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…
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…
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…
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. 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…
“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
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. These booths were considered innovative. I never saw such booths again, but as a lapsed Catholic I guess I might have missed them. Salemi…
‘”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…
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…
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,…
“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.”…
“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…
“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…
“‘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
“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
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
“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
“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…
“In the past six years nearly 17,000 payphones have disappeared, and initial reports suggested Telstra wanted to cut 5000 of the 32,000 that remain. “The carrier says the future of the phone box is in the public’s hands – and the public is increasingly turning to mobiles. Users have taken out 18.4 million mobile phone…
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 bottom line,” [Verizon spokesperson Jim] Smith added, “is that pay phones are struggling to generate revenue, and are no longer profitable, so out they…
“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…
“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
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…
“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
TMCnet reports on Washington D.C. Payphone usage: “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. “For telecommunications giant Verizon, maintenance of…
In case you thought calls made from payphones were anonymous, read this story. Read more at the St. Pete Times
“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
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
“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…