“Kathie Purmal used to take it for granted that a pay phone would be around in case of an emergency. But after an incident last fall, the executive director of the Lake County Historical Society found herself reluctantly buying a cell phone.” Read more
“If there’s a catch, it’s that callers will be staring at ads on 6-foot-tall billboards while they jabber – not that many callers had a problem with that.” Read more
“Over the years, pay phones have attempted to change with the times, often with mixed results. Technology enthusiasts are constantly writing them off, yet there remains a need for public pay phones, as demonstrated during the blackout that paralyzed much of the Northeast in July 2003.” The need for working payphones was particularly acute because…
“A company called Popa Media has planted 47 absolutely FREE PHONES throughout the city – mostly in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Yes, really free. Pick it up and dial anywhere in the continental United States for four whole minutes, gratis.” I’ve been watching these Popa Media free phones for a while. A couple of these…
“While the number of wireless-only households is increasing — close to 6 percent of all U.S. homes at the end of last year, according to Forrester Research Inc. — the trend isn’t accelerating as quickly as many experts predicted. And some consumers are reconsidering their decision to go wireless and are reconnecting to a landline.”…
“The overall lack of (subway pay)phones, says state Sen. John Sabini (D-Jackson Heights) is “a potentially life-threatening situation.” Is this a trend in 2005? Will common sense prevail over the assumption that public phone service should be abolished? Read more
“It’s so stupid taking this phone box away. If there’s an accident this is the phone box that’s going to be used. You have only to want to use it once in an emergency and then it’s worth keeping all the time.” This seems to be a trend in 2005. Common sense prevails over the…
“With public pay telephones disappearing all over the state, Gov. John Baldacci has signed into law a bill aimed at keeping public phones in locations where they’re needed, especially in case of emergencies.” This legislation could be evidence that a bottoming out point has been reached in the decline of public telephones. It could also…
“Trekkers heading up Mount Kinabalu can now call home via two pay phones located 1.2km below the highest point, Low’s Peak. “Located at the Sayat Sayat station, at an altitude of 3,810m, the phones are also the highest such public facility in the country.” Read more at TheStar.com.MY
“Berkeley residents Daniel David and and Scott D. Nisbett were sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for their roles in a pay phone scam. “The two leased 24 pay phone lines, of which 23 were routed to an office space in South San Francisco where an automatic phone dialer was rigged to make endless…
“While it may not become a museum piece anytime soon, the payphone has definitely seen better days.” Read more
“Pay phones are on the wane, but even cellphone devotees plop in their coins.” A nice story which profiles a day in the life of a payphone. At the end of the story you are invited to share your thoughts on whether payphones are still necessary. We’ll keep an eye on this for interesting stories…
The Roanoke Times reports: “The number of pay phone locations is declining about 15 percent a year, although that downward slope has flattened recently. ‘We may have reached an equilibrium” where the right number of phones are in the right places,’ [Verizon spokesperson Jim] Smith said. “‘New York City phones? Crap,’ Smith said. ‘They’ve got…
“Telstra started a ten-week trial offering state-of-the-art public payphones capable of browsing the Internet, send (sic) e-mails, text and video messages via broadband.” Read more
“A campaign for payphone modernization has started in capital Sofia, with the first ones of the new cabins already anticipating their clients.” Read more
“In the biggest evolution of the phone box for more than 20 years, BT is moving the telephone to the outside of the kiosk, and filling the interior with a vending machine that dispenses chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks.” Read more
“MTN Rwanda says that in the past year, it has provided over 1,600 GSM based payphones for rural communities, bringing communications to areas that are often not served by landline phone networks.” Read more
The New York Times reports that 25% of New York City subway payphones: “lacked a dial tone, were unable to connect to a toll-free test number, did not return coins, did not register coin deposits or had blocked coin slots or faulty handsets.” Verizon responds: “A Verizon spokesman said the study’s focus was too narrow.…
“Sprint has received at least 31 requests for phone service in the phase III section but will not put the connecting lines and boxes in until the company can reach an agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency on a form of compensation for the work.” A story for those who assume that access to…
ConsumerAffairs.com reports: “Victims were told that they could buy the phones, lease them back to ETS to operate, and receive a “guaranteed” 14 percent return on their investment. Furthermore, the investors were told that they could sell the phones back to the ETS for the original purchase price at any time after six months. Typically,…
“I’m convinced that while making a lot of phone calls involves little actual work, it is a tremendously draining activity. Though it requires no physical exertion, there is a difficulty inherent in communicating with people who are far away as though we were actually in their presence.” This is not really a payphone story, but…
“Pay phones don’t get a ringing endorsement from consumers. “The popularity of cell phones has made them a lonely alternative in an increasingly wireless world, but companies that own pay phones don’t expect them to face extinction. “There is going to be a base of users who will always be users of pay phones, either…
“‘I would certainly think the cellphone is making the pay phone extinct,’ says Merton C. Flemings, professor emeritus of materials, science, and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ‘I can’t imagine pay phones surviving very long in any great numbers.'” Look for a quote from the Payphone Project in this well-reported story about payphones…
Business Week reports: “TCC Teleplex chief Dennis Novick says pay phones with high-speed Net connections in New York City are only the start of its plans.” My acquaintances in the payphone business refer to Dennis Novick as “Dennis.” He only needs one name. “Dennis” is responsible for many of the payphone kiosks found throughout Manhattan.…
The New York Times reports: “You have to lament what’s become of the pay phone. For decades, it was a trusted friend to New Yorkers in a pinch, but in this cellphone and BlackBerry era it is viewed by most as a quarter-sucking fossil. And that makes Dennis Novick, who is wildly excited about pay…