t Work)
I thought all the outdoor payphones around Times Square were long gone. I missed these non-working CityBridge masterpieces, at 7th Avenue and 50th Street. And also: What really keeps the payphone business alive today?
This Chatter Phone Enclosure Has Survived The LinkNYC Stampede… For Now.
Someone had their graffiti A-game on placing images of the Fisher-Price Chatter Phone on this derelict CityBridge payphone enclosure. Found on Third Avenue, where the LinkNYC stampede began, it seems that going forward old payphones and enclosures like this will be replaced with redesigned "Link5G" kiosks, æsthetic monstrosities rising 32 feet into the air.
Want to use LinkNYC to connect to social services? That’s too bad.
One of the more widely-heralded features of LinkNYC was its touted ability to help “bridge the digital divide”. This would be accomplished by providing not only superfast free WiFi internet access but also access to social services for those who might otherwise be unable to use or maintain control of a computer or mobile communications…
KEST GAK and Some LinkNYC Ramblings
This has little to do with KEST GAK, actually, but their vandalizing of a LinkNYC was, I believe, tastefully executed. It got me writing again about LinkNYC, the bane of payphone users in New York and a program which, for now at least, appears to be in peril.
Those LinkNYC Front-Facing Cameras? They Actually Do Work.
Since the day LinkNYC landed on our streets we have been told, time and again, that the surveillance capabilities of the kiosks' cameras, in particular the front-facing camera that hovers over the tablet screen, are disabled. Guess what? That's not true. Another Smart City lie.
Smart City Fail. The LinkNYC “Payphone of the Future” Just Doesn’t Work.
They took away your payphones and gave you this instead. Until yesterday my expectation when making phone calls from LinkNYC was that only about ½ the calls would work. I did not expect the failure rate of the kiosks' free phone call feature to have reached 100%.
Reflections in a Non-Working LinkNYC Kiosk
Just a little photo set showing how vividly things reflect off the screen of a non-working LinkNYC kiosk. These photos are from June, 2018.
Link in a Box
At first glance I thought this might be another guerilla artist's takeover of a LinkNYC kiosk on Varick near Charlton on Friday. No such luck. And also, some LinkNYC ramblings.
Payphones of The Bronx and Harlem. January 2, 2021.
I took the 4 to Fordham to check in on some straggler PTS payphones, as well as a couple of failures from the LinkNYC "Smart City" rollout.
Profiles in Technology
A poignant little pairing of the old and the new at 21st Street and Astoria Boulevard.
Signs of Life in the LinkNYC Rollout?
It's hard to know what to expect of the LinkNYC rollout at this point. We were promised transparency on a variety of matters, but publication of most LinkNYC-related datasets stopped a long time ago.
LinkNYC’s “Super Fast Wi-Fi” Speeds Revisited
I put on my "Franchise Inspector" hat again, putting LinkNYC's "Super Fast Wi-Fi" to the test. Results, as per the last time I did this, were all over the place.
What LinkNYC Brings to Astoria
You never used to see this kind of thing in Astoria. Now you do. Thanks, LinkNYC!
The Connection Between LinkNYC and Ice Cream Truck Music? If You Know, You Know.
Gothamist reports that an ice cream truck company, Good Humor, discontinued use of “Turkey in the Straw” as its jingle on account of the song’s racist history. A new jingle, written by RZA, of the Wu-Tang Clan, replaced the old one. What does this have to do with payphones? Not much.
Strange Way To Vandalize a LinkNYC Kiosk
What message is someone trying to communicate by perfectly covering a LinkNYC tablet screen with an opaque black material?
One Of LinkNYC’s Most Obnoxious Features Finally Remedied
New Yorkers within earshot of LinkNYC kiosks are no longer serenaded by obnoxiously loud noise made when anyone makes a phone call from the device. We still, however, get to hear both sides of the conversation.
917-341-5504 is Now LinkNYC’s CallerID, and Other Observations
Usage stats are no longer published, but you could make the case that LinkNYC during the pandemic has not only failed completely at bridging the so-called “digital divide”, but even widened it by placing its free internet and phone service in communities that need it the least. With libraries closed and NYCHA Digital Vans not coming around the less affluent are more disenfranchised than ever.
Payphone Gone. 31st Street and 38th Avenue in Astoria.
An amazing thing about these payphone enclosures is how successfully they cancel out the noise of the above-ground subway, allowing one to continue a conversation without having to scream. The same cannot be said of the LinkNYC kiosks that threaten to replace and supplement the quantity of today's NYC payphones.
Just What I Was Hoping Not To See: Someone Using a Payphone
A shared public pay telephone must rank among the likeliest conduits for transmitting something like the corona virus. That does not seem to have inhibited this individual from using a payphone sans gloves or a facemask.
Inside a Smart City Road Wart
What happens when a wood pylon sits on a city street for a couple of years? It starts to fall apart, exposing what it was intended to hide.
Just How Bad is Call Quality From LinkNYC Kiosks?
I am glad you asked. Listen in on this nearly unintelligible call I made yesterday from a LinkNYC kiosk somewhere in Astoria/LIC.