I wanted to demonstrate how different phone calls sound when made from payphones versus LinkNYC, the so-called “payphone of the future” that will replace all of New York’s outdoor public pay telephones. I specifically wanted to focus on devices located in noisy spots, such as under an elevated subway train. A call made from a payphone under the elevated N/W train in Astoria sounded like this:

At no point in this call did I raise the volume of my voice to make it heard over the roar of the subway, which is considerably louder than this recording makes it sound. Deafening, even. The payphone enclosure shook from the rumble.

A call through a LinkNYC kiosk located on a spot comparable to the payphone used above sounds like this:

Is it a fair comparison? I don’t know. The payphone used in the first call sits within an acoustically insulated enclosure, capable of deflecting a good quantity of noise from the subway train overhead. The acoustic design of the mouthpiece also helps funnel the sound of my voice while excluding a quantity of subway noise.

LinkNYC’s phone interface is fully exposed, explaining why my voice at normal volume completely drowns in the tidal wave of noise. Only when I start shouting can my voice be heard, and even then I’d describe the sound as tinny at best. A small ocean of swirling street noises seems to inhabit any calls made through these kiosks.

I stood about as close to the loudspeaker/microphone as possible, my forehead pressed against the surface of the machine. That’s the LinkNYC slouch.

Additionally, as I have found in other contexts, it is altogether impossible to hear anything coming out of the kiosk’s loudspeaker as the train rolls by, no matter how high you crank up the volume.

But whether or not it’s a fair comparison will not matter for long. There will come a time when New Yorkers will have no choice in which of these devices we might use, should the need ever arise. But if anybody wants to tell me that calls made through the “payphone of the future” represent any kind of improvement, or even come close to equaling the call quality of a traditionally designed payphone enclosures and handsets, then I think this audio comparison exposes that as a lie.

LinkNYC does have one advantage in this comparison: The cost. Calls in the US (to numbers not blocked by LinkNYC) are free. I paid 25¢ for the first call. I think I got my money’s worth.

That recording, by the way, is a cutout from my Payphone Radio.