"The National Consumers League and Consumer Action believe that payphones continue to play an important role in providing a needed communications link for millions of consumers and workers. It has come to our attention that the Commission is currently considering two petitions submitted by the American Public Communications Council (APCC) that would halt the imminent disappearance of the nation's payphone infrastructure and preserve the critical functionality that these telephones provide to consumers, particularly those with lower incomes."
This payphone seemed to draw the attentions of people who had no intention of using the phone. There is a bus stop next to this former payphone location. People waiting for a bus would sometimes pass the time by fiddling with this payphone. Fiddling means: picking up the phone, needlessly listening for a dial tone, dialing a non-existent phone number, and hanging up. Some folks idly picked up the phone to look busy or distracted, in the way people commonly use cell phones as a crutch, to make themselves seem important and distracted.
Summertime payphone chatting
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.
This old payphone does not appear to be have been providing cheer, much less ultra cheer, as it sat unused somewhere in Manhattan.
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…
Scene 6 of "The Godfather" (directed by Francis Ford Coppola) is titled "The Shooting of Don Corleone". This scene, a turning point in the film, features a call made from a payphone in a phone booth.
A Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report includes interesting payphone statistics from the city's International Airport.
This is a film photo, shot with an old Minolta Maxxum 7000 SLR. I left imperfections and artifacts in the image to complement the ruggedness of the scene.
TCC Teleplex: Still Only 25¢
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…