Link.NYC – The Payphone Project

Link5G Encroaching Upon Religion

the payphone project — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 19:56:29 +0000

Fresh LinkNYC Carnage

the payphone project — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 12:28:58 +0000

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

the payphone project — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 22:57:40 +0000

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

the payphone project — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 16:39:24 +0000

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]

the payphone project — Sat, 26 Mar 2022 23:14:15 +0000

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.

the payphone project — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 15:08:12 +0000

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?

the payphone project — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 14:28:20 +0000

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)

the payphone project — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 13:25:30 +0000

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.

the payphone project — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 15:22:18 +0000

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.

the payphone project — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 17:26:57 +0000

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

the payphone project — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 15:24:25 +0000

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.

the payphone project — Mon, 20 Sep 2021 16:19:25 +0000

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.

the payphone project — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 19:31:24 +0000

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

the payphone project — Tue, 11 May 2021 02:56:41 +0000

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

the payphone project — Mon, 10 May 2021 19:24:51 +0000

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.