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The page doesn't say why they want to do this. Payphones died a death of natural causes. My best guess is nostalgia? It can't be to build a business out of it,

by bagels 4y ago

The page doesn't say why they want to do this. Payphones died a death of natural causes. My best guess is nostalgia? It can't be to build a business out of it, can it?

TeaBrain 4y ago
Their "payphones" are described as free to use. "Payphone" was probably just used as the moniker due to the association that "payphone" has as an installed public telephone.
- Aloha 4y ago
  Public Telephone is a better word. Though the death of the pay station was accelerated by the drug crisis, a reduction in pay stations lead to an acceleration in mobile phone adoption here in the states.
  - xattt 4y ago
    What is a pay station?
    - Aloha 4y ago
      a telephone, generally in a public place, where you deposit payment for phone calls, usually in the form of coins.
      - xattt 4y ago
        So a pay phone? I took it to be some sort of transaction place.
culi 4y ago
There's plenty of reasons you might want something like this. They can play an important role in public safety Also just general accessibility. Houseless people exist and every business is increasingly hostile towards letting them charge their phones. Most people who haven't had to experience houselessness aren't aware about this but next time you go to some bougie upscale shopping district try to acknowledge how many outdoor, easily accessible outlets there are. Now do the same thing in some inner city/poorer area or anywhere with a decent amount of houseless folks Or they're gonna find away to put ads in the service lol
- b112 4y ago
  Why is everyone suddenly calling homeless, houseless? It's homeless people, not houseless. If there is some bizarre attempt to reframe things, fine, but what does owning a house have to do with anything? A condo is not a house. An apartment is not a house. So it is: (house|apartment|townome|condo|cabin)lessness?? A home is any of the above. A house is not.
  - culi 4y ago
    idk who "everyone" is. Maybe you came across another comment of mine where I also used the term houseless I use it because of a conversation I had with someone who is houseless. She didn't like being called "homeless" because the city she was sleeping in WAS her "home". She grew up there. Her parents grew up there. She went to school, knew the community there, etc. Eventually due to gentrification she couldn't afford to live in a house anymore. When the term "homeless" is used I think it often has the effect of painting those who are labelled it as not part of the community. Indeed an off-duty cop later harassed us after the talk w her and some other houseless folk and told me "we don't want them in our community". The cop had an out-of-state license plate... Whether it's a house or an apartment, the point imo is to draw attention to how our definitions of who does and doesn't have the right to claim membership of a community has been degraded to purely material means. This person who's not even from this state gets to say he doesn't want HER in "our community"
    - b112 4y ago
      Changing terms is meaningless, as any stigma assigned to the prior term immediately exists for the new term. And that unfortunate woman does indeed have no home, even if she is living in her old home town. Home has more than one meaning. This is just virtue signaling.
      - hutzlibu 4y ago
        I would disagree that it is meaningless, as words have meaning and make it into thoughts. But sure, just renaming something doesn't magically solve the big root issue. But it can make people aware a bit more, which is something. "And that unfortunate woman does indeed have no home" And home is where your heart is. Homeless people also have their spots. Their living space, their sleeping space etc. it is just all in the open.
fshbbdssbbgdd 4y ago
It sounds like a public art installation. If a company is doing that with branding, it’s kind of advertising.
newaccount74 4y ago
They say they are inspired by futel.net, who have a detailed about page on their website. The first sentence explains the motivation succintly: > At Futel, we believe in the preservation of public telephone hardware as a means of providing access to the agora for everybody, and toward that goal we are privileged to provide free telephone calls, voicemail, and telephone-mediated services.

by bagels 4y ago

The page doesn't say why they want to do this. Payphones died a death of natural causes. My best guess is nostalgia? It can't be to build a business out of it, can it?

TeaBrain 4y ago

Their "payphones" are described as free to use. "Payphone" was probably just used as the moniker due to the association that "payphone" has as an installed public telephone.

Aloha 4y ago
Public Telephone is a better word. Though the death of the pay station was accelerated by the drug crisis, a reduction in pay stations lead to an acceleration in mobile phone adoption here in the states.
- xattt 4y ago
  What is a pay station?
  - Aloha 4y ago
    a telephone, generally in a public place, where you deposit payment for phone calls, usually in the form of coins.
    - xattt 4y ago
      So a pay phone? I took it to be some sort of transaction place.

culi 4y ago

There's plenty of reasons you might want something like this. They can play an important role in public safety Also just general accessibility. Houseless people exist and every business is increasingly hostile towards letting them charge their phones. Most people who haven't had to experience houselessness aren't aware about this but next time you go to some bougie upscale shopping district try to acknowledge how many outdoor, easily accessible outlets there are. Now do the same thing in some inner city/poorer area or anywhere with a decent amount of houseless folks Or they're gonna find away to put ads in the service lol

b112 4y ago
Why is everyone suddenly calling homeless, houseless? It's homeless people, not houseless. If there is some bizarre attempt to reframe things, fine, but what does owning a house have to do with anything? A condo is not a house. An apartment is not a house. So it is: (house|apartment|townome|condo|cabin)lessness?? A home is any of the above. A house is not.
- culi 4y ago
  idk who "everyone" is. Maybe you came across another comment of mine where I also used the term houseless I use it because of a conversation I had with someone who is houseless. She didn't like being called "homeless" because the city she was sleeping in WAS her "home". She grew up there. Her parents grew up there. She went to school, knew the community there, etc. Eventually due to gentrification she couldn't afford to live in a house anymore. When the term "homeless" is used I think it often has the effect of painting those who are labelled it as not part of the community. Indeed an off-duty cop later harassed us after the talk w her and some other houseless folk and told me "we don't want them in our community". The cop had an out-of-state license plate... Whether it's a house or an apartment, the point imo is to draw attention to how our definitions of who does and doesn't have the right to claim membership of a community has been degraded to purely material means. This person who's not even from this state gets to say he doesn't want HER in "our community"
  - b112 4y ago
    Changing terms is meaningless, as any stigma assigned to the prior term immediately exists for the new term. And that unfortunate woman does indeed have no home, even if she is living in her old home town. Home has more than one meaning. This is just virtue signaling.
    - hutzlibu 4y ago
      I would disagree that it is meaningless, as words have meaning and make it into thoughts. But sure, just renaming something doesn't magically solve the big root issue. But it can make people aware a bit more, which is something. "And that unfortunate woman does indeed have no home" And home is where your heart is. Homeless people also have their spots. Their living space, their sleeping space etc. it is just all in the open.

fshbbdssbbgdd 4y ago

It sounds like a public art installation. If a company is doing that with branding, it’s kind of advertising.

newaccount74 4y ago

They say they are inspired by futel.net, who have a detailed about page on their website. The first sentence explains the motivation succintly: > At Futel, we believe in the preservation of public telephone hardware as a means of providing access to the agora for everybody, and toward that goal we are privileged to provide free telephone calls, voicemail, and telephone-mediated services.