November 17, 2009
Remains of an UnderDog Payphone
A battered and bedraggled payphone is not a pretty sight. Insult adds to the injury when the commercial face of a leading cell phone provider looms over the beaten-up phone. Arms crossed, a smug grin on the actor's face, his eyes seem to look sardonically at anyone who would contemplate using this payphone.
The position of this wireless provider's advertisement -- hovering over the remains of a payphone seemingly abandoned by its owner -- seems symbolic. Its placement here may be intentional or it may be coincidence, but it seems reasonable to expect that a wireless phone provider might market itself toward today's payphone customers. Anyone attempting to use this wasted payphone might feel doubly seduced by an adjacent advertisement for cell phone service.
The smashed receiver dangles about a foot above the sidewalk. Its wires and other innards exposed, the handset can only hang like this. If I had tried to put this phone back on the hook I would have failed, because half of the hook is gone.
The violated payphone is owned by the UDC Corporation. Appropriately enough the letters "UDC" stand for UnderDog Communications. Cursory web searches for The UnderDog Communications Corporation produce nothing of interest, though the payphone itself shows a Jackson Heights P.O. Box for the company's mailing address. With little else to go on besides the decrepit condition of this payphone which bears its brand I will assume that the UDC Corporation has left the payphone business, if not disappeared altogether, leaving this vandal's monument in its wake.
November 10, 2009
Vestiges of Payphone Brands Past
Last year at about this time I commented on a New York Times blog entry that called out a "Phantom Bell Atlantic Phone Booth" on the Brooklyn Heights esplanade.
I remembered this today when I spotted a payphone bearing vestiges of the Bell Atlantic brand -- a brand which should have disappeared by 2002:
I still spot public phones branded with names like AT&T, BellSouth, NYNEX, and lesser known companies which either exited the payphone business or disappeared altogether years ago. Here are a few vestiges of these brands which I spotted on NYC payphones just this week.
November 09, 2009
Italic Payphone
I stood perfectly upright when I took this picture. The payphone enclosure was italic, tilted, skewed, and visibly hung over. I guess this payphone had been hit by a vehicle, or maybe there had been a rare, isolated earthquake that affected only payphones here on Greenpoint Avenue in Sunnyside (the Funny Side), Queens. Whatever happened to it this bludgeoned payphone enclosure cut a distinctive profile.
I studied Latin in high school and read about the "Early Italic Tribes". My mother and I laughed, imagining that "Italic tribes" consisted of people who stood at an angle, in the way that italic typeface such as this is slightly slanted.
This italic payphone, perilous as it looked, had a functioning dial tone. It reminded me of the Crazy Payphone I spotted a few years ago, and the Toppled Payphone Enclosure on 5th Avenue.
November 06, 2009
Telebeam: Off the Hook and Off the Grid
Telebeam payphones are disappearing from the sidewalks of New York at a rapid clip. In recent days this Telebeam payphone in midtown went from off the hook to off the grid. I spotted this dangling payphone receiver a few months ago (and posted it to my New York City Payphones section), and this week saw that only the empty hull of this payphone enclosure remained. We can assume this payphone enclosure itself will soon be removed.
The removal of this payphone revealed a little more than usual, though, in the form of some previously concealed paperwork stuck behind the phone itself. This orange sheet bears logistical and contact information from Telebeam.
Dial tone service to this public pay telephone was ordered by submission of a public access line order form on 10/10/00 and a conduit in field form on 3/14/01. The underlying dial tone provider has not yet completed certain construction or engineering work necessary to provide dial tone service.
The notice is punctured by a metal screw, and was presumably rendered moot when the "underlying dial tone provider" got their act together.
I do not have many real contacts in the payphone business but I once met a couple of tech workers from Telebeam. This was 4 or 5 years ago, at which time the future of the payphone business still had some tantalizing rays of opportunity. Payphone locations, it was thought by those in the business, could be used as Wi-Fi relay points, police surveillance cameras, or for Internet access points. TCC Teleplex (not to be confused with Telebeam) continues to offer Internet-enabled payphones in Manhattan; and Verizon did, in fact, rig some of its payphone locations with Wi-Fi signal relays. The Wi-Fi initiative seems to have been scotched while the Teleplex payphone Internet kiosks seem to do well. The larger idea of utilizing existing payphone spots for other purposes seems to have faded. Advertising has settled in to place as a primary alternative use for surviving payphones, a practice which essentially subsidizes Verizon's payphone business in the city.
Speaking of "off the hook" I remember now what I long thought was the etymology that idiom. I am wrong about this but I like to believe it anyway as it makes sense to me. I thought the expression originated from this scenario: Two people are having a phone conversation when one of them says something outrageous, something so crazy that the other party throws the phone down and leaves it hanging there, off the hook. Maybe this happened at the site of this bygone Telebeam payphone. There is a telephonic heritage to the expression "ring off the hook", that phrase referring to an incident or individual which prompted enough interest to cause its telephone to ring so much that it could not stay on the hook. The most commonly associated etymology for "off the hook" refers to the fishing scenario in which a lucky fish is caught but then taken off the fishing hook let free by its captor. I do not doubt the provenance of those derivations but I like mine, too, even if I fully concocted it.
October 28, 2009
Outside Titan Foods, 31st Street in Astoria
This gutted out ghost of a payphone past has looked like this for over a year.
Some might call this a "phone booth" but they would be mistaken. A "phone booth" is a structure with a door, a light, a fan, and possibly a local telephone book. Examples of New York City phone booths can be seen here, here, here, and here -- among many other places.
This is a payphone enclosure on a pedestal. It is not a phone booth.
Thank you for letting me clarify this important matter.
October 25, 2009
Shattered and Dangling: A Verizon Payphone, October 2009
I spotted this Verizon payphone about a month ago, and was surprised to see that it is still busted up, dangling by its thin wires in a useless, vegetative state. This payphone's number is (718) 729-9344.
I have noticed a lot of gutted out and murdered payphones of late. Many of the phones have been surgically removed by the payphone owners, leaving just an empty hull on a city sidewalk. In the coming weeks I will be sharing photos of some of these empty payphone enclosures, this in anticipation of what I assume will be their complete removal.
I see phones like this one and I have to ask, what does it take to shatter a phone in this manner? I ask not about the physical force needed but about the decision making process, the minute-to-minute circumstances that led a human being to end a phone call by smashing the device. But why assume there even was a conversation? Idle hooligans and guttersnipes. wandering past a public phone, may have chosen this object as an outlet for showmanship, their energies guided by ignorance or indifference toward the consequences of their actions.
Whatever the case, this Verizon payphone has been a useless museum piece for many weeks. In the past I might have assumed a phone like this would be repaired. These days I imagine instead that Verizon would find that it makes as much financial sense to just remove it.
September 22, 2009
Payphone Gone: By a 9/11 Mural
The 9/11 Payphone (as I called it) actually had nothing to do with 9/11. Located in Long Island City, this phone happened to be next to a 9/11 mural which was among the first of its vintage to rise up from the hands New York City graf artists after the events of that day. I think the artist's name (seen at the top left) is either PHYNE1 or PHYME1.
I noticed the other day that the payphone is gone, but the empty enclosure remains. Vacant payphone cabinets such as this have been common in all cities for some time. The removal of the phone is a precursor to the eventual removal of the payphone stand and enclosure. I believe this job is the responsibility of the city. A square outline on the sidewalk will leave only an echo of this once-vital resource.
If I were to choose a real 9/11 payphone -- a phone in proximity of the Towers which survived that day -- then I might choose this one, on Vesey Street, seen here with the pits of Ground Zero just a few feet behind it.
Another choice -- maybe a better one -- would be the payphones in this picture (taken with my Canon ELPH APS Camera). These phones were in the lower level of the Twin Towers.
When I first started collecting payphone numbers and locations in New York I made an effort to get numbers in locations that I thought would be useful for reporters or radio groupies trying to reach individuals at the scene of significant events. I never told anyone I was doing this at the time. It seemed like a long way from my lot in life as a corporate drone to someone making potentially useful niche resources.
I gathered numbers for payphones at places like Shea Stadium, Yankee Stadium, and the World Trade Center. I imagined some enterprising reporter might use the list to, for instance, call a payphone at Yankee Stadium after a Yankees World Series victory to get a perspective from a real baseball fan expanding their throes of ecstasy by answering a ringing payphone.
After the 1993 bombings of the Trade Center I made a project of gathering the payphone numbers for the public phones in the concourse level. In the event of another attack I imagined a reporter or other interested party reaching into the Towers for genuine descriptions of what was happening inside.
In retrospect this would likely have endangered the life of whoever answered, keeping them inside the building summoning up quotable commentary to a reporter while they should have been exiting the building.
September 14, 2009
The most deserted phone booth in the world...
Raynard Bagley sends this interesting photo, showing a phone booth in the North of Belgium. This old booth is steadily disappearing into a thicket of shrubs.
Raynard's photo of this overgrown Belgacom booth reminded me of a photo sent in a few years ago, showing a BT phone booth around the corner from Highgate in London. This little structure looks more like a terrarium than a phone booth:
Public telephony is fading from prominence, but how often do you encounter such vivid visual metaphors for the situation?
September 02, 2009
Payphone Gone: 35th Avenue in Astoria
This payphone picture was originally posted to my New York City Payphones gallery in the late 1990s.
This payphone virtually never worked and was removed many years ago. I did use it, though, when it worked. The last time I tried to use it may have been during the blackout of 2003. I was surprised to find that it (like most payphones I found) did not work. This went against what I thought was the conventional wisdom which said that landline phones (including payphones) should work during power failures. Of course this payphone might simply have been out of service before the blackout.
This phone stood between what used to be a convenience store and a bar. I think the bar was the Café Blue Light when this picture was taken but I could be wrong. That space has hosted numerous pubs and social clubs over the years. The Blue Light did occupy the space near this payphone at some point, but today that corner pub is occupied by a wine and cheese bar called Rèst-âü-Ránt (the fancy lettering, I am told, was invoked at random and means nothing).
All that remains of this phone today is a square on the sidewalk. The phone was pulled out, and perhaps it was among the casualties in this pile of dead payphones that I spotted nearby at around the same time.
August 31, 2009
Ghosts of Phone Booths Past
Sometimes I think I see ghosts of phone booths past. Outlines. Shadows. Tracings of where full booths once surrounded and fully enclosed public phones on city streets.
Free-standing outdoor phone booths are rare. There are only four phone booths in Manhattan, and when last I looked there were a couple of abandoned booths hulking like ghosts on Yankee Pier off Governors Island.
These two payphones in midtown Manhattan are framed by a phantom border, by a seemingly superfluous outline on the sidewalk beneath the phones. Surrounding that outline is another aura which seems to indicate that a grounded, rounded structure once stood here. The rectangle is distinct from the rest of the sidewalk grid, and the presence of payphones here today suggests to me that these half-closed enclosures are descendants of those mostly-vanished outdoor phone booths.
(212) 245-0756 and (212) 245-0877
The base of this payphone on Manhattan's Upper East Side is framed by a caulked-over rectangle, suggesting that a full booth with a closing door, a fan, a light, and a phone book once stood where a modern payphone enclosure stands today.
(212) 650-9483
I have not seen very many pictures of Manhattan's outdoor phone booths of yore. I own one photo which shows part of a New York City phone booth in 1965. The word "Telephone" in green at the top right of this photo sits atop a fully enclosed phone booth which has long since disappeared. After some research I deduced that this phone booth was located at 2nd Avenue and 44th Street.
Phone Booth and Street Scene, NYC, 1965
The booth is gone but there are two payphones at this location today. Their numbers are (212) 697-7757 and (212) 972-5383.
Unfortunately for my research the sidewalk today bears no outline of where this booth once stood.
Other midtown Manhattan payphones seems to show traces of phone booths that once surrounded their space:
August 24, 2009
The Letterman Payphones Revisited
These are what I call the Letterman Payphones. The first picture shows a group of payphones as they looked circa 1999. The next photo, from roughly 10 years later, shows that those 3 payphones were replaced by 2, with an advertising-laced enclosure placed over them.
I call these the Letterman Payphones because Dave Letterman used to call these payphones from his desk at the nearby Ed Sullivan Theater. He called other New York City payphones too but he called these phones on a number of occasions when I happened to watch the show. His intent always seemed to be random, and depending on who answered and what kind of conversation ensued Dave might invite the person into the studio, ushering the bewildered passer-by onto stage as hundreds of adoring fans cheered wildly.
Like a lot of Dave's shticks it was not always easy to tell if it was planned. I used to call these payphones myself and all I can say is that when I called the people who picked up had things to say that were not suitable for broadcast television. The first words spoken clearly indicated that the person who answered expected this payphone call would lead to some kind of encounter. Letterman, through perseverance or planning I do not know, seemed to often get all-America types of tourists and everyday folk.
The last time I saw this routine on the show it seemed obvious that the person who answered the phone was expecting the call. Maybe Dave himself planned it or maybe the person (who seemed to be an actor) got word from sources that a call was coming to that payphone. Whatever the case it was not random and not very funny, and I seem to remember hearing a bit of dismay in Dave's voice when it seemed obvious to him that this person expected the call.
Does Dave call payphones any more? I do not know. I watch the show once in a while -- a friend and I attended a taping live at the Ed Sullivan Theater earlier this year -- but I have not spotted a payphone bit in a long time. Payphones are mostly programmed to reject incoming calls, and unless Worldwide Pants (the show's production company) is able to circumvent that by arrangement with Verizon or individual payphone owners then it seems like the Letterman payphone skits of yore are no longer possible, at least through these and other midtown Manhattan payphones.
The numbers for these phones are (212) 246-9175 and (212) 974-9778. These phones actually can accept incoming calls, though it is unlikely that a random passer-by would pick up. The phones ring very faintly, and they drop to their internal modem after the first ring. If someone at this phone is expecting your call and standing right at the phone then they should be able to hear it ring once and pick up before the modem kicks in.
August 13, 2009
Blackout Payphone Revisited
Tomorrow is the anniversary date of the Northeast Blackout of 2003. That was a memorable day for me in many ways but a memory I recall best is this shot of several people lined up to use a payphone at Queensboro Plaza in Queens.
This is near the Queensboro/59th Street Bridge, which was the entry and/or exit point for people who had to walk to or from Manhattan to get to or from Queens.
I like this photo. It shows a random gathering of people who, in an emergency, found that they needed a payphone. Emergencies tend to be among the few circumstances in which people seek out payphones any more. A blackout today would probably result in even longer lines at this payphone, because while this payphone has survived the last 6 years many more in this area have not.
I recently found all of my photos from the 2003 Blackout. While hardly a thrilling photo essay I nevertheless have come to appreciate these little time capsules of events, whether they be memorable or not. In a similar spirit last year I found all the photos I took on September 11, 2001; and on September 17, 2001, the day I went to Ground Zero. I never intended or desired to look at all of those pictures again -- I went so far as to vow that I never would look at them again for fear of reliving the horror of that day -- but with these years of remove I find it amazing that these tiny windows onto that day communicate so little of how it felt.
But I digress.
The Blackout Payphone (as I call it) is still in place today, perhaps waiting for another crisis that will thrust it back into usefelness.
My purely anecdotal observations suggest that this payphone does, in fact, get a fair amount of use these days. Someone in the payphone business once told me that a public phone only needs to make a dollar a day to be profitable. In the short time I spent getting this picture I watched as this payphone earned its daily dollar.
The coffee shop is still closed (I can not remember it ever being open) and its old school phone number is chipping away. I call the phone number on the coffee shop's awning "old school" because it has no area code, placing its origins somewhere in the enormous space of years between Telephone Exchange Name numbers like "Astoria 0-8090" and today's geographically arbitrary area codes which have become mandatory dialing almost everywhere in America.
One metal post by the phone is bent, probably from being hit by a vehicle.
I could not re-create the exact angle from which I got the picture in 2003. Road work caused the area where I sat 6 years ago to be fenced off.
August 11, 2009
Brooklyn Phone Booths
My friend Rachel directed me to these beautiful old phone booths in Brooklyn. The lights are out and the fans do not blow air but the doors close and the phones work. These might be the most perfect booths in all of New York.
August 10, 2009
1271 6th Avenue Payphones, Then and Now
These payphones at 1271 6th Avenue are long gone. The first picture shows a cluster of three payphones in either 1999 or 2000. The next two photos show what remains of these phones today, including the spikes in the sidewalk where the base of the payphones used to be.
August 09, 2009
El Charrito, El Gallito. Then and Now.
These pictures show a payphone at 33rd Street and 34th Avenue in Astoria. The first picture is from 1999, the next was taken 10 years later in August, 2009.
The payphone location survives, though the phone itself has been swapped. The payphone handset is now bright yellow, replacing the earlier black handset.
What I find interesting about these pictures is not just the payphone but the details of other ephemeral change at this intersection.
Formerly called El Charrito the bodega is now called EL GALLITO GROCERY CORP. The word "SANDWICHS" is still mis-spelled on the awning. (I might add SANDWICHS to my photo series of Typos, Engrish, and Public Grammar Gaffes.)
Armando's Pizza is now Lentini's II Pizza. Lentini's II recently changed its name and I for one have already forgotten what the place was called only a few months ago.
The zebra crosswalk has been re-painted and it appears the curbside parking space has been moved back several feet.
A School Crossing sign is now in a spot where it partly obscures the store's awning.
One thing that has not changed (besides the payphone location) is the fact that I rarely enter El Gallito/El Charrito.
August 08, 2009
Who Uses Payphones Any More?
Someone asked me recently "Who the heck uses payphones any more?" My response: Poor people and tourists. As someone in the payphone business once told me, until the world runs out of poor people there will always be a need for payphones. Similarly I think that tourists, especially foreign tourists, will continue to rely on payphones rather then getting robbed by cell phone carriers' international connection fees.
As if to prove my point I got this nice e-mail from Debbie Henson, describing how her daughter is travelling across America without a cell phone, and how frustrating it can be to find a working, usable payphone in this country.
Hi Mark,
I have lurked around this site and enjoyed it for a few years now. I originally was looking for info on Burning Man and somehow found information on a phone booth out in the desert. I come back every now and then to check it out.
Currently my daughter is traveling across your country on a summer adventure. Without a cell phone she looks for phone booths to call home. She can usually only find a pay phone in Wal-Marts. If there are 3 phones only 1 may be in working order. I can hardly hear her and she has trouble hearing me due to background noise.
I have told her about your project and have asked her to take a picture if she ever finds a phone booth not in a Wal-Mart.
I took a photo last year on Vancouver Island that I thought you may be interested in but I don't have the phone number.
Thanks to Debbie for checking in, and for adding to the Payphone Project's series of Payphones in Canada.
August 06, 2009
Payphone Confidential: Rotary Dial Payphone, NYC, 2009
This grainy photo, taken with my cell phone, shows a real rarity. This is a fully functional rotary dial payphone. This phone is actively used at a business somewhere in the 5 boroughs on New York City.
I will not reveal the location of this phone. If the phone company gets word of this phone's location they will dispatch a crew to "fix" it -- but that would be a waste because this phone works just fine.
I know a little bit about the history of this establishment, and by my estimate the rotary dial has been spinning on this payphone since at least the 1980s. It may have been in this spot since the 1970s.
Last year I found a rotary dial payphone at the King Penny Hardware Store on Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria. The phone does not work, and probably has not worked for many years, but its number was (718) 278-9139.
I also spotted an amazing phone booth with a rotary dial payphone on 35th Avenue in Astoria. It was cool to see but alas, that phone booth was merely a prop for a filming of the short-lived television show Life on Mars.
My earliest time spent living in New York City included long hours clutching any of these rotary dial payphones at the Parc Lincoln in Manhattan. Those phone booths are altogether gone.
August 05, 2009
Tahiti Phone Booth
August 04, 2009
212-245-9500, Then and Now
Here is a midtown Manhattan public telephone location that has survived the payphone meltdown of the last 15 years. It is located on 6th Avenue near 55th Street.
The first picture was taken sometime around 1999, and shows this phone with Bell Atlantic branding. Bell Atlantic swallowed up GTE in June, 2000, and the combined company became Verizon. At that time the Bell Atlantic branding was supposed to be removed from all public phones, though to this day vestiges of the old branding remain on any number of public phones -- this composite photo, for instance, shows a hybrid Verizon/Bell Atlantic branded phone in Queens which I spotted last year.
No obvious traces of a Bell Atlantic insignia remain visible on this phone, though the handset bears residue of an adhesive sticker which might have had Bell Atlantic branding.
The next two pictures are from August, 2009, and show that elements the telephone set itself have been swapped out but the location remains. I assume the number has also stayed the same during this time, though I have no record of (212) 245-9500 in any of my payphone databases. (What a desirable phone number, by the way. It should be owned by a bank!)
The keypad has changed from a typical push-button with square keys to this more minimal nipple-style keypad.
The Astro Restaurant seen behind and to the left of the payphone is still in business, while the "Traditional Indian Cuisine" location (for rent at the time) is now taken by a place called Venus. The unnamed store at the far right is now called 55th Digital.
I wonder what the "7/22" signifies. July 22? There is a "7/22" written in Sharpie at the top right of this enclosure:
August 02, 2009
Then and Now: A 36th Avenue Payphone in Astoria
The first photo is from May, 2003, and shows a payphone outside of Tiffany Insurance on 36th Avenue and 32nd Street in Astoria. The next two photos are from August, 2009. Tiffany Insurance is still in business but has since moved to another location in Astoria. This payphone disappeared years ago. Only 4 holes and a square remain on the sidewalk where this payphone used to be.
The above photo was originally posted here in May, 2003.
August 01, 2009
Then and Now: A Getty Station Payphone
I was reminded last week of a project that I have meant to pursue for some time: Then and Now: Payphones of New York. This will, simply, be a series of photos I took over the last 12 or 13 years of public phones in New York with follow-up photos of what those phones look like today -- if they even exist. I have always been charmed by the "then and now" conceit which puts historic photos next to their modern-day doppelgänger.
I will begin with this payphone that used to stand near a Getty Station in Astoria, New York, on 34th Avenue near 31st Street. I used this payphone many times but I do not recall when it was removed. It has been gone for years. I think this picture was taken in 1998:
Today the only proof that this payphone existed is in the form of a squarish metal frame where the base of the payphone used to be.
If you look for them you can see these metal frames on virtually any city sidewalk. Some of these frames are more obvious than others, like this metal pedestal with phone wires that I spotted in May, 2004. The remains of this Getty Station payphone are more likely to go unnoticed.
July 28, 2009
Cemetery Payphone Revisited
Two of my life's loves meet in this alley near New Calvary Cemetery on Queens Boulevard. It is a payphone at a cemetery.
My interest in payphones dates to grade school but in more recent years I have developed an interest in some of the cemeteries and graveyards of New York City -- with particular interests in Old Calvary Cemetery in Queens as well as the three yards which comprise New Calvary.
I first photographed this payphone in October, 2006, but spotted it again in July, 2009. I was surprised to see that this payphone still existed at this location, though like everything else here the line is dead. There is no dial tone, the sign is toppled, and chances are this useless hulk of telephony will be hauled off to a payphone cemetery sooner or later.
The number for this payphone used to be (718) 803-0365.
July 22, 2009
Texas Payphones
Daniel Zubiate, of Breakwell PictureZ, has been a long-time friend of the Payphone Project, and has lately been filling up the Texas Payphone Photos Section with recent shots of payphones in Buda, El Paso, and Austin. Among Daniel's finds is this outdoor phone booth at the Salt Flat Café in Salt Flat, Texas.
Texas is a big state, though, and others have helped fill that section of this site. Nathan Day spotted these rare phone booths with rotary dial payphones at the Connellee Hotel in Eastland, and John Tiesworth sent in this artistic image of a phone booth at White Rock Lake.
Check out the growing collection of Texas payphone pictures and send some in!
July 10, 2009
Phone Booths at The Hague
Iljitsch van Beijnum writes:
"In my home town (well, city) of The Hague, the Netherlands, there are two booths right in front of the entrance to the Binnenhof, where the two chambers of parliament are housed and the prime minister has his office.
"The interesting thing here is that the actual phone booth (the other one is just for calling the police or fire department (brand = fire)) is still in the style of the Dutch PTT from before 1989 or so when they were privatized. All other phone booths have been green for a long time, in accordance to the later KPN style, although I can't remember seeing one lately. (I live in Spain now, maybe that has something to do with it...)"
Iljitsch sent two photos of these booths, including this snowy weather shot, adding to the Payphone Project's series of Netherlands payphones and phone booths. Thank you, Iljitsch!
July 08, 2009
Payphone Pictures: France, India, Iceland, Laos, and more
Olivier Beyssac sent this e-mail:
"I love your site. It reminded me of the strange feeling I had when seeing a
phone booth a couple weeks ago in the French countryside."
Olivier's e-mail (and the beautifully evocative phone booth photo which accompanied it) reminded me that I have been meaning to call out some of the excellent phone booth and payphone photos that have arrived at the Payphone Project both recently and not-so-recently. This is the first of what will be occasional updates, pointing you to the newest or most interesting payphone photos and content on this web site.
Several long-time contributors have been sending payphone photos to this web site for many years. A few of them are mentioned in this posting, others will be highlighted in the near future.
Achim, who has shared phone booth and payphone photos from several countries, recently sent a set from Iceland, including this bulky booth at Skaftafell National Park. Some of Achim's other photos come from Wroclaw, Poland; a series from Turkey includes this shot from Istanbul Beyoglu near Galata Tower; and the Czech Republic series includes Achim's shot of this payphone at Prague, Mala Strana.
My friend Silas, who conducts the Astoria Music Society, also added some nice shots from the Czech Republic, including this classy phone booth in Kromeriz.
 One of my all-time favorite series of payphone photos is from India. These photos come from long-time contributors Frank and Meeta Parker, whose payphone photos at the Payphone Project come from such far-flung locations as Simonstown and Cape Town, South Africa; the Republic of Maldives; Mittenwald, Germany; and the sunny beaches of La Jolla, California. Frank and Meeta's pictures are all over the Payphone Project.
Another shot which I had not seen lately but which I like a lot is from Sweden: a wooden phone booth from Galma Stan, Stockholm sent in a couple of years ago by Benjamin Hedrick.
Lastly (for now), a recent e-mail from Loren Everly reminded me of these nice shots he took of phone booths and payphones in Laos. Laos is a particular interest of mine having there as a small child and attended school for 2 years at the American School of Vientiane. Loren's photos revive my thoughts of re-visiting that fabled land.
That's all for now. Look for more Payphone Project updates in this space.
July 07, 2009
Phone Booths of NYC
It looks like someone at this web site found my photo series of the Last Phone Booths of Manhattan, a series of pictures I posted many years ago after spotting these rare outdoor booths on Manhattan's West End Avenue.
There are, in fact, many phone booths in Manhattan and in all the boroughs of New York City. What makes the booths on West End Avenue notable is that they are outdoor booths with doors that close, providing a rare cocoon of privacy on a public city street.
For my money the far more interesting outdoor booths are the ones brooding like ghosts on Yankee Pier, in Buttermilk Channel off Governors Island. I assume the phones in these booths have long since been removed from service, but the booths cut a classy profile against the background of Red Hook, Brooklyn. I have not been out to Yankee Pier lately, though, so it could be that those booths are gone.
Outdoor booths may be rare but phone booths are not extinct. Only yesterday I spotted some wood booths at the main branch of the New York Public Library, and many bars and restaurants with built-in booths have kept the booths even though the payphones inside have been removed.
June 26, 2009
Fading Tech: Dialup Internet
A look at WFMU.org, the web site of WFMU, shows that dial-up Internet users will not be able to access archived version of the freeform station's programming starting next month:
Beginning July 12th, WFMU's new archives will no longer be available in 20k Real Audio, and this change will affect archive listeners on a dial-up connection. Going forward, all new archives will be available in the higher quality 64k AAC+ format, which sounds fantastic with our new Pop-Up Player. However, the Pop-Up Player and new archives from July 12th onward will NOT work if you have a dial-up connection.
I doubt if this announcement sent any thunderous shockwaves down the Intertubes. WFMU's live audio feed will continue to be available to dial-up users. The station's unfathomably enormous archives which date from time immemorial will also remain available through next month's cutoff date, at which time the station will cease production of archives for dial-up users. This would seem to reflect the continuing fade into irrelevance of the RealAudio format, a codec which revolutionized online audio but failed to garner any good will because of it.
I was piqued by this announcement because I first heard WFMU over dial-up, in a hotel room far from New York. I had heard of WFMU but I had never actually heard this purportedly influential radio station that allegedly broadcast to this city.
I have lived in New York for 19 years and I have never been able to pick up WFMU's signal on a plain old radio. Never -- not from Manhattan, not from Queens, not from anywhere, not even as a faint slip of sound glimmering within a blizzard of static. That blizzard of snowy noise is all I have ever heard at 91.1 on any of my numerous FM radio sets.
I understand a certain measure of feng shui can help achieve WFMU reception but access to 'FMU over the web has (for me, at least) made such maneuvering unnecessary.
Some years ago I applied to host a show at WFMU but my application was completely ignored. Not rejected, but ignored. I do not know if that is typical of WFMU (I know they are very, very busy) or if my application was just particularly laughable, but I meekly allowed this little bit of discouragement to keep me out of radio for another decade.
Radio was supposed to be my calling after college, where I was Classical Programming Director for a couple of years at the school station. In 1990 I came close to landing a spot at KTPB, a new classical station in Kilgore, Texas; and I was in the running for a spot at a station in Sitka, Alaska. If I remember this right I believe I got near-offers from stations in Tampa and Orlando, but those calls came after I had left Florida for New York (where I was eventually by rejected by every radio station I applied to) in October, 1990.
I would have been a poor fit at any commercial or time-formatted station. I have the voice for radio but not the temporal discipline. Though I was officially in charge of Classical at my college station I would often take to the airwaves talking about things like rubber canoes:
RUBBER CANOES
slathered with
mineral frosting and
GULLIES OF DEATH
in which the
college president
stirs
black beans and rice
with his
35mm
mandolin!
During the summers (when the station was officially off the air) I would sneak in to the station at 2 or 3am and commence broadcasting to whoever had their radio on at that moment, talking like a surrealist poet (or so I thought) and playing only the music of the human voice. During these sessions I took the station's telephones off the hook so none could intrude on my over-the-air solitude. By design I never recorded any of these litanies, and in fact the above is something I made up just now to demonstrate the spirit of those broadcasts, not the material.
I believe in randomness in all things. I believe that without randomness nothing exists. In the spirit of that and of the above-mentioned attempts at surrealist searchings I think that the radio programming closest in spirit to what I would want to do is the Joe Frank series, though I wish he had the freedom of not falling into the 58-minute format, filling out shows with what unnecessary padding just to make them long enough to fill buckets of air time.
I imagine a type of programming that is radio-like but not necessarily on the radio. I remember my days working with the Apology Line, a telephone art project which held way too much influence over me but which I nevertheless recall with interest and nostalgia.
I remember Apology for its sound. Just yesterday, for instance, I was listening to phone calls made to the Lost and Found Photos site, and the sound of the voices evoked memories of those lonely, depressing telephone messages left to Apology. That is not to suggest that the calls to Lost and Found Photos are either lonely or depressing -- entirely the opposite, in fact. As a Found Photos enthusiast I found those recorded statements to be interesting and enlightening. But at first blush it was that sound, that timbre of human voices rising up from the wire of the telephone that captured my imagination and reminded me of Apology. The gruff, crackling, voyeuristic timbre of analog phone calls compels my attention and makes me listen.
Some time ago, as I described toward the end of this story over at Sorabji.com, I pursued a project I had contemplated for a long time prior. For several nights I shook up payphones around America by patching them in to conference calls. At random I chose some of the few payphones I could find that still accepted incoming calls and, using an Internet phone software, I called them all at once. As many as 10 payphones located anywhere from Wisconsin to Chicago to Texas to Florida all rang at the sametime, and after a few moments individuals at these locations answered. The first person to answer always sounded to me like the most excited, but in fact everyone who connected to this sudden community answered with varied sense of anticipation, anxiety, and even anger.
The first person to pick up, though, was the crux of the endeavor, for it was that person who answered a phone and heard not the voice of another person but the sounds of other phones ringing. That person's attention was always critical.
One night the first person to answer was a bar fly in Wisconsin, a man who picked up a payphone and heard ringing phones, then waited long enough to hear a woman at another bar in Wyoming answer the ringing payphone there. Beneath the din of the other phone lines still ringing followed confusion between these two people, half-crazed accusations of who called who and questions of what the hell was going on.
Into the mix fell a third person at a bus stop in Arizona, followed quickly by someone at a motel in Tampa. The first moments of each new player started with a bit of combat, settling into the place while simply comprehending what it is.
The sound was unbelievable. It was opera, sounding to me like great art in that it challenged my personal sense of control, reason, even sanity.
If I called 10 lines the number of people who stayed to talk would usually settle at 4 or 5, eventually petering out to 2 as the mystery of how this connection came about was never forgotten but simply accepted.
June 24, 2009
Why?
There have always been those who find the Payphone Project and ask one question: Why? Why maintain a web site that lists payphone numbers and locations throughout the world?
In fact the value of this web site has been written about in many places, most memorably for me in a front page New York Times story of May 13, 2004; a story which detailed (among other things) a mother's use of this web site to track down her runaway daughter.
The value of this site has changed over time, and I am first to say that it is not as valuable as it once was, nor was it ever as valuable as it might have been had I found a reliable flow of current data linking payphone numbers to exact physical locations.
Nevertheless, today I received an e-mail like one from the old days of this web site -- a message from someone who used information on this web site to connect her troubled daughter to an exact location. This is one of many reasons this site has continued to exist, and I wish that someone with access to current payphone locations and numbers would see the value in making this data regularly available to the public.
Here is the message I received today:
"Many thanks for keeping that payphone info available. my daughter called me from one with a not so good message. now because of your web site i know the exact last point of our contact. and the other companies were going to charge me money for that. when you are stressed about a loved one you don't need to be decieved about info that need not cost you any thing. although if i had it i would have paid but desperation and hope made me continue to look for your answer again many thank you's"
June 23, 2009
Laser Turntable
I landed on this product web site through the Random Yahoo Link. This "laser turntable" presents an interesting solution to hearing and enjoying aging LP record collections without jeopardizing their surface.
At a cost of $10,990 US I do not anticipate adding the ELP Laser Turntable to my personal arsenal of audio archiving tools. It seems, however, like an interesting sounding product for libraries, archivists and LP collectors with money to burn.
The company web site lists pianist Keith Jarrett as a happy customer, but offers no sound samples of this interesting device designed to reproduce the superior sound quality of LP records while preserving their physical state. I would like to hear how this device plows through scratches and surface blemishes of older LP records. There appears to be no way to use this handsome device to digitize old LPs. While one who is ready to spend this much money for a record player that exists to preserve the quality of their records might not be the sort who intends to turn their LPs into FLAC files I would nevertheless expect such an option.
Some time ago I began a side project of archiving my old cassette tapes. I have bags filled with tapes from my Panasonic answering machines and from various telephone related projects of mine. I mentioned this project to some friends and was surprised to find how interested people were in my little endeavor. Most folks I talked to seemed to think that digitizing cassettes saves them from oblivion, preserving them for eternity in a format less susceptible to decay and obsolescence. I disagree. Digital content is far more susceptible to complete destruction than any of its analog cousins. Preserving something digitally immediately puts it in a certain state of limbo, a state where no amount of backup or redundancy will ever guarantee that it will exist tomorrow, a state in which none can reasonably expect it to last as long as those old cassettes themselves. Some of my cassettes date back 25 years. I do not expect that my digitized versions of them will last as long.
June 22, 2009
Are there any payphone news?
"Are there any news?" is a grammatical pique supposedly coined by newsman Horace Greeley.
In reply to that question one of his reporters is said to have replied "Not a new."
If Horace Greeley were looking for payphone news and information today I would have to say there is nary a new, save for the occasional moribund new that another locality is down to its final public telephone.
Payphones and phone booths are on their way to becoming objects of nostalgia, and this Payphone Project I established so many years ago would seem to have moldered away in tandem with the public's awareness of public telephony.
Payphones are not simply a disappearing bit of Americana but another example of the presumed obsolescence that I believe characterizes all technology. Today's high-tech is tomorrow's junk, and at times I lament that my Internet-based livelihoods have been built not with the tools of an artisan but with disposable gadgets and cheap plastic keyboards.
As the one or two people who still subscribe to this section's RSS feed may have noticed I spent some time today cleaning up some old stories. I may plug in some other old stories from the last year or so in the coming days before moving forward. I am going to try to make this news section interesting -- not by linking to every possible story which mentions payphones and phone booths but by expanding on the payphone as one of many technologies both evolving and devolving across generations. This will be a lightly updated section, the focus of which I am not certain, but for now I think it will focus on obsolete or nearly-obsolete technologies and their appearances in contemporary times.
I will also soon revive a message board at this site. I was forced by spam overload to remove a Payphone Project message board several years ago but it might be fun to see what randomness awaits a fresh and uninhabited message board that is linked to from throughout this and my other web sites. I am hoping for incoherentness settling into confusion and then some sort of focus among random humans who find themselves arbitrarily sharing a virtual space.
June 11, 2009
Report finds one in four NYC subway system pay phones don't work
NYPIRG's Straphangers' Campaign does regular surveys of New York's subway payphones and the results are pretty consistent: Payphones in subways are unreliable, creating a safety hazard in a place where cell phones still do not work.
Read more:
June 09, 2009
Ocean City: Verizon pulls plug on payphones
Here's hoping you've kept your cell phone charged on your next visit to the beach, because in Ocean City, public pay phones are going the way of telephone booths, rotary dialing, and the 10-cent call.
Advertisement
Telecommunications giant Verizon, in conjunction with the resort's Public Works office, has removed all but four of its pay phones from the resort because the coin-operated devices aren't generating enough revenue to justify keeping them, according to town auditor Susan Childs.
Read more at DelmarvaNOW.com
March 25, 2009
22 college students cram into a phone booth
How many college students can you fit into a phone booth?
Students at St. Mary's College of California found an answer to this pressing question Wednesday when teams of men and women competed to cram as many bodies as possible into an empty phone booth on the campus green.
The phone booth-stuffing competition took place 50 years after Life magazine published a now-famous photograph of 22 St. Mary's students — all men — piled on top of one another in a phone booth, a popular college fad in the late 1950s.
I own a life-size cardboard print of the famous Life magazine photo. Two of the faces are cut out of the print, allowing people to stick their heads through and pose. It is really very funny to see.
There was plenty of coverage of this amusing anniversary. The above quote is from SFGATE.com. That story includes several photos of the booth-cramming and of the now-92-year-old photographer, Joe Munroe.
January 03, 2009
Aquarium Phone Booth
"With the advent of the mobile telephone, telephone booths lie unused. We rediscover this glass cage transformed into an aquarium, full of exotically coloured fish; an invitation to escape and travel."
Read more at Inquisitr.com
October 12, 2008
NY Times Blog: A Phantom Bell Atlantic Phone Booth
A New York Times City Room Blog entry points us to a payphone enclosure which still bore vestiges of the Bell Atlantic brand -- a brand which was supposed to have been retired by 2002.
I know it is just a blog and not real news but I was surprised that the Times seemed to think this was unusual. I see traces of the Bell Atlantic name on NYC payphones rather frequently, not to mention the occasional "NYNEX" logo.
Other payphone rarities to be seen around New York include free-standing phone booths. As far as I know there are 4 remaining outdoor phone booths in Manhattan, and they are all on West End Avenue (you can see my photos if them here).
There are also a couple of old booths on Yankee Pier in New York's Buttermilk Channel (a picture of one of them is here).
I also spotted a functioning phone booth of sorts at 747 3rd Avenue in Manhattan (photo here).
Indoor phone booths remain too numerous to mention but they are vanishing quickly, too.
Another payphone rarity: The rotary dial payphone. I know of at least one still-functioning rotary dial Verizon payphone in New York but I will not divulge its location as that might inspire Verizon to "fix" it and make it a modern push-button phone.
October 08, 2008
Sex, drugs and pay phones
The rot gut and cheap plonk have been pulled from Mike Christison's shelves, his hope being that the lack of bargain booze will keep the local low-lifes from his liquor store.
But it's the public telephone across the street from the Inglewood Wine Market that's the real draw for undesirables: The 9 Ave. S.E. phone booth is a magnet for addicts, dealers and prostitutes, and the bane of businesses for blocks around.
Read more at The Calgary Sun.
October 02, 2008
Lost Child...Call Home
This is a Payphone Project feature from several years ago. My friend Rex drove out to a remote spot in Kansas in search of a lonely payphone he had heard existed. Read the story to find out what he found. Today it would be illegal to find this spot in the way Rex did because the land was bought up by Ted Turner and is now private land.
Read Lost child... Call Home.
Rex is also owner of the famous BugWing
August 07, 2008
The Bad Neighbor (Philadelphia City Paper)
At first, Ryan Caviglia barely noticed the pay phone that sat on the corner of 65th and Lebanon, just down the street from his house and visible from his porch. But gradually, it began to take over his life.
Read more at Philadelphia City Paper
July 20, 2008
Last call: Pay phones are on the way out
Near the entrance of Ruby Tuesday’s stands a silver box – a shell of the pay phone that used to sit there, with only a rectangular cutout in its metal frame and a “dialing instructions” sign to show that it ever existed.
Read more at Naplesnews.com
July 19, 2008
Once ubiquitous part of Americana becoming more and more scarce
Is your cell phone dead and you need to let the family know you will be late? No problem, just pull in and use the pay phone, right?
Not so fast, my friend. Finding a pay phone these days is not that easy.
Read more at Star Exponent.com in Culpeper, Virginia
June 22, 2007
NY Legislature Stops Unjust Prison Phone Contract
From a Malkin & Ross press release:
"The New York State Senate and Assembly reached agreement at the end of this year's legislative session on legislation that would treat prison telephone service as a right, not as a revenue generator.
"'Words cannot describe what this victory means to me -- unless they are written on a phone bill that I can now afford to pay,' said Cheri O'Donoghue, whose young son is incarcerated in New York State. 'It is such a relief that I can now talk to my son more frequently without financial hardship.'"
Read more at Readmedia.com, or visit telephonejustice.org
UK: BT Takes the Phone Out of the Box
BT is re-vamping the design of its public payphones. The new design, by ad firm JCDecaux, accommodates more advertising on the phones in a drive to compensate for dwindling revenues from payphone usage.
"The new, cutting edge design, is the first new design of telephone kiosk in the UK for 20 years. The latest style kiosks, called the Street Talk 6, are being installed this week and has a payphone on one side and back illuminated scrolling six sheet advertisements on the other."
Read more at Assodigitale
June 04, 2007
Canada: Remove pay phones to fight crime?
"SaskTel is being urged to remove pay phones from an inner city neighbourhood in Regina amid accusations that they're facilitating drug dealing and prostitution.
"But other people argue that the phones, located near the General Hospital in the Core neighbourhood, provide a vital service for low-income people in the area who don't have their own phones at home."
Read more at CBC News
June 02, 2007
Cell Phone Booths Find a Home at Libraries
"There is a new take on phone booths at Eastern Connecticut State University, and it is designed to keep the library the way it is supposed to be - quiet."
I looked at these booths last year, and expressed skepticism at their usefulness. Depending where these booths are used, it would seem that the dramatic step of entering one of these booths would only serve bring even more attention to the cell phone user. In a library, though, this contraption would seem to be a sensible addition.
Read more at WTNH.com
May 14, 2007
Canada: Not everyone's willing to hang up on pay phones
The Payphone Project gets a mention in this story from Victoria, Canada, which explores ambivalence to the expected rate increase for calls made from Telus payphones.
"Plenty of people eschew, can't afford, or just don't need cellphones. The question is whether there are enough of those people to keep pay phones profitable.
"Maybe not, to judge by the reaction (or lack thereof) to the news that the 50-cent phone call is coming. There was damn near a revolution when the toll jumped to two bits from a dime in 1981. This time, a collective yawn."
Read more at the Victoria Times-Colonist
May 08, 2007
Japan: Payphones vanishing fast
"Despite their bleak future, pay phones can still serve as a vital communications link during times of disaster. Service for cellphones and home phones could be disrupted or knocked out by an earthquake, for example. However, public phone service will be available.
"'During a disaster we will set up public phones at shelters. Using them along with cellphones and the Internet will be more effective than maintaining the network of public telephones,' said an NTT East official.
"'To remove public telephones amounts to decreasing the means of communication during emergencies,' said Hitoshi Omachi, director of Chiiki Bosai Laboratory (Local disaster-prevention laboratory) in Yokohama. 'People should think about measures to maintain public phones, including financial assistance from the central or local governments.'"
Read more at Asahi.com
May 03, 2007
Canada: Pay phones provide a lifeline
"Not surprisingly, your need for pay phones increases as your income decreases: 88 per cent of low-income Canadians use pay phones at least a few times a year, according to a 2003 national survey conducted by the Montreal-based Union des consommateurs. That includes 22 per cent who use pay phones daily."
Read more at the Globe and Mail, and read the comments on this story.
April 24, 2007
Nevada Payphone: A thing of the past?
The Nevada Appeal accompanies its fine story about declining payphones with a strangely erotic photo of a rotary dial payphone.
"The pay phone, like a lot of old technologies, has become somewhat of an endangered species these days. Once found up and down Highway 50 at every gas station, liquor store and convenience shop, they're now harder to find."
Read more at the Nevada Appeal
April 18, 2007
Supreme court rules in favor of payphone industry
"The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the right of companies to sue over alleged violations of federal communications law and reinforced the regulatory authority of the Federal Communications Commission.
"In a 7-2 decision, the court said that pay-phone provider Metrophones Telecommunications Inc. may pursue a suit against Global Crossing Telecommunications Inc.
"At issue are payments for coinless calls on Metrophones' payphones over Global Crossing's network. The calls involve special access codes such as 1-800 or 10-10-220."
Read more at San Jose Mercury News
April 03, 2007
San Diego: Sun sets on beach pay phones
The Union-Tribune's Michael Stetz writes:
"Mark Thomas, who started The Payphone Project, digs pay phones. Thomas used to call them out of the blue and play a tape of one of his piano performances over the line to whomever answered. He liked the odd connection between perfect strangers. Today, most pay phones won't take incoming calls, though."
Read more at SignOnSanDiego.com
April 02, 2007
World's most famous phone booth claims world record
Scotland's Pennan phone box, declared by a local tourism board as "the most famous phone booth in the world," was the scene of record breaking achievement. 16 gymnasts filled the famous phone box, breaking the booth-stuffing record set in 2003 in Edinburgh, where 12 adults and 2 children succeeded on their second attempt to fill a booth with themselves.
The Edinburgh record only includes 2 children, though, while the more recent Pennan booth-cram was all youngsters. Is it inevitable, then, that another record-seeking group will fill a booth with, say, 29 infants or 30 dwarfs?
The Payphone Project asks: When will standards be set in defining the terms of this critical world record?
March 06, 2007
Scotland claims "the most famous phone booth in the world"?
Because of its central role in the movie "Local Hero," a phone booth in Pennan, Scotland has become one of Scotland's leading tourist attractions. While many calls come in to this phone, however, few calls seem to go out, causing concerns that this phone would be purged along with other money-losing phone boxes throughout the country.
BT states there are no plans to remove this phone:
"A BT official spokesman wanted to make it clear that there are no plans to close the Pennan box, – or any other kiosks in Scotland.
"He said: 'We are committed to keeping these rural boxes open. There was a five-year programme to thin out the least used boxes, but that is finished.'"
Too bad we don't have a photo of this famous phone box. Is it really the most famous phone booth in existence? It's debatable, but hey, why not?
Read more at the Banffshire Journal
February 25, 2007
Scotland: £560 for a call from a phone box?
By BT Scotland's math, annual maintenance costs for a phone box are about £1,600. This story profiles a Scotland phone box that was only used for three calls in an entire year, making its cost-per-call ratio rather conspicuous.
This story also mentions a "legendary" phone box: Ferness 261, featured in the 1983 film Local Hero, starring Burt Lancaster.
"A BT Scotland spokesman said: 'BT is very conscious of its social obligations and has pledged its commitment to retain payphones particularly in remote and rural communities and for people who depend on the service. For example, no payphones have been removed from the Scottish islands under our rationalisation programme which began five years ago.
'More than 60% of our payphones are loss-making but, despite the commercial pressures, we pride ourselves on providing a service that offers real value for money.'"
Read more at Scotsman.com
Uganda: Phone Operator Disconnects Client
"There was drama in Nateete recently..."
This all-too-short story reads like a screenplay-in-waiting.
From this story, it sounds as if a man in Nateete, Uganda, used a community payphone to make a call. Africa is largely without any sort of landline telephone infrastructure, and a community payphone is essentially a pay-as-you-go mobile phone. Such a phone is often owned and operated by an independent business owner.
Photos of these community payphones can be seen in this picture on the Payphone Project: Benin, Africa, Community Payphone. Similarly, Tele-vendors in Cotonou, Benin, sell telephone service on a sort of "door to door" basis.
Evidently, calls made through these community payphones may be subject to the approval of the telephone owner. The caller in this story (from allAfrica.com) learned this when his abusive rant directed at the person on the other end of the phone was overheard by the community payphone operator who disapproved of his side of the conversation and thus ended it.
Read more at allAfrica.com
February 23, 2007
Penn State student asks: 'How do you make a collect call?"
A long article from Penn State University's "Daily Collegian" describes the inexorable decline in payphones from the university's campus.
Canadian company Freefone might be in line to replace college campus payphones with free (ad-supported) public phones, such as those seen around New York and other cities.
This article also touches on the reality of behaviour changes between older and younger generations. Today's college students may never have made a collect or bill-to-third-party phone call.
"Though competition from wireless phones and other communication methods such as the Internet has caused a decrease in payphone use, there is a need for them, Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski said. The company operates all the payphones on Penn State's campus.
"People may need access to a payphone because they don't have a cell phone, their cell phone battery may be dead or they may simply have no phone available to them, he said. Four percent of Pennsylvania households do not have access to a home or cell phone, according to the FCC."
Read more at PSU's Daily Collegian Online
February 20, 2007
New York: Prisoners' lawsuit over payphone fees revived
"The Court of Appeals, in a 4-2 decision, reversed a lower court's determination that the lawsuit should be dismissed for a lack of timeliness. That was incorrect, the high court ruled. While not making any judgment on whether inmates would eventually win the claim, the Court of Appeals ordered that the case go to trial.
"Inmates are required to call collect to family, friends and others at a rate of 16 cents per minute plus a $3 connect fee. The average phone call from prison lasts 19 minutes and costs $6 -- a 630 percent markup from normal phone calls, according to prisoners' advocates.
"When the case goes to trial, the prison families and the defense groups will be seeking to recoup some of the money spent over the years on the phone calls."
Read more at the Press & Sun-Bulletin
February 18, 2007
Payphones? Of course!
The Daily Herald warns against getting ripped off by unscrupulous payphone operators, and also includes a few interesting facts and figures about the state of the payphone business.
"Some billion and a half calls were made on pay phones last year nationwide, many by low-income families with no other option.
"Who uses pay phones? Many are located in low-income areas, but even Blackberry-strapped professionals find themselves without a choice at times. Batteries go dead or reception is terrible, and there in the airport or hotel stands a pay phone silently waiting.
"Natural disasters also bring the mass public to the long-forgotten phone booth. Remember the pictures of scores waiting in pay phone lines during the 2003 Northeast blackout or in the wake of Hurricane Katrina?"
Well, who knows what picture this article refers to, but I've long been proud of my picture from the 2003 blackout. Much of the Northeast was cast into darkness and many people stood on line for hours waiting for a payphone. Many payphones and other land lines failed to work, calling into question the old saw that a land line phone should always work with or without electricity. Despite the assumption that payphones are an obsolete technology, events such as the 2003 blackout illustrate that their value in emergency situations is reason enough that they should endure, regardless of their profitability.
Read more at the Daily Herald
When a serial murderer calls... from a payphone
Here is an interesting story about one reporter's involvement in the infamous Zodiac serial murderer case. In September, 1969, the Zodiac called police from a payphone, bragging about his most recent murder. Unable to track payphones to exact locations, police fanned out to try and find a payphone with its receiver off the hook.
"This reporter jumped into action. After a brief stop at the Sheriff's Department, I drove north on Main Street. Driving past a car wash and the historic Sam Key Laundry Building, I spotted a pay phone, but thought the call must have come from closer to the lake, nearly 30 miles away. At the last second, though, I swerved my car toward the phone booth and was shocked to find the receiver off the hook. Could this be the phone, I wondered?"
Read more at the Napa Valley Register
January 19, 2007
New York: Subway Pay Phones Harder to Find
It is fair to assert that most New Yorkers are probably indifferent to the decline in payphones in the subway system. Despite the fact that cell phones generally do not work in the city's subways, I would think that most cell-phone carrying straphangers are connected to the world constantly enough to a point where the brief time spent out of touch is a welcome respite, at least for a little while.
The danger is not so much in declining numbers of subway phones but with the fact that many of those remaining either do not work at all or function unpredictably. As the New York Sun mentions (link below), a 2006 Straphangers survey found that 29% of payphones in the subway system were useless for any of several reasons. One need not think too hard to imagine scenarios in which access to a working telephone might be critical in a space where cell phone service does not work.
Furthermore, subway information (weekend changes, delays, etc.) are available for free by dialing #3333 from subway payphones. Any city subway rider knows that in-station announcements about delays and route changes are often inaudible over the subway's speaker systems, making reliable access to this free payphone service of some significance.
But how many people use #3333, I wonder, and does the MTA plan to eliminate that service at some point?
The Sun summarizes the immediate future of payphones in the subways with these numbers:
"Between 2003 and the end of this year, the number of phones on subway platforms in New York City will have declined by about 20%. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Tim O'Brien, said there were presently about 5,100 phones in subway stations and by the end of the year the number would decline to 4,700 or 4,800. He said there were no plans to decrease this number further. The number of subway phones was at a high in 2003-04, with a total of about 6,000, he said."
Read more at the New York Sun
January 07, 2007
Calling cards dropping their anonymous shield?
For many years, one of the most frequently visited sections of The Payphone Project has been the pages explaining what it means when phone numbers such as (720) 587-9978 and (404) 461-9978 show up on your caller ID.
Many people, seeing these strange and unknown numbers on their phone, type the numbers into an Internet search engine to try and trace the call or somehow figure out who called them.
The answer in the past was that the call was made using an AT&T prepaid calling card. When a call is placed using one of these calling cards, the receiving party's Caller ID would show one of a series of numbers, but never the phone number from which the call was actually placed. For better or worse this granted the calling party a shield of anonymity.
It appears that this is changing, though. A reader of this web site (thanks, Shevas!) wrote to describe how a recent call made using an AT&T prepaid card showed the actual phone number on the receiving party's caller ID. Having used these cards for some time Shevas (and I, for that matter) had come to expect that our actual phone number would be shielded when placing calls with AT&T calling cards.
As Shevas explains: "I used the same card about a week ago to call my house from out of town, and instead of that erroneous number showing up, the actual number I was calling from showed up instead! So I tested it from a couple of different phones, cell, land, pay, etc. and it was all the same result. The actual number showed up. I have no idea when this started happening, as I don't usually have the
opportunity to see what number is showing up on caller ID."
We don't know when or why this change was implemented.
If you think your calls are being anonymized by going through one of these AT&T calling cards, think again, and test it first, because you may find that you are not as anonymous as you think.
Read more about these calling cards here
Loren Everly: International Payphones
By far the most impressive individual's collection of payphone pictures I have seen in a long time, Loren Everly has travelled the world keeping an eye out for, among other things, phone booths and payphones.
As the number of public phones decreases the cultural value of documenting their presence increases, making Loren's photo collection both unique and valuable.
Of special interest to me are the three photos of Laotian payphones. I lived in Laos as a child and hope to return someday.
Have fun browsing his site, which includes payphones from Belarus, Belgium, Botswana, Burma, Bulgaria -- and that's just the countries starting with "B" -- then check out the rest of his site, which includes lots of interesting accounts of travels throughout the world. If you're like me you'll end up with quite the travel bug.
Click to visit loreneverly.org
Miami Herald: Pay phones a dying breed
"80,000 pay phones were taken out of service in the past seven years. 150 calls a month must be made for a phone to be profitable.
For a phone to remain profitable, it must be in an ideal location and be used for at least 150 calls a month. The best areas for pay phone use tend to be low-income neighborhoods and tourist spots..."
Read more at the Miami Herald
November 11, 2006
Ocala: Pay phones being put out to pasture
A lively but ultimately rote story about the declining number of payphones in America. What surprises me about this story is the expensive multimedia feature buried a couple of screens down. My lord, when I worked in a newsroom you couldn't get away with blowing this kind of production money on anything but sports and 9/11. These are golden days for web journalism, apparently.
Read more at Ocala.com
Wilkes-Barre: Law targets outdoor phones
"In an effort to curb prostitution and drug dealing, city council passed an ordinance Thursday that gives the city the authority to shut down pay phones that are used for illegal activity."
Read more at the Times-Leader
October 08, 2006
Maine: Good Old Pay Phones
This story describes how the residents of Cliff Island, Maine, took advantage of Maine's "Public Interest Payphone Program" to restore access to a public telephone in an area where cell phone coverage is spotty to non-existent.
"... the new communications order has left some people in the lurch. Maybe they find themselves in one of the many [cell phone] dead zones. Or maybe they can’t afford or just plain don’t like cell phones. Some people on Maine’s offshore islands feel especially deprived."
Similar programs exist from state to state, and were enacted as part of the 1996 Telecommunications Reform Act -- see the Establishment of Public Interest Payphones section. Rules for who might qualify for a Public Interest Payphone can differ significantly from state to state. Residents of rural or remote areas are encouraged to follow the example set by the residents of Cliff Island, Maine: if lack of access to phone service constitutes a public safety hazard then get your lawmakers involved.
Read more at Bangornews.com
Mendocino: Pay phone removals provoke worries
The Mendocino Beacon refers to the Payphone Project, and to the "This Ain't Livin' blog cited in this story about the Headlands Payphone in Fort Bragg, CA, in a nicely done story about the removal of public phone in areas poorly served by cell phone coverage.
There is only criteria for removing public telephones in the United States: Profit. If a payphone is not profitable then the owner will have it removed without benefit of public hearings or any other feedback.
"... the California Public Utilities Commission provides funding for pay phones that don't make enough money to support themselves. That means Mendocino County Supervisors could apply for funding for a Public Policy Pay Phone. But that program demands that phone service not be available or that the phone be in a spot designated as an emergency gathering area, according to the state Website."
Read more at the Mendocino Beacon
September 25, 2006
Payphone Warriors: A New York City Street Game
From the maybe-you-had-to-be-there department:
"In 'Payphone Warriors,' teams of four players spread out from Manhattan's Washington Square park in a mad dash for dominance over the area's many pay phones. The idea was that at each new bank of pay phones--and who knew there would be so many in such a small area?--a player would pop in a quarter, call a prescribed number and then punch in his or her team's code.
"The game, which was designed by several people, including Abe Burmeister and festival co-organizer Greg Trefry, lasted for only about 30 minutes, but I can honestly say I've never had a more fun--or exhausting--half-hour of making phone calls in my life."
Read more at CNET's News.com
September 16, 2006
(707) 964-9760 -- No Incoming Calls
A friend writes to share this story of the Headlands payphone in Fort Bragg, California:
"... the Headlands payphone is a staple of my life. When I moved back to town and didn't have a phone yet, I gave out the Headlands number on employment applications, and when I got my first job in Fort Bragg, I found out standing in the pouring rain at the Headlands phone. The DMV still thinks it's my phone number."
Read more at Meloukhia.net
September 11, 2006
Amish opening up to "community phones"
This is an interesting story. I am still thinking about it, because I think its message reaches beyond the Amish and offers a metaphor for how all communities can manage the influence of technology in their lives.
"Off the side of a dirt road in southern Maryland stands an odd answer to the swiftly changing telecommunications industry. ...a telephone.
Called 'community phones,' they are the latest example of how the groups in Maryland and elsewhere have been cutting deals with technology for the past century. "
Read more at the Mail Tribune
September 04, 2006
Maine towns queue up for access to public telephones
Welcome to the 21st century. Access to public communication must now be litigated and passed through political channels:
"We knew that, for a state like Maine, pay phones are not just a relic of small-town Maine, but a necessity of life, part of the landscape," [Rep. Herb Adams, D-Portland] said.
"They're there for that emergency you hope you never have."
Credit goes to the Maine Legislature and the Maine Public Utilities Commission for helping make telephone access available in areas whose access to communications might otherwise be that of the mid 19th century.
Read more at the Kennebec Journal
August 23, 2006
Scranton: Pay phones disappearing
Look for a couple of quotes from me in this story by Coulter Jones, which also mentions the Freefone business model that I think represents a substantial part of the future of the public telephone.
"In the past nine years, a million pay phones have been shut off in the United States — nearly a 50 percent decrease. Competition with cellular phone companies and maintenance costs have led to a 10 percent to 12 percent drop in the number of pay phones each year for the past decade, according to the Federal Communications Commission."
Read more at the Scranton Times-Tribune
August 22, 2006
Columbus: Wireless dealing a blow to pay-phones
"[Howard Meister, president of Cleveland-based North Coast Payphones] said he believes that pay phones always will exist on the American landscape, even at reduced numbers.
"'Until the country gets to a point where there’s universal service or every person breathing has access to cell phones, there will be a need for this public service,' Meister said.
"'It’s viable and necessary,' Twiss said. 'It’s not all doom and gloom.'"
Read more at the Columbus Dispatch
WebPhone: Australia VoIP Pay Phones
"The new VoIP pay phones, dubbed the WebPhone, has (sic) a handset, color monitor, full keyboard and looks similar to digital photo-printing kiosks. [Pie Networks] said the VoIP pay phone will be able to draw in mobile phone users by offering lower rates than some mobile plans."
Read more at VOIP News
August 17, 2006
AT&T Removes Public Access to Telephones in Tomales, California
I hope your car does not break down in Tomales, California. If it does, you may have no way to reach the outside world in this town with limited cell phone coverage and (now thanks to AT&T) no access to public telephony.
"Like other areas of West Marin, the isolated town of Tomales has no reliable cell phone coverage; lost motorists or residents in need of emergency assistance relied instead on the payphone in front of the Tomales Bakery, or on emergency call boxes along the highway."
Profitability is the only criteria invoked by U.S. phone companies when justifying removal of public telephones. Public safety concerns are irrelevent to the phone companies.
Read more at Point Reyes Light
August 06, 2006
Australia: Telstra to remove 4000 payphones
"[Telstra] has told its pay-phone provisioning staff to begin taking out the extra phones later this month, despite being warned that the information used to determine the profitability of many phones in NSW and Queensland was unreliable."
Read more at AdelaideNow
Los Angeles: Pay phones out, cells take over
"... as cell phones have given pay phones a run for their money, some in the industry are hoping for a comeback with new technologies, like Wi-Fi connections.
"About 40 pay phones recently launched at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas now also operate as Wi-Fi spots. Wal-Mart may be next in line. So anyone looking to download music or access the Internet from laptops while sitting in the parking lot there could find access points through these pay phones."
Read more at the LA Daily News
August 04, 2006
Free Phones: Pay phones get second life
I first pointed out Popa Media's Free Phones last summer. It seems they have endured as a viable business model, and I think their success is well deserved. Free calling time is a product everyone can agree on, and billboard advertising is no great nuisance in most urban areas. I look forward to seeing this business model evolve into unlimited free calling time with more creative advertising solutions.
Read more at Pressconnects.com
July 31, 2006
AP: Pay phones becoming scarce across U.S.
"A full 7.1 percent of the nation's households had no phone of any kind in November 2005, up from 4.7 percent three years earlier, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
"For those people, and for the estimated 43 percent of U.S. residents with no cell phones (as of June 2004), pay phones are especially crucial, advocates say."
Read more at the Houston Chronicle
July 27, 2006
Nevada's "Loneliest Road" has become even lonelier
Abby Johnson describes how SBC/AT&T's removal of unprofitable public phones in rural Nevada has created public safety concerns, stranding some with virtually no phone communications.
"The availability of a pay phone in each outpost community along the Loneliest Road is a matter of public safety and courtesy. It is what Nevada owes the tourists and travelers it is attracting to Nevada's outback. Most city folk expect that their cell phones will work everywhere. Well, on Highway 50, it depends. And in many areas, even in towns, there is no coverage at all."
Read more at the Nevada Appeal
July 21, 2006
Brother, can you spare a quarter?
I get quoted at far greater length than I deserve in this nice story about the potential removal of a payphone in Farmington, New York. I did not know that this was going to be the front page, big-time boffo news story of the day at this paper; nor did I know I would be dubbed the "fearless leader" of the payphone world. Jessica Pierce, who wrote the story, was nice enough to send me a couple of copies of the print edition. Thanks, Jessica! It was great to see my payphone graveyard photo in print.
Read more at MPNnow.com
July 17, 2006
Daytona Beach News: The Lost Jobs
The pay-phone maintenance man is cited as an example of a job that will eventually disappear.
The maintenance man quoted in this story offers this insight into the state of the payphone business:
"'There is a large section of society, the have-nots, who use pay phones,' he said. And pay phones can be essential during hurricanes when the electrical power goes out or towers are damaged and many home phones and cell phones don't work."
I would add to the list of fading jobs that of the electronics repair-person. I can remember not that long ago taking VCRs and video game consoles in for repairs, but today those things are so cheap that it's often cheaper to just get a new one - unless you have the skills to fix these things yourself.
The Daytona Beach News story also focuses on the full-service gas station attendant as a doomed job. That may be true in most of the country, but not in New Jersey or Oregon. Pumping your own gas is illegal in those states.
I would think, too, that the physically handicapped would hope for a future with some quantity of full service gas station attendants.
Read more at the Daytona Beach News
July 01, 2006
The Mailbox Project? US Mailbox Location Data Released
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 box in America.
Credit for this release of information goes to Mr. Douglas F. Carlson, an attorney and postal service activist who has successfully challenged the postal service on numerous issues. Most recently the PRC agreed to hear Mr. Carlson's case regarding prices of Disney-themed stationary (link below).
Mr. Carlson was forced to invoke the Freedom of Information Act to get release of this mailbox location data, a strategy which suggests the Postal Service was not altogether happy about making this information publicly available in this format.
Two separate releases of data are available for download from the Postal Rates Commission (prc.gov) web site. These are large zip file downloads containing several Excel spreadsheets.
Recognizing the value of this information, I got to work and turned this data into a fully searchable reference for the Internet. The Mailbox Locator has quickly become the most highly-trafficked site on my network, and I believe its usefulness speaks for itself.
Douglas Carlson's accomplishment in securing release of this data deserves recognition. By making this public information publicly available, Mr. Carlson has done for USPS blue mailboxes what I wish someone could do for public telephone information. It frustrates me that a similar release of data for public telephones is not available. I believe that the decline in number of public telephones makes their location information more valuable, not less.
Links:
Bill McAllister comments on Douglas Carlson's work
Updated Release of expanded database
Zip file containing the first release Excel spreadsheets (~15mb download)
Washington Post: Disney Stationery Animates a Postal Spat
Search for mailboxes by zip code!
APCC Services Files Complaints Against 25 Carriers
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 have
shown in thumbing their noses at the FCC is truly profound. In
addition to collecting our unpaid compensation, we hope and
expect the FCC will soon begin imposing significant penalties
and sanctions on these and the other non-paying carriers."
Read the press release at APCC.net
The 25 companies targeted in the APCC complaint, with links to available web sites, are:
1. Access International, Westlake Village, CA
2. AllCom USA, Inc., Rancho Cucamonga, CA
3. BAK Communications, Inc., Los Angeles, CA
4. CCI Network Services, Salt Lake City, UT
5. Compass Global, Woodcliff Lake, NJ
6. Economy Telephone, Inc., San Diego, CA
7. Fone Corp International, Inc., Lincolnwood, IL
8. Geo Group Communications, Inc., Commerce, CA
9. Intelco Communications, Montreal Quebec Canada
10. International Telecom Exchange Group, Inc., Huntington Beach, CA
11. LataOne LLC, Beverly Hills, CA
12. Macro Communications, Inc., Duluth, GA
13. Multiphone Latin America, Inc., Miami, FL
14. Network Management, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT
15. Next-G Communications, Inc., Houston, TX
16. Red River Networks LLC, Oklahoma City, OK
17. Southwest Communications, Inc., Kansas City, MO
18. Southwest iNet, Inc., Fort Worth, TX
19. Network US, Inc., Naperville, IL
20. Telecents Communications, Inc., Walled Lake, MI
21. Telefyne, Inc., Pace, FL
22. Volume Telecom, Littleton, CO
23. WestStar Telecommunications LLC, Sandy, UT
24. Wildgate Wireless, Inc., Culver City, CA
25. WorldOne Telecommunications LLC, Los Angeles, CA
Are there any phone booths left in Pittsburgh?
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 Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
June 29, 2006
Verizon to end its Airfone service
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 to say the least. 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 phones occasionally to make calls in-flight, usually when a flight is late and someone expecting to meet me at the airport might not be aware of the delay.
I don't travel enough by plane any more to say whether or not I'll miss the Airfone, but I do hope that someone buys this division and keeps this option available in some form.
I am surprised to find that the Airfone division employs 140 people. That seems like a lot of overhead for what is essentially a small payphone operation.
Read more at Reuters.com
June 06, 2006
Lacking payphones, Indiana chaplain starts cell phone ministry
"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
June 03, 2006
These phone booths take cellphones
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. I never stepped into one of these booths, but they were considered innovative. I have never seen these booths again, but as a lapsed Catholic I guess I would have been likely to miss them.
Salemi Industries, Inc., has introduced CellZone, which is a cellphone phone booth. Restaurants, libraries (and perhaps churches) are the target market for the CellZone product, which functions as a phone booth for those rare cell phone users sensitive to having their conversations overheard.
This concept is not new. C.P. Booth, L.L.C. has been marketing such products for some time. It was a C.P. Booth that was somewhat famously installed at Manhattan's Biltmore Room in 2004.
And our friends over at the Half Bakery proposed Cell Phone Booths back in 2003. (On a different tack, check out their more recent "I'm not crazy" idea.)
CellZone strikes me as evidence that venture capitalists are burning money just like the old days. Costing up to $3,500 a pop and with no obvious way for buyers to recoup their investment I find it hard to imagine this product being installed as anything more than a novelty.
I believe the concept fails on merits, too: Instead of insulating the cell phone user from their surroundings these booths seem like they would draw more attention to the talker.
Read more at Boston.com
Read more at USA Today
June 02, 2006
Save the Bombala Payphone!
The Bombala Times: Australia's Telstra issues a corporately obscure announcement warning the Bombala community that their payphone will be removed pending evaluation of comments received about the matter. Few Bombala locals appear to be aware of the matter or that their comments are being solicited. If you are willing to help save this payphone please call (in Australia) 1800 011 433 or send your comments in writing to Telstra Payphone Siting Manager, Locked Bag 6658, Sydney, NSW, 2001.
Read more at the Bombala Times
May 22, 2006
Pay Phones? How About Pay Computers?
Prepaid mobile phones and calling cards serve as a model for Microsoft's initiative to bring pay-as-you-go computers to developing nations:
"In an effort to replicate the success of prepaid mobile phones in emerging markets, the PC industry aims to expand PC use in countries where consumers must cope with a lower income and limited access to credit.
"The pay-as-you-go model lowers the initial costs of buying a PC by 50 percent or more and the consumer owns the PC after a set amount of minutes are purchased, the companies said."
Read more at CNN International
May 21, 2006
Missouri: For a quarter you can't even make a call
'"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 the Daily Journal
May 20, 2006
You Must Remember This...
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 smoke and past the pooltables."
Read more at Stones in the Field
NPR: There's No Tech Like Low-Tech
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, [I'd] arrange to call them, where they're receiving the call on a payphone."'
"Is a pre-paid phone card the solution?"
Read more at National Public Radio.
May 18, 2006
UK: Phone boxes converted to card-only use
"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."
Read more at Market Rasen Today
May 17, 2006
UK: End of the line for payphones
"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 Wirral Globe
May 15, 2006
Boston Globe: A Port in the Storm
"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 at the Boston Globe
May 12, 2006
Forbes: Want to chat in private? Use a pay phone.
"'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
May 03, 2006
NYC Subways: 25% of Verizon Payphones Don't Work
Quoted in the New York Times (May 3, 2006), Verizon blames its customers:
Heather Wilner, a Verizon spokeswoman, said: "The difficulty comes when people don't report problems. A lot of times, when the phone doesn't work, they just walk away."
Read the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign Web Site
April 14, 2006
Wales: Couple hope to keep lonely pay phone
"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
April 12, 2006
Architecture of Waiting
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
March 27, 2006
North Carolina: Cell-phone use growing among the homeless
"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
February 23, 2006
Atlanta: Payphone Scammer Heads to Jail
"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 also was ordered to pay $320.4 million in restitution."
Read more at the Atlanta Journal Constitution
February 21, 2006
Walhem, MA: Phone Booth of 30 Years is Removed
This story (link removed since the story is no longer on the Salem News web site) makes me wonder if the phone booths I saw in Goodrich, North Dakota; Osceola, Nebraska; and Mappsville, Virginia; are still there. Any North Dakotans know about the phone booth in Goodrich?
What happened in Wenham has been happening across the country, ever since cell phone technology become affordable in the mid-1990s. Before then, the pay phone was the only way to make that quick call home or to a friend. But since 2001, Verizon has seen its collection of pay phones throughout the country drop by 32 percent, to just 300,000.
Australia: Payphones in Indigenous communities to stay
"We need to make sure that people have access to basic telephonic services, and one way of doing that is ensuring that public telephones, where they are, actually work and are properly maintained."
Read more at ABC Online
February 19, 2006
New York Times: Sorry, Superman
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 real story, as usual for this type of piece, is stuffed at the end:
"'But what about older people who have never used cellphones, or poor people who can't afford them, or people who just don't want one?'"
This article also includes no mention of the free phones around the city, which offer free (ad supported) calling time within the U.S.
The title of the story, incidentally, references the fact that the Superman comic book character snuck into phone booths to turn from Clark Kent to Superman. Phone booths are not mentioned in this story, but in New York City there are 4 remaining outdoor, freestanding phone booths, all of them on West End Avenue in Manhattan.
Full story no longer online, but click here to access the story at the New York Times.
February 10, 2006
Boston: Officials seek restrictions on pay phones
"Saying that pay phones attract drug dealers and prostitutes, city agencies are pushing for an amendment to the zoning code meant to restrict installation of coin-operated phones."
I don't know Boston, but it sounds like the drug dealers are already there in these neighborhoods. The pay phones did not bring them there. Taking away emergency telephone access from the entire community seems like a drastic measure. Some have suggested that public phones should be monitored or wiretapped, offering no guarantee of privacy. As unpallatable as that sounds at first you quickly realize how much surveillance goes on in private communication channels. Why should public channels be excluded as well, particularly when criminal activity is suspected? I do not advocate wiretapping of pay phones, but I would not be surprised to see it happen.
Read more at Boston.com
February 06, 2006
Maine: Commission may require free public telephones
"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 phone service in the event of an emergency.
Establishment of public interest payphones, discussed in the 1996 Telecommunications Reform Act, has long been at the discretion of individual U.S. States.
Maine's proposal goes a step further. Described in this story as "pay phones," Maine actually wants to make these phones absolutely free to consumers.
Free phones, supported by advertising, are becoming common in larger cities, but the remoteness of the locations in Maine make it hard to imagine advertisers being interested in sponsoring these phones.
This article mentions that the phone companies take a "dim view" of this legislation, but offers no comment from those companies.
Read more at Bangor News Daily
Oregon: Phone Booth Stakeout
Nothing new in this lively story about the demise of the payphone, except that this story goes so far as to include the number of a payphone. That payphone, 503-227-9844, does not accept incoming calls. No pictures, either.
The disappearance of the phone booth is a bit over-stated. It's true that outdoor, freestanding phone booths are not being installed as often as in the past. But indoor phone booths, with the signature accordian type door and even a local phone book, abound in most cities. Since these booths are part of the structure of the buildings they are likely to be around for a while.
Still, the cocoon-like feeling of an outdoor phone booth is distinct, and as one person quoted in this story says, it feels like you're making a "secret phone call."
I find the nostalgia over phone booths to be rather twee. Step into the phone booths on the New Jersey Turnpike and I bet that any sentimentality for this enclosed space will be chased off by the rank smell of urine and who knows what else.
Read more at Oregon Live.
See my phone booth pictures from New York City, Tampa's Swan Motel, Delaware, Virginia, and North Dakota.
January 16, 2006
UK: BT hangs up on internet payphone
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
January 11, 2006
Canada: The Vanishing Pay Phone
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 phone, you want to make sure that there are a lot of pay phones in that neighbourhood. People rely on them not only for day-to-day phone calls, (but) also for emergency access.”
Read more at Victoria News
January 06, 2006
Calling all payphone webcams...
Can you call payphones in Times Square and see who answers live on an Internet webcam? Are there other payphone webcams for you to call?
Click here to find out.
Groups Fight N.Y. State Prison Collect Call "Kickbacks"
"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
December 30, 2005
The Payphone: A Lifeline That's Often Out of Order
"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."
Read more at TMC.net
December 29, 2005
Fugitive tracked through pay phone
In case you thought calls made from payphones were anonymous, read this story.
Read more at the St. Pete Times
December 24, 2005
Ireland: Immigrants revive payphones
"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
December 12, 2005
Oklahoma: Payphones Disappearing From the Scene
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
December 07, 2005
Scottsdale firm lets callers dial for free
"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 telephony represents a significant part of the future of public telephony.
Bummer. Outdated link removed from The Payphone Project
New York: City Losing Revenue From Public Pay Phone Advertising
"[New York C]ity is being cheated out of millions of dollars a year in advertising revenue generated by street pay phones, Comptroller William Thompson has charged in a new report.
"...the biggest offender was Telebeam Telecommunications Corporation which owes 1.5 million of the total."
Read more at NY1.com
October 26, 2005
Pittsburgh: Pay phones losing connection
I was asked to comment for this story, but unfortunately my travel plans interfered with my ability to do so. My apologies to Jason, and kudos on a fine story about the enduring place for payphones in modern life.
Read more at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Telecom New Zealand to remove 400 payphones
"There was a time when payphones were one of the only ways that New Zealanders could access the telephone when they were away from home or the office. Today, there are nearly as many mobile phones in New Zealand as there are people..."
Read more at Cellular News
October 16, 2005
Cell phone use changes life in Africa
This article implies that payphones are irrelevent in the African communications revolution being brought about by cell phone service. In fact satellite powered community payphones are changing whole communities throughout Africa where most citizens can not afford personal or business phone service. Nevertheless, this is a good story showing the signal changes happening in Africa as telephone service becomes widely available for the first time.
Read more at San Jose Mercury News
October 13, 2005
New Hampshire town saves its only pay phone
"The phone was the first in New Hampshire to be protected under a state law passed in July. The law sprang from the 1996 federal Telecommunications Act, which deregulated pay phones but allowed states to enact "public interest" laws to save endangered phones. At least eight states have similar laws, including New York, California and Maine, which also enacted its law this year."
Read more at Indystar.com
October 12, 2005
FTC Targets Internet Kiosk Fraudsters
"It seemed like a great idea: own fee-based, public Internet terminals located in malls and rake in the cash. Too good, in fact, according to the Federal Trade Commission."
Read more at Internetnews.com
Jerusalem ‘payphone war’ heats up
Growing phenomenon in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods: Payphones locked by chains on weekends and holidays 'to prevent Sabbath desecration by Christians’
Read more at YNetNews.com
October 06, 2005
End of an era: Benner-Nawman produces final phone booths
"Globally, telephones are still a growing business with over 60 percent of the world's population having yet to make their first phone call," said Ed Kientz. "In the developing world the telephone business is growing, but the technology has changed favoring the development of wireless systems. Unfortunately people with cell phones don't need phone booths."
Read more at the Wickenberg Sun
September 30, 2005
Man convicted in $414 million phone scam
"A jury found Charles Edwards, who founded ETS Payphones a decade ago, guilty of 83 counts of wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy."
Read more
September 25, 2005
Were ETS Payphones a Fraud?
"Charles Edwards was a failed entrepreneur who found gold in 1996 when the pay telephone industry was deregulated.
"But Edwards' success was merely a mirage built on deceit, federal prosecutors say. Edwards is accused of running a Ponzi scheme..."
Read more (Sorry, registration required, but it's free and this is an interesting story for the payphone industry)
September 16, 2005
UK: 'Save our Phone Boxes' Campaign continues
"These phone boxes provide a lifeline in many rural communities, both for visitors and the people who live there.
"In an emergency, the closure of these payphones could cause real problems. The phone box closure programme must be stopped before it is too late."
Read more
August 16, 2005
Sprint sees profitable future for payphones
This memo from Sprint's corporate intranet was sent to the Payphone Project by a Sprint employee. While the death knells continue to sound, Sprint sees a distinct and profitable future for the payphone. With this memo Sprint calls on employees to scout out locations for modest cash rewards.
Sprint is giving employees a chance to make some extra money. Our National Public Access (NPA) organization, which oversees Sprint pay phones, is offering a $25 gift certificate for every lead that results in the installation of a pay station.
“Sometimes the general consensus is that pay phones are dinosaurs,” said Darlene House, interim public access sales manager. “But the truth is, pay phone services remain in demand, and public access contributes to Sprint’s revenue streams.”
The company is looking for good pay phone locations. Good locations may include coin laundries, apartment complexes, convenience stores, gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, shopping centers, schools and hotels, just to name a few. As other public access competitors have backed out of the pay phone business, many local business owners have found themselves without pay phone service. NPA wants to find these locations, as well.
That’s where employees can get involved – and win cash! (Actually it’s gift certificates that spend like cash.)
“Employees are the eyes and ears in our communities,” House said. “Many years ago, large sales teams made cold calls to secure pay phone locations. In today’s market, NPA, like all other Sprint organizations, is working to maximize revenues while containing costs. Employee referrals can help us do that.”
Employees who make a pay station referral that results in a successful installation at that location will receive a $25 gift certificate. Make two successful referrals, get two certificates – or $50. There’s no limit.
While locations in which Sprint is the primary local service provider are optimal, National Public Access will consider locations outside franchised Sprint territory.
“The NPA Employee Referral Program is a money-maker for Sprint and for employees,” House said. “It’s a win-win situation.”
August 05, 2005
Stehekin, Washington: A Town Without Telephones
"If telephones ever come to Stehekin, a lot of tourist brochures will need editing.
Most locals use two-way radios to communicate within the valley, so you can't say anything that you don't want your neighbors to hear.
But the modern world is encroaching."
Read more
UK: Phone boxes are vanishing from streets
"Councillor Keith Sharp said: "We have made a request for the phone box in Francis Gardens to be removed because we have been inundated with complaints about youths using it as a toilet and gathering around it and causing trouble."
Read more
UK: BT plan to cut Dundee payphones
“There are 6200 payphones in Scotland and over two-thirds of these no longer cover their costs.”
Read more
More Than 60 Pay Phones Burglarized In The Oklahoma City Area
"Sooner Telecommunication officials belief the thief is either a pay phone technician or someone who has worked in the field. The company says the equipment is being resold on the Internet and to other phone vendors."
Read more
July 30, 2005
Indiana: Need a pay phone? You may be out of luck
"[T]here is still life left in pay phones because they serve a certain group of people, those who can’t afford or don’t want a cell phone.
Other users like the clarity of a pay phone better than a cell phone, use a pay phone instead of having a home phone or use them when their cell phone’s battery is dead or they can’t get a signal on their cell phone...
"
Read more
July 18, 2005
Sweethearts of the switchboard
"During an era when women were only expected to fill the strict roles of nurse, wife or school teacher, these women arguably held more power in Morgan County than anybody. They controlled communication. They saw to it that wives got through to their husbands at work. They told the fire department to send trucks to burning houses. And, on occasion, they exercised their skills at telepathy."
Madison was the last Georgia city to end the live operator system. This story offers a look back at how placing a call was different before the phone companies "cut to dial."
Read more
July 15, 2005
North Carolina: Pay Phone Thief Sentenced
"Mr. Evans stole pay phones by unbolting them from their bases, and smashed them open for the money inside."
Seems like a lot of work for a small amount of money...
Read more
July 11, 2005
Don't hang up yet on pay telephones
"There will always be a need for pay phones, said Willard Nichols, president of the Alexandria, Va.-based American Public Communications Council, which represents [payphone] owners."
Read more
Pay phones hot for home decor
Gannon said that for most affluent people today, pay phones have been replaced completely by cell phones. "The coin drop is a thing of the past for the middle and upper class."
Read more
July 07, 2005
Africa: Community phones change lives of Rwandan farmers
"In March 2004, MTN Rwanda, the only mobile telecoms company in the tiny central African nation launched a community pay phone dubbed 'tuvugane,' meaning 'let's all talk.'
"It has since penetrated deep into the countryside, transforming the lives of thousands of rural people."
I love this company. MTN Rwanda.
Read more
July 05, 2005
Toledo: Lagrange neighborhood hangs up pay telephones
"Once deemed a necessary safety feature of any urban neighborhood, pay telephones are increasingly considered emblems of urban blight. In Toledo, that perception may speed the demise of a street-corner icon already threatened by the omnipresence of cell phones.
"The Lagrange business district became the first neighborhood to ban the phones outright, but it might not be the last."
Read more
July 03, 2005
UK: 'Lifeline' kiosk axed by BT
"People in Dunbeath are up in arms about the axing of a public phone kiosk in a remote spot which is very popular with hill-walkers."
Freddy Mackay, gamekeeper at Glutt on Dunbeath Estate, is also unhappy at the demise of the kiosk.
"It's a damned shame they've taken it down, " he said yesterday. "It was very handy for hill-walkers and it was certainly a potential life-saver in the event of an emergency as mobile phones don't work until you're halfway to Dunbeath."
Read more
June 28, 2005
Russia: Payphones Evolve to Keep Clients
"To survive the mobile boom, the friendly local payphone has undergone a few changes. Sleeker, more sophisticated and multifunctional, a street payphone will soon offer Russian passers-by a whole new range of services."
Read more
June 24, 2005
South Carolina: Lack of pay phones causes problems for some
"[David] Mack, who is chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, said he remains concerned about the need for pay phones in places where there is less economic incentive to replace them. In remote areas, cell-phone users can find themselves stranded without useful signals, yet some rural phone utilities have removed pay phones too."
Read more
June 12, 2005
Are days numbered for pay phones?
"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
June 09, 2005
NYC: Free calls have nice ring to 'em
"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
June 07, 2005
Dow Jones: "Mark Thomas has lost his audience"
"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 the
majority of payphones in New York did not work during the blackout.
Read more
June 03, 2005
New York: Call anyplace for free, really!
"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 phones were placed in my neighborhood, and I can attest that you get exactly what is advertised. 4 free minutes of call time anywhere in the U.S.
Read more
Cutting the phone cord isn't as popular as predicted
"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."
A well done article, per the Post-Gazette's long-running and well informed interest in telephony. My only complaint: this article implies that the blackout of 2003 was a time in which landlines worked just fine. Many if not most landlines and payphones were useless during the blackout. With 7 or 8 other payphones around why do you think there was such a long line at this Queens payphone? Because it was the only one among them that worked! My home landline phone did not work during the blackout, and the same is true of others I know.
Read more
June 01, 2005
NYC: Pay phones a rail problem
"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 frantic assumption that public access to phone service should be abolished?
Read more
May 27, 2005
UK: Kids play safer as payphone is saved
"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 common trend in 2005. Common sense prevails over the hyper assumption that public access to phone service should be abolished.
Read more
May 20, 2005
Maine won't hang up on public pay phones
"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."
I believe this legislation is evidence that a bottoming out point has been reached in the decline of public telephones. I also think it shows that common sense has prevailed over biases which presume payphones should be abolished. There are so many possible scenarios where access to a public telephone would be valuable that it should go without saying that they need to be preserved.
Read more
May 17, 2005
Malaysia: Mountain payphone enters records book
"TM Payphone has secured a berth in the Malaysia Book of Records (MBR) by setting up a public phone service 3,668.1 metres above sea level, on Mount Kinabalu in Kundasang."
The first person who sends me a verifiable picture of this sky-high public telephone will be rewarded with $5.00 US. :-D
Read more
May 10, 2005
Berkeley Residents Get Prison Time For Pay Phone Scam
"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 calls to toll-free 800 numbers."
This scam is not surprising. It is no secret that payphone owners get a cut from calls placed to toll-free numbers from their phones. These guys might have gotten away with this forever, but they got greedy.
Read more
May 09, 2005
East Texas: Remember The Payphone?
"While it may not become a museum piece anytime soon, the payphone has definitely seen better days."
A simplistic piece which nevertheless does not fall for the conventional wisdom that payphones will vanish.
Read more
May 05, 2005
Boston Globe: Hanging on by a wire
"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 from payphone users.
Read more
April 07, 2005
Virginia: Pay phones have 'enduring future'
"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."
Interesting insights into the profile of today's payphone users.
Read more
March 22, 2005
Australia: The Internet-Ready PayPhone
"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
March 18, 2005
Sofia: Comfy Payphone Cabins Rise in Sofia
"A campaign for payphone modernization has started in capital Sofia, with the first ones of the new cabins already anticipating their clients."
Read more
March 11, 2005
UK: Payphones to feel wind of change as BT sells sweets
"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
March 06, 2005
GSM payphones reach Rwandan rural communities
"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
February 04, 2005
Punta Gorda: Pay phones installed at FEMA park
"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 a telephone is a given.
Read more
November 08, 2004
Chicago Maroon: Traveling and telephones: a cultural gap
"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 a thought-provoking essay that made me reflect on how constant access to a telephone amounts to escapism. Do you remember when communication with people you could not see was as good as impossible?
Read more
September 27, 2004
Washington Times: Pay phones find calling despite plunging numbers
"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 because they don't want a cell phone or they can't afford one," said Rich Fouke, manager of business development at Verizon Public Communications, the Verizon subsidiary that operates 320,000 pay phones in 38 states. "
Read more at the Washington Times
September 06, 2004
Pay phones have become an old-fashioned hang-up
"'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 and phone booths.
Read more
August 04, 2004
TCC Teleplex: Street Access to the Cyberhighway
"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.
Read more
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