3 ms·
It seems like a pretty false equivalence to me. Who wants to talk to someone on speaker in the middle of a public street? Or remember to bring headphones with
by pimlottc 4y ago
It seems like a pretty false equivalence to me. Who wants to talk to someone on speaker in the middle of a public street? Or remember to bring headphones with them in case they need to make a call? I would be very surprised if they were ever used to make calls outside of very rare emergency situations.
- actionablefiber 4y agoWell, it's not a "false equivalence" per se - the city literally installed the LinkNYC terminals right where the payphones used to be and considers them to be a successor to them - but I agree that the user experience of placing a call with the terminals is pretty bad. You don't get privacy, you (usually) have nowhere to sit, and if you're standing right in front of the terminal then you've got people constantly walking past you. Frankly, I wasn't making any calls on the old payphones either, and it's been over a decade since I bothered memorizing a phone number, so I don't really feel qualified to pass judgment on whether they're that much better or worse. But I appreciate that the LinkNYC Wi-Fi access points are often easier and faster than those of the stores/cafes around them, and I appreciate being able to stop and charge up my phone a bit if it dies while I'm out and about. (Did this a lot during the Pokemon Go craze!)