Sometimes, when I look payphones that have been abandoned or disemboweled, I see a mouth, and eyes, as if something is screaming in horrified sadness at the removal of a public telephone. The vacant hull of this former payphone stands at attention, idling in blighted uselessness.
Short piece from StLToday.com includes a rare photo essay of a payphone repairman on the job.
Gulf Daily News, from the Kingdom of Bahrain, reports that payphones might not be disappearing altogether any time soon.
Under the gloom of yesterday's miserable weather I checked out one of Titan's three new payphone kiosks in Times Square. This kiosk is at the corner of 49th Street and 7th Avenue, at the edge of Times Square.
I am encouraged by trends which run contrary to the seeming inexorable decline of the public payphone. On the other hand if the payphone does not work (as is common) then display advertising is just window dressing.
DNAinfo.com reports that Manhattan Community Board 4 is soliciting coöperation from New York’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications to redesign the outdoor payphone. No concrete action is expected any time soon, and designs for the new prototype are being kept secret. Nevertheless a few interesting glimpses suggest that the city’s version of the payphone…
Long since removed, I passed by this payphone location today. I was both chagrined and amused to see the word "POOF" spray-painted on the wall where this payphone once stood. POOF goes the payphone!
Here is a cool gift idea for the payphone enthusiast in your life, or for anyone with an interest in telephone nostalgia. I picked this book up a couple of years ago and check in on it once in a while if only to remind myself how interesting and even exciting the world of payphonery…
A Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report includes interesting payphone statistics from the city's International Airport.
The Empire State Building has no public telephones.
I was intrigued by this notice on a Queens payphone. The bottom line reads: "Dial *22 For Free: News-Stocks-Sports-Weather-Entertainment-Travel & More".
"...some payphones have constant use and will serve the public for years to come."
Watch the people passing by in the payphone's reflective metal surface.
For years this payphone was, like everything around it, dead.
A simple request to independent payphone service providers, even though most of you have probably skipped town by now: Clean up after yourselves. Abandoned payphones can be dangerous.
The Wall Street Journal Blog reports that Verizon has sold almost all of its non-New York City payphones to Pacific Telemanagement Services. Even New York City subway payphones appear to be on the chopping block, as Verizon moves to wire underground stations for cell phone service. As WSJ user “nygrump” wisely commented, the steady disenfranchisement of…
Electronic News Service reports: “Multimedia Payphone is a fundamentally new device that combines the functions of a payphone and a computer. In addition to conventional telephony services, the device allows access to the Internet, sends emails, views video ads, etc. “Universal payphones provide local, long distance and international calls at any time. Access to…
This is one of my favorite things in New York City. There is the Unisphere. I love that thing. I plan to stand under it this week. There used to be the Nissin Cup O’ Noodles soup bucket thing high atop Times Square. I loved that, too. There is the Black Forest Ham and Brie…
Trend.AZ reports: Baku Telephone Communications Production Association of the Azerbaijani Communications and IT Ministry began work on updating payphone services, the Ministry Spokesman Mushfig Amirov told Trend on Thursday. Read more at Trend.AZ
I have been cutting the noise out of my life. The mental noise of interactive distraction, or “interstraction.” I rarely carry a cell phone any more, and I may be ready to give up on the device altogether. At first it made me fidgety. I frequently reached for the multi-distractional smart phone out of habit,…
Superman is not the only cartoon character who steps in to phone booths. “The Flying Phone Booth” follows Donald Duck on an interplanetary adventure in which aliens blast our hero into space in a specially-built rocket-powered phone booth. The story gets going with Donald Duck patrolling his home town of Duckburg. He is on a…
A couple of weeks ago, prior to the more significant arrival of Hurricane Irene, NYC and other areas experienced a mild earthquake, one which rattled nerves more than anything else, but which caused genuine concern in the early moments following its arrival. I feel a little left out of the incident. I felt nothing. No…
My window screens writhe in their strait jackets. Irene sends her periodic blasts of rain matter across this sleeping city. The pelting noise of the rain bands will keep this restless soul wide awake through the day. In my last posting here I promised (within 48 hours of the incident) an accounting of my experiences…
I spotted this charming short story in the December, 1891, issue of "The Etude" magazine. This is not about payphones, but it comes from a time when the telephone was still considered mysterious and magical, and the lines lightly used.
Here is something any payphone user can appreciate. A sanitary wrapper for a public telephone, thoughtfully placed by a fellow payphone user: Of course there is no telling what microbial horrors lie within that shared scrap of napkin. Bed Bugs? West Nile Virus? Anthrax? Fleas and ticks? Certainly a fresh splotch of perspiration would be…