Strange Beeps From Rockefeller Center’s Last Payphone

Only one payphone remains at Rockefeller Center, a complex of buildings which once hosted dozens upon dozens of phone booths and public telephones. In the spirit of helping to keep that last dial tone humming I dumped 50¢ into the coin slot and left the handset on top of the payphone. The result is a somewhat meditative recording of ambient sounds one hears in this underground corridor. Intruding on that almost Zen-like soundscape, however, was a series of beeps. I do not know what these beeps might signify, if anything. The call lasted 15 minutes. That’s how much call time you get for 50¢ on this phone, which is owned by PTS (Pacific Telemanagement Services, the nation’s largest payphone service provider. The beeps are first heard about seven minutes into the call. There are six beeps, the last of which slides off into a slight echo effect. That 6th beep sounds like a VOIP artifact to me but this payphone appears to be a standard copper landline phone.

Here are the beeps. Anyone with knowledge of what they might mean is welcome to inform us all. A photo of the payphone from a couple of years ago show it in action. The payphone’s number is (212) 246-8729 but incoming calls are sent straight to the phone’s internal modem.