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Last public payphone removed from Manhattan streets
- smm11 4y agoYet it's impossible to imagine a nation with electric vehicle charging stations, and no more 'gas stations.'
- SN76477 4y agoEscaping the matrix becomes harder every year.
- rustybelt 4y agoThis was a fun 2002 movie that would make no sense to zoomers: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183649/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183649/
- Markoff 4y agoit made no sense to anyone by then, in 2002 every adult who wanted the mobile had one already for few years, by then I've had already at least 3rd one and I was really poor, just finished my military service and had no work yet after all phone booths were always seen mostly in American movies and no average person would use one in home country by 2000
- mlindner 4y agoIt'll be interesting that in a few years that will become the most poorly aged portion of the movie.
- ekianjo 4y agoNope. The movie takes place in a recreation of 1999.
- apocalyptic0n3 4y agoYep. And Resurrections, which takes place in a recreation of 2021 (or thereabouts), allows for using cellphones to exit. They even make a point of pointing that out in the film. I think within the context of the movies, they made it very difficult for anything to "age poorly" like that because it's all meant to be a representation of a very specific point in time.
- TedDoesntTalk 4y agoSuperman would have something to say about this, too.
- uptown 4y agoStu Shepard is fine with it. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183649/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183649/
- actionablefiber 4y agoNah, you can still do it via the LinkNYC terminals which let you place calls. That said, it's vanishingly rare that I actually see anyone using them to make calls, and it looks kind of silly when you do use them because you need to plug headphones into the jack. Their primary utility is for device charging and free Wi-Fi.
- rob74 4y ago- Use your personal device to connect to LinkNYC’s super fast, free Wi-Fi - Access city services, maps and directions from the tablet - Make free phone calls to anywhere in the U.S. using the tablet or the tactile keypad and microphone. Plug in your personal headphones for more privacy. - Use the dedicated red 911 button in the event of an emergency - Charge your device in a power-only USB port [...] Sounds cool! Wish we had terminals like these in Germany. Here, they just remove the pay phones, period.
- actionablefiber 4y agoI imagine that these could be useful to tourists who don't have a local phone plan, and the free Wi-Fi / USB charging / scrolling information bulletins are definitely useful, but I feel like this program came about 5-10 years too late for them to really shine now that a lot of people have smartphones with generous/unlimited data plans and don't necessarily need a kiosk for points 1-4. From 2010-2017 or so, unlimited data plans were some combination of rare/slow/expensive, and especially in the early 2010s smartphones had a lot less penetration. I imagine these terminals would have been life-savers back then.
- itisit 4y agoIn reality, they're: - monolithic eyesores that take up precious sidewalk space - yet another bright display running advertisements 24/7 - charging stations for the homeless to use and loiter around Poor execution of a good idea. I smile whenever I walk by one that has been vandalized.
- colejohnson66 4y ago
- semitones 4y agoMy first thought exactly when seeing this news!
- duluca 4y agoMirrors are still an option, presuming people are still keeping those around post pandemic.
- codegeek 4y agoI never understood that part about Matrix. They already had cellphones where they would discuss how to get to the nearest pay phone. Why not just use the cell phone to transmit ? Ah well, it wouldn't be as fun though especially that iconic scene where Trinity almost gets hit by a vehicle.
- anon_123g987 4y agoFrom an interview with the directors: Sinclair: Why were they only able to jack in through hard-lines, but still able to communicate over cell? WachowskiBros: Sinclair, good question! Mostly we felt that the amount of information that was being sent into the Matrix required a significant portal. Those portals, we felt, were better described with the hard lines rather than cell lines. We also felt that the rebels tried to be invisible when they hacked that’s why all the entrances and exits were sort of through decrepit and low traffic areas of the Matrix. The full interview: https://www.matrixfans.net/movies/the-matrix/wachowski-brothers-chat-transcript/ https://www.matrixfans.net/movies/the-matrix/wachowski-broth... More speculation by a fan about this: https://screenrant.com/matrix-phone-hard-line-enter-exit-explained/ https://screenrant.com/matrix-phone-hard-line-enter-exit-exp...
- unionemployee 4y agoThe characters signing in with their unique splash screens at NYC pay phones in the movie Hackers was quite cool to 12 year old me.
- takk309 4y agoI spent a stupid amount of time figuring out how to make a custom splash screen for Windows XP. And then a service pack reverted all my efforts. Good times.
- a-dub 4y agothat's right i forgot all about service packs. in the days before continuous patch delivery. windows nt 4.0 sp #3 64mb installed ooohlala
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- Daniel_sk 4y ago"This content is not available in your country/region."
- jwilk 4y agohttps://archive.today/XZ6rW https://archive.today/XZ6rW
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- jppope 4y agoI'm actually shocked that they knew where all the pay phones were. I feel like they're going to announce in like a year that they messed up and found another one in like queens or something.
- busterarm 4y agoThey're a platform for advertising that's all owned by the same company (Titan, which merged into the company that owns LinkNYC). Advertisers keep good records.
- bogomipz 4y agoThe folks behind this advertising platform is much more of a Matryoshka doll though. Briefly, the history is that the contract to replace the pay phone kiosks was awarded to a consortium called CityBridge which consisted of Titan, Qualcomm, Comark and Control Group. Control Group and Titan then merged to form a company called Intersection. The lead investor in Intersection was Sidewalk Labs aka Alphabet aka Google. The CEO of of Sidewalk Labs is Daniel Doctoroff who was the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding under NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg. As always follow the money.
- busterarm 4y agoWell aware of this, without going into it all. -- I interviewed there some years ago. The manager at the time who was interviewing was a really cool dude but he moved on to Amazon since then.
- astura 4y agoWell someone has to empty them, right? So they must know where they are. Per the article, there's some private payphones around still, so you might still see them.
- yabones 4y agoAre there any situations where it would be desirable to keep some payphones around? Potentially in some sort of natural disaster where cell towers get knocked down, or at least reduced in capacity to the point where it's no longer possible to reliably make calls? There was a situation in Canada a year or two ago where one of our two main wireless providers rolled out a bad firmware update to all of their transmitters at the same time and had a system wide outage for nearly nine hours, I could imagine a need for payphones if something like that were to happen in NYC.
- lbotos 4y agoNYC has these kiosks now https://www.link.nyc/ https://www.link.nyc/ Which, if they are cellular based don't solve for the problem, but I suspect some are hardwired?
- sethhochberg 4y agoThey have fiber backhaul since they are high-volume public wifi access points. I'd bet the phone tablet on the front is VoIP.
- jakzurr 4y agoFrom earlier comments: https://www.link.nyc/ https://www.link.nyc/ Each station allows free US calls.
- rhino369 4y agoEven if it were beneficial, nobody will pay to up keep them. And even if they did, without incentive to make sure they actually work, I suspect they'd fall into disrepair anyway since it wouldn't be a priority.
- Aperocky 4y agoExcept they (more specifically, ads) pay for themselves.
- 4y ago
- sandworm101 4y ago>> You can still find some private payphones on public property in New York City as well as four full-length phone booths. That means the title is very misleading. This appears to be the end of the last publicly-available payphone on public land, not the last payphone in NYC. There just aren't any on the streets.
- leetrout 4y agoThe title also specifically says Manhattan. Maybe there are still some in the other boroughs.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- busterarm 4y agoI used to drunkenly urinate in those... ...No love for honesty, I guess.
- izzydata 4y agoHopefully you use your personal cellphone now.
- ls15 4y agoAnd now all of them needed to be removed!
- HeckFeck 4y agoSo that joke in Futurama was true after all.
- Layke1123 4y agoLol, I love that you were honest. It doesn't mean you should get praised for the other effects your actions had, but I do appreciate the honesty. Hopefully you now understand why people don't like others urinating in spaces where they possibly have to also occupy.
- usr1106 4y agoHere (Finland's 3rd biggest city) this happened on 29-Sep-2007, nearly 15 years ago. Just for comparison. Most Finn's are very proud of being digital leaders, but I don't say it's really a good thing. Children, tourists, homeless etc. should be able to use a phone. Everybody should be able to communicate without leaving digital tracks. Surveillance capitalism is a sick model.
- tialaramex 4y agoEverybody should have access to the Network. It's weird to prioritise a previous (and of course much less capable) iteration of the Network, in this case the Public Switched Telephone Network over the current one, the Internet. Ambient Network Access is to be encouraged, I am disappointed when I see friends endeavouring to keep their young children from accessing the Network out of a misplaced fear it will stunt their intellectual development somehow. To be sure children need to be given boundaries and supervision, but preventing access is no sort of way to achieve that. For tourists and the homeless there's even less excuse.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- usr1106 4y agoWell, then you would need to advocate public internet terminals that can be accessed at reasonable cost. Some countries have internet cafes, but Finland has never really had them to any extent because "too many" have internet at home (in the earlier days) or in their pocket (nowadays). Libraries do offer decent access, but sometimes you might have to wait 48 hours or more until it opens next time. And the density of libraries is of course nowhere close to what payphones once were. And you cannot have a confidential phone call in a library. So in some aspects what you call the current iteration of the network is not much more capable for everyone, quite the opposite. At least 10% of the population (mostly elder people) are completely locked out here. Many more in other countries, but there often more alternative channels still exist.
- easton 4y agohttps://archive.ph/XZ6rW https://archive.ph/XZ6rW
- GekkePrutser 4y agoOops sorry I was also posting this, hadn't seen yours
- Markoff 4y agowhy not post while text if it's so short? Payphones once dominated New York City street corners. Now, there’s only one public street payphone left in Manhattan — but not for long. Officials with the city, LinkNYC and other partners will remove the last payphone on Monday. A ceremony was expected to be held near Seventh Avenue and 49th Street. The removal of public street payphones began in 2015 after the city acknowledged that advances in technology made them virtually obsolete. New York City officials partnered with LinkNYC to phase in free Wi-Fi stands and charging stations as a replacement. LinkNYC kiosks also provide a social services directory, free phone calls within the U.S., neighborhood-specific advertising and transit and weather alerts. You can still find some private payphones on public property in New York City as well as four full-length phone booths. This summer, LinkNYC plans to expand in New York City with its rollout of Link5G and additional kiosks in the outer boroughs as well as in Manhattan above 96th Street and in communities that lack internet access.
- LordOmlette 4y agoSupposedly this is not the case: https://www.hellgatenyc.com/the-death-of-nyc-payphones-lies/ https://www.hellgatenyc.com/the-death-of-nyc-payphones-lies/ If you live in the NYC area, I guess you could hop on down and verify this yourself. Via 2600 (which if you ever read you'd know would be on the case) https://twitter.com/2600/status/1529174328054620162 https://twitter.com/2600/status/1529174328054620162
- 71a54xd 4y agoWell yeah, there are tons of empty "booths" just without phones. They're commonly used by drug dealers as stash points / occupied by homeless. Admittedly, while living in NYC I'd use them to duck out of the rain on occasion :)
- VWWHFSfQ 4y agoThere are payphones in the stations still. They were talking about on the surface sidewalks.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- chimeracoder 4y ago> There are payphones in the stations still. They were talking about on the surface sidewalks. There are at least four other payphones on sidewalks in the UWS.
- donohoe 4y agoNo. It is not the last. There is still one in the Upper West Side.
- GekkePrutser 4y agoFor those in Europe ("this content is not available in your region" bullshit): https://archive.ph/XZ6rW https://archive.ph/XZ6rW Not that we're missing much. The title says it all.
- Rockjodd 4y ago> This content is not available in your country/region. Sad Internet.
- LAC-Tech 4y agoThe nation that sent men to the moon is only just now removing payphones from the most important part of its most important city? The world is weird.
- Trasmatta 4y agoPayphones have been mostly gone for ages in NYC, there were just a few stragglers. I don't see any connection between the moon and payphones, anyways.
- gtirloni 4y agoBig nations move slowly. The future is not evenly distributed... yadda, yadda, yadda. Like in IT, nobody is interested in dealing with technical debt.
- ubermonkey 4y agoI hadn't thought about pay phones in a long time until early in the pandemic, when I was listening to the Phoebe Bridgers() song "Kyoto" that includes they lyrics "You called me from a payphone / They still got payphones / it cost a dollar a minute" and I realized "holy shit, when was the last time I saw a pay phone?" And I don't know the answer to that question. It might* be a weird one I saw at the end of a bar in a remote pub in Northumberland in the summer of 2019, in an area with dodgy cell service. I have NO idea when I last saw a real Ma Bell style pay phone anywhere. (* Like most middle-aged men, I'm a fan. You laugh (I assume), but there was a definite non-parent adult contingent at her concert here last weekend. It seems weird for a south-of-30 songwriter tied very much to a certain sort of Millennial life to resonate so much outside the most obvious core demographic, but here we are.)
- matthewfcarlson 4y agoOr it could just be that Phoebe Bridgers has great music that everyone can enjoy :)
- ubermonkey 4y agoObviously, I don't dispute this. But for me, in a pre-subscription service world, I doubt I would've found her. What marketing formation for her that existed was kinda lean, and I don't automatically assume that every songwriter is gonna resonate with me. I mostly assume that people far removed from me probably WON'T, especially if the gap is huge. Bridgers is young enough to be my kid, and not in a cheeky "only if I knocked up a girl in high school" way. She's from a part of the country far from me, and works in a style that isn't immediately assumed to be universal. And yet, here I am. I'm kinda fascinated by issues around music discovery, and how they changed in my lifetime. I'm 52. My music-listening life probably started at 10 or 12, so let's just say 12 so it's a nice round 40 years ago. Back then, you were a prisoner of what got played on the radio, but it was also SUPER weird for "adults" -- people my parents' age, typically born immediately before, during, or immediately after WWII -- to listen to popular music at all, and so there wasn't really any in the house. My parents didn't even own a stereo. We had two "top 40" stations in town, but the playlists were not very different (at least they WERE locally programmed, unlike today). Precious little pop music was on TV; unlike today, when bands sometimes get huge exposure by having a song played in a popular show, it just didn't happen for whatever reason back then. (I suspect rights issues and the lack of cross-ownership between TV networks and music firms.) And, obviously, there was no online music. The world of pop music was also MUCH smaller. There was, for one thing, only about 20 years of the form -- probably less. I usually mark the start of modern pop music to 1966, but reasonable people can disagree on the specifics. The point is that the genesis point was sometime in the mid 60s, and we're talking about the early to mid 80s. It was simpler, with fewer subgenres, and next to nothing happening that wasn't part of the big-record-label A&R process. Recording was expensive and required lots of expertise. (Another act that's huge now, Billie Eilish, absolutely wouldn't have happened the way she's happened -- ie, recording her debuts in her childhood bedroom with only her brother as a collaborator. The rise of home recording tech is a whole OTHER world of miracles and wonders.) And, finally, if you wanted to give a new act a try, you pretty much had to buy the record, so it cost money to discover. Contrast that with now. I found Bridgers because I read a profile of her in the New Yorker (in my capacity as a white upper-middle-class tote-bag-owning urban liberal). It was interesting partly because it was the first piece of "COVID-era" journalism I read. The New Yorker, if you're not familiar, is rightly famous for continuing to do the sort of long-form articles that used to be much more common, including in-depth profiles of interesting people. Sometimes they're famous, sometimes they're clearly on their way to being famous (like Bridgers) and sometimes they're scientists or something who will never be household names but who are still doing something very cool. Usually these involve a writer hanging out with the person for several days over several weeks to kinda get to know them & etc, but obviously with COVID that didn't happen, and the way they managed it was interesting to me at the time (lots of Facetime). And it was after reading that that I realized I could just "hey Siri" some Bridgers for no additional incremental cost, and then I found myself playing "Punisher" over and over in a way I almost never have with a record since I was in my 20s. There's something really interesting about how this worked to me. It's so VASTLY different than the world of music was when I was growing up that I'm fascinated by it, and by the "odd" (at least superficially) things that come out of it, like middle aged people finding and loving an act that, 30 years ago, probably wouldn't have been on their radar AT ALL because of her age, gender, and the sort of inevitable pigeonholing that labels would've done.
- kebman 4y agoQuick! Get hold of a few! Save it for a film set in the 90's!
- sylware 4y agonext, cash.
- NanoWar 4y agoMatrix would happen differently today
- walterbell 4y agoPayphones were replaced with LinkNYC kiosks, https://www.thecity.nyc/2022/3/20/22985681/linknyc-5g-tower-lic https://www.thecity.nyc/2022/3/20/22985681/linknyc-5g-tower-... > The LinkNYC buildout halted in 2018, with the majority of kiosks installed in relatively plugged-in Manhattan ... The company wound up unable to make its payments to the city, racking up a bill of $60 million. By 2019, the company faced bankruptcy ... The reboot of LinkNYC will add fifth-generation cellular network technology, on top of existing features like free Wi-Fi, a 911 button and USB chargers. Multiple telecom companies are in talks to house their 5G equipment in compartments in the upper chambers of the poles, Cannon said.
- rand0m4r 4y ago> This content is not available in your country/region. Not cool
- rob_c 4y agoyes, but call it out and you typically get critizied as being some sort of horrible person calling for the US-centric forum to burn down. https://archive.today/XZ6rW https://archive.today/XZ6rW
- shrx 4y agoThe archived page is unusable (article text is blurred).
- Markoff 4y agoworks fine for me I'm Kiwi browser with ublock Payphones once dominated New York City street corners. Now, there’s only one public street payphone left in Manhattan — but not for long. Officials with the city, LinkNYC and other partners will remove the last payphone on Monday. A ceremony was expected to be held near Seventh Avenue and 49th Street. More NYC news The removal of public street payphones began in 2015 after the city acknowledged that advances in technology made them virtually obsolete. New York City officials partnered with LinkNYC to phase in free Wi-Fi stands and charging stations as a replacement. LinkNYC kiosks also provide a social services directory, free phone calls within the U.S., neighborhood-specific advertising and transit and weather alerts. You can still find some private payphones on public property in New York City as well as four full-length phone booths. This summer, LinkNYC plans to expand in New York City with its rollout of Link5G and additional kiosks in the outer boroughs as well as in Manhattan above 96th Street and in communities that lack internet access.
- jakzurr 4y agoMaybe not worth your trouble, but adding NoScript to Chrome works for me.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- atmosx 4y agoMy father, now 70 years old, got stuck in Sicily with a broken car earlier this year. He had forgot his mobile phone home. He wasn't able to find a landline phone that he could use. Exasperated after trying several locations (bars, fast foods, etc asking for a phone call only to be denied) for 45 minutes, he decided to enter a vodafone store. They would not let him use _any_ phone because it was against the _policy_ (???). He asked if he could buy a phone and charge it, but was pretty complex (at least for him - mind you he had money and credit card with him). Maybe the fact that his accent betrays the fact that he's a foreigner had something to do with it... Long story short, in 1970 you could get a phone call at the bar down the street and ring home if you were in trouble. People in the neighbourhoods were eager to help. In 2022, in Sicily, if you lose your mobile phone you're effectively _done_.
- corrral 4y agoAnother case of an optional thing that enhanced experiences and made you more free becoming something you must have to do anything, so, removing some freedom after all. See also: the automobile, at least as experienced in the US and similar countries. [EDIT] and in both cases, the problem is the effect the new thing had on the environment around it. When tech- and progress-focused people can't figure out why some cultures/countries have "anti-progress" laws (France's protection of book stores, for instance), well, this is often part of why they do that.
- shard 4y agoAlong the lines of an optional thing removing freedom, I have had tremendous trouble waving down a cab sometimes because all the cabs that were coming to the area have been hailed through apps.
- bananapear 4y agoWhen it comes to automobiles and the US... are there any similar countries?
- xyzzyz 4y ago
- YeBanKo 4y agoPayphone seems to be like public toilets: you don't want to use one, when you have to, you are glad they are there. 3-4 years ago I got stuck in San Francisco with a dead cellphone and broken car. I remembered my spouse's number, I don't remember of I forgot my wallet somewhere or it wasn't accepting cards, but I do remember asking a random woman on the street for few coins. Anyway, I was able to call and even to get a call back in few minutes. It can be a public safety matter, hopefully no-one needs it, but when one does, can be for a good reason.
- frosted-flakes 4y agoFor what it's worth, you don't need coins to use payphones. You can usually just call collect. I've done it once about a decade ago, before I had a cell phone.
- Scoundreller 4y agoCan cellular phones receive collect calls?
- frosted-flakes 4y agoCome to think about it, I don't know.
- drawfloat 4y agoI can imagine an incredibly rare situation where I need to use a payphone, it once happened to me. I also know that I don't know any phone numbers but my own from memory.
- shaky-carrousel 4y ago> The removal of public street payphones began in 2015 after the city acknowledged that advances in technology made them virtually obsolete. Hey, congratulations on Manhattan for finally solving poverty and homelessness. I wonder which technology they used for that.
- at-fates-hands 4y agoI remember back in my phreaking days, you were considered a rock star if you were able to steal a pay phone. I also remember writing down several payphone numbers and calling them at all hours to see who would pick up. Its interesting in the article they don't address what the maintenance costs of these were, only they were "obsolete". I do remember being in DT Minneapolis on a first date. Car broke down, cell phone was dead and we had to walk around for about an hour before finding a pay phone and being able to call a cab. It occurred to me at that point that payphones are largely ignored until you need them and you're thankful they're there.
- krallja 4y agoWe would call the pay phone at the front of Steak ‘n Shake and talk to whichever drunk person picked up. Very amusing in the 90s. Then, some of us got cell phones, and we could call from the parking lot and see who we were talking to, without them knowing who they were talking to.
- JoeAltmaier 4y ago"LinkNYC kiosks also provide a social services directory, free phone calls within the U.S., ..."
- midasuni 4y agoThoughts and prayers for Clark Kent
- ryanwaggoner 4y agoNot true. There's a couple around the corner from me on the UWS, including one that someone wrote a children's book about: https://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Phonebooth-Peter-Ackerman/dp/156792414X https://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Phonebooth-Peter-Ackerman/dp/1... EDIT: I was curious if they removed it in the last few days so I went out and took a picture: https://imgur.com/a/dQdSEzQ https://imgur.com/a/dQdSEzQ Has a dial tone and everything. But maybe this is one of the private ones the article mentions?
- asdff 4y agoThere are still some payphones around especially in the working class areas of LA. I think a payphone must still be the cheapest way to dial family in some countries. They all advertise their international rates at least.
- aasasd 4y agoHere in the country of an encroaching police state, I recently learned that we do still have street ‘payphones’. And then, that they only work with special pay cards, and to buy one you need to provide your ID.
- gwbas1c 4y agoWhen I was in high school, the payphone (in the school) ate my quarter. I called the operator and told them. I didn't care about the money, I just wanted a working phone. A few weeks later I got a check in the mail for $0.25. It was on old letterhead from the telephone company's old name.
- buildsjets 4y agoManhattan phonebooth memories- my father hoisting me up to stand on top of one to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, early 1980s. Where is Superman gonna change into his tights now?
- tommywiseausmom 4y agoI talked to a guy who used to have hundreds of them across Florida in the 90s and made bank. He said he's down to six. Know where they are? In-patient drug rehab facilities. They take away your phone, and people are wary to try to make drug deals on landlines. The places where most of them still exist, however, are prisons and jails.
- kdtsh 4y agoIn Australia, Telstra (formerly publicly owned telephony company) has a regulatory obligation as the primary service provider to maintain pay phones which are reasonably accessible to everyone in the country. As of August 2021 they are free for domestic calls. From the outside it looks totally backward to get rid of pay phones. You don’t use them until you need them. It costs little to maintain them and on balance it is a social good.