
Last call for the phone booth? - walterbell
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/last-call-for-the-phone-booth/
======
suihkulokki
In 90's Finland took a steep dive in an index describing how technically
advanced a country is. Turns out, amount of telephone booths per capita was in
important part of the index. As the country was already transforming to mobile
phones, it was the index that had become outdated.

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smelendez
One ongoing use of payphones: people with cheap, pay-by-the-minute cell phone
plans calling toll-free numbers for utilities, banks, etc. so they don't have
to use up their airtime while they're on hold.

About two years ago I was in Chicago and noticed a well-maintained payphone.
The company that operated it had even attached a decal with the toll free
numbers for Comcast, Bank of America, the local electric company, etc.

~~~
Broken_Hippo
Here is a weird little blip in those pre-paid cell phone plans: They generally
charge the user for the minutes used when calling a toll-free number. Same for
incoming calls.

I have always used pre-paid, mostly by the minute (though not always), because
it winds up generally cheaper than any of the plans they offer as I don't use
it much and never have. It was never really an issue with some companies, but
I'd use a google Talk number for companies that tended to put places on hold.

This stuff didn't change until I switched countries: I'm pretty sure toll-free
numbers are actually toll-free and I no longer get charged for incoming
calls/texts, which means my pre-paid time lasts longer.

------
unimpressive
I'm not sure exactly how long it will be before pay phones are gone
completely, but their density has been decreasing for nearly two decades now:

1998 -
[http://www.channelpartnersonline.com/articles/1998/12/paypho...](http://www.channelpartnersonline.com/articles/1998/12/payphone-
providers-need-to-get-smart.aspx)

2002 -
[http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/cyberspace/requiem_for_the_pay_pho...](http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/cyberspace/requiem_for_the_pay_phone.pdf)

2008 - [http://www.phonelosers.org/2008/09/pay-phones-are-
doomed/](http://www.phonelosers.org/2008/09/pay-phones-are-doomed/)

2010 - [http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/gadgets-
electronics/questions/...](http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/gadgets-
electronics/questions/what-happens-to-pay-phones-when-they-die)

2010 -
[http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/04/02/pay.phones.irpt/](http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/04/02/pay.phones.irpt/)

2011 - [http://www.phonelosers.org/2011/04/alternative-uses-for-
pay-...](http://www.phonelosers.org/2011/04/alternative-uses-for-pay-phone-
stands/)

2017 -
[https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/02/objec...](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/02/object-
lesson-phone-booth/515385/) (Some are even ready to say they're already dead.)

From the perspective of computer history, pay phones are interesting because
of their being the main host for phreaking subcultures. The best book on such
is still probably Lapsley's _Exploding The Phone_ :

[http://explodingthephone.com/](http://explodingthephone.com/)

------
TheGRS
I'm just going to take a moment to say that Sunday Morning on CBS has been one
of my favorite news programs since...well as long as I've been watching
television. It was usually on before we went to church in the morning when I
was a kid, I'd catch one every now and then in high school, and I later would
put it on my DVR because I tended to sleep through the early morning slot in
college. I'm actually super excited to learn that they host segments on their
website and I think I know what I'll be binging on this week. Also super glad
Mo Rocca is still with them, it really entertained me that they hired him
after his tenure with The Daily Show (he was one of my favorite
correspondents) and he's put out some great segments on the show since.
Alright, trip down Nostalgia Lane over.

~~~
kaishiro
You're not alone, and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy that you feel this
way.

I travel a lot for work - currently in Melbourne - and while this will
probably sound absurd, the most poignant reminder that I'm not back home is
that I can't watch CBS Sunday Morning with coffee and the Boston Globe on
Sunday Morning. In my later years of college, and through my early
professional life, that was simply what we did on Sunday. When it was over, it
was only 10:30 and we could still go do brunch or have a day somewhere, but 9
- 10:30 was scheduled time in our apartment. And god help you if you spoke
during the 'moment of nature' at the end of the show...

------
daniel_iversen
In Australia the leading telco is making all the phone booths (at least in
sydney where I live) into wifi hotspots for its internet customers - clever -
pay for your home internet and have wifi wherever you are - maybe nice in
areas where there is not good mobile reception, for mobile workers etc

~~~
derefr
It'd certainly be nicer if, like a phone booth, they let people who _aren 't_
members of said network connect for five minutes by putting a quarter into a
machine, so that they could then use said wi-fi to, say, make a (VoIP) call.

~~~
throwanem
That'd be an expensive machine! Take a look some time at the amount of design,
machining, and just plain material that goes into pay phones, in the cause of
defending against theft from their coin boxes - they're called "fortress
phones" for good reason.

------
kijduse
For some unbeknown reason, a telephone company installed three new phone boxes
on the high street in my town last month. Two are no more than 100 yards from
each other. My cynical theory is that they are being used to track footfall
using wifi connections (but I have nothing to prove that). Very odd
considering most councils are aiming to reduce the amount of 'street
furniture'.

------
CaliforniaKarl
It strikes me that we kindof still have phone booths. They've just moved
inside open-plan offices, in the form of "huddle rooms" and the like.

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tomjen3
They removed the phone booth from across my apartment a couple years ago, I
may have been the last person to use it, but only because I had locked my keys
and phone in my apartment - I understand they can't keep them running for
that, but it was really useful.

------
rbcgerard
I've been to a couple private clubs where cell phones are banned, except for
in the phone booths that were installed 50+ years ago, sort of odd to see them
disappearing everywhere, but then staying oddly relevant in random places

~~~
coldpie
We haven't done it yet, but my boss has mused about the idea of installing
"phone booths" in our office where people can take personal calls without
hogging up our one conference room.

~~~
fe90e0efie
Give them offices, that would be far preferable.

------
lacampbell
_“I walked past this phone booth every day with my kid when he was three years
old,” Ackerman said. “And at a certain point, he said to me, ‘Why is that
phone in a box?’ And I realized that he didn’t know what a phone booth was,
which is so bizarre!”_

I am constantly amazed at peoples lack of awareness of time. Of course a 3
year old in 2017 wouldn't know what the hell a phone booth was. How could that
possibly surprise you. I bet this person also sees a celebrity they haven't
seen for twenty years and then says something insightful like "wow, he looks
so old!".

~~~
sillysaurus3
It's easy to be dismissive until it happens to you. A friend was playing with
her sister's kid and went "brrring! brrring!" to imitate a telephone call. The
kid put her hand up to her ear, completely flat, and said "Hello?"

(The old way to play telephone is to answer it by putting your pinkie to your
mouth and your thumb to your ear. But of course, phones haven't been shaped
like that in a long time.)

~~~
plttn
Anecdotally, in addition, kids don't really understand the meaning of "hanging
up" a phone anymore, they just hit the red button.

~~~
LeoPanthera
I had to explain to a ~16 year old why it was called "dialing".

~~~
sbov
My parents didn't get rid of their rotary phone until the late 90s. Growing
up, I always found it funny when my friends didn't know how to use it

~~~
dkresge
My friend's parents were the same -- they did it on principle because the
telco charged for touch tone. Never mind that it cost the telco substantially
more to continue supporting the "rotary" infrastructure, I'm sure it was a
cash cow.

I remember being awed by their new PC with its amazingly fast 9600 baud modem.
And then it dialed out. ATDP. Tick. Tick tick tick. ....

------
cbanek
Can't help but be reminded of The Adventures of Pete & Pete - The Call. All
revolves around a payphone out in the middle of nowhere.

~~~
DashRattlesnake
> revolves around a payphone out in the middle of nowhere

It was a real thing:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojave_phone_booth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojave_phone_booth)

~~~
DonHopkins
The President's Analyst seems so prophetic.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jEiTxg21q8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jEiTxg21q8)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PebCB0IIANI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PebCB0IIANI)

------
hannob
I was in Norway last summer. They had a number of phone booths standing
around. They don't work, but they have some signs that they are under some
kind of cultural heritage protection or something alike. I found that kinda
nice.

------
jumpkickhit
I was homeless for about a month. Literally on the streets. There were a few
payphones nearby, which worked.

Wouldn't have been able to contact anyone otherwise, at least to talk. Luckily
the library nearby let use a pass for an hour's internet access each day,
which I mainly used to contact people and find services and such.

Would be a shame to have them go fully extinct. Just like it would be a shame
if all water fountains suddenly disappeared too. I wouldn't have made it out
of that situation without them both.

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gadders
Near me in the UK countryside, a lot of the phone boxes are being used to
house AEDs
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_external_defibrillat...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_external_defibrillator)).

------
mrfusion
I've been wondering if everyone should carry a backup phone now that there are
so few phone booths? We seem so dependent on them and don't really plan for
what to do if it dies or gets lost/stolen.

I don't know what I would do if I ended up somewhere far from home without a
phone.

~~~
sneak
I do this, not just for connectivity but also because frequently I am not near
an Apple store or in a city where such is not 24/7\. If I break my iPhone at
22:00 on a Saturday, I am capital-f fucked.

In addition to my daily driver 7+, I keep the previous gen (6S+ presently) on
me with a different carrier, and a 5C in my bag as an emergency spare.

Next year the 7+ will become the backup and the 7S+/8+ will go in my pocket,
and I'll sell the 6S+.

~~~
bronco21016
Curious why you need to be so hyper connected?

I know people who live their lives without phones at all and I'm perfectly
fine going days at a time without a phone.

~~~
sneak
I run three businesses and a lot of people depend on me in emergencies. Not
many people can do what I do, and fewer yet can do it on the notice that I
can.

------
TorKlingberg
Here in the UK the red phone booths are such a cultural symbol that they tend
to stay around, but it's rare to see one with a phone inside. Villages get
creative in finding uses for their phone both. I have seem them used as a
mini-library or housing a defibrillator.

~~~
chillly
Not all phone boxes in the UK are red. In Hull and the surrounding area they
are cream-coloured, they are run by the local phone outfit Kcom. Their use for
making calls is declining just like everywhere else.

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LeoPanthera
How am I going to Hack The Planet now?

~~~
iLoch
Your choice: a refrigerator or a bathroom weigh scale.

~~~
runholm
Go with security cameras. Higher bandwidth connection for more pwning
abilities.

------
seattle_spring
End of an era. I used to love looking up numbers via the Payphone Project[1]
and just talking to randoms.

[1] [http://www.payphone-project.com/numbers/](http://www.payphone-
project.com/numbers/)

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bluedino
I thought they were already all gone, but I guess I put too much stock into
the opening of 2002's _Phone Booth_

