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Old payphones get new life, thanks to Vermont engineer
- WarOnPrivacy 1y agoOperator: Dial 0 Is this still a thing? I haven't tried in years. For a sec I thought if I knew his carrier I could answer that. But no; I have no idea if any telcos still do 0=Operator. One of the phones said RanTel Operator: Dial 0. Backdrop?
- natpalmer1776 1y agoI try this anytime I get tired of a phone tree, works about half the time. Useful trick I picked up from someone twice my age and has paid dividends in time saved.
- WarOnPrivacy 1y ago> I try this anytime I get tired of a phone tree You're thinking of a corp phone system. I'm wondering whether carriers still do operators. If you pick up your phone and dial 0, what do you get?
- natpalmer1776 1y agoI get a pre-recorded message telling me how to perform a collect call and who to contact for help with my specific carrier
- WarOnPrivacy 1y agoNice. I appreciate this data point.
- askvictor 1y agoAustralia's primary operator of payphones made them all free a couple of years ago. More as a way to keep them as advertising space than any particular good-will gesture.
- femto 1y agoAlso likely with a view to using them as locations for 5G/6G/WiFi access points, as cell sizes get smaller.
- thaumasiotes 1y agoIn Shanghai there are some phone-booth-looking objects you can find on the sidewalk that advertise free wifi. I've never investigated how to use the free wifi, but presumably someone might.
- zoom6628 1y agoYou need to be mobile subscriber to that network or else pay per use e.g if booth is China Telecom then if you have CT mobile service the "hotspot" is bundled. If you are say a CMCC user then you can pay to use after registering. It's modelled on the same way that HongKong pay phone booths from PCCW were setup a long time ago.
- thaumasiotes 1y agoThat's actually better than I expected, considering how the airport wifi in Pudong was impossible to use for non-Chinese. (There was a verification procedure involving something external...) I think that's changed now? Still, if you're already subscribed to the mobile service, wifi on the sidewalk isn't worth much.
- protocolture 1y agoSad really, because I liked holding the flag button down before picking up the receiver, which displays OUT OF SERVICE until the receiver is lifted again. I would find a bank of 3 busy payphones on a weekend, get 2 of them to display the message, and sit there with my mates laughing at the long line of payphone users. Last I tried, this no longer worked on the free Telstra payphones. End of a mildly amusing prank era.
- yusina 1y ago
- mmb 1y agohttps://futel.net/ https://futel.net/ operates similar free public telephones in Portland, OR.
- dirtyhippiefree 1y agoBeat me to it. Street Roots has had one for about a month on Burnside and Third.
- jt2190 1y agoFrom https://randtel.co/ https://randtel.co/ > RandTel was started in 2023, inspired by Futel [1] and PhilTel [2]. [1] https://futel.net/about/ https://futel.net/about/ [2] https://philtel.org/about/ https://philtel.org/about/
- sschueller 1y agoIn Switzerland the payphones that remain (150 Telecabs 2000 [1]) all have free calling within Switzerland[2]. [1] https://img.nzz.ch/2014/04/14/1.18283856.1397466801.jpg https://img.nzz.ch/2014/04/14/1.18283856.1397466801.jpg [2] https://www.swisscom.ch/de/about/news/2019/11/28-publifon.html https://www.swisscom.ch/de/about/news/2019/11/28-publifon.ht...
- ale42 1y agoI'd really like to know if they're still around and where they are...
- LittleNemoInS 1y agoThey still are, you can find then on this website : https://www.apgsga.ch/apg-ecommerce-platform/apg-product-finder/location?basket=107107&distribution=national https://www.apgsga.ch/apg-ecommerce-platform/apg-product-fin...
- schobi 1y agoI like the idea and the looks of it, but do they get any usage (beyond the test calls)? It will be hard to overcome a lot of gaps in education - where is a phone (he seems to have signs "phone inside"), what kind of device am I even looking for, visually? - is this operational? did someone forget this on the wall? - how do you operate the dial? - do you even remember a phone number that is useful now? When the smartphone suddenly stops working? Sadly, I would probably score 2/4 and not rely on it.
- irrational 1y ago> do you even remember a phone number that is useful now? This is the one that would get me. Back in the 1980s and 90s I had lots of phone numbers memorized, now I don’t even know my wife’s phone number.
- WarOnPrivacy 1y ago> Back in the 1980s and 90s I had lots of phone numbers memorized, > now I don’t even know my wife’s phone number. I think this is all of us who were born before the Reagan admin. For my part, I combined both things you brought up. I have 10 numbers that are ~same as the ones I grew up with and they forward to the family phones (50¢ea/mo, MVNO)
- cafard 1y agoI have one friend's telephone number memorized, but he has had it for 40-plus years. My wife's and my son's? Well, they are stored on my phone.
- bombcar 1y agoWhen I realized the only practical numbers I knew were my home phone number from 1995 and my cell, I made it a point to memorize my wife’s.
- WarOnPrivacy 1y agoIf I pointed my kids at one of those phones and said - Go see that that thing does. They would. Without an adult to prompt them, I think most kids would. As long as their ambition hasn't been conditioned away.
- ChrisArchitect 1y agohttps://philtel.org/ https://philtel.org/ out of Philadelphia
- wwarek 1y agoAbout "new life", reminded me of phone booths in UK being reused as defibrillation stations: https://nerdist.com/article/uk-red-phone-booths-defibrillation-stations/ https://nerdist.com/article/uk-red-phone-booths-defibrillati...
- jasoncartwright 1y agoCommunities can 'adopt' them for £1. Other uses include libraries or food bank donation points. https://business.bt.com/public-sector/street-hubs/adopt-a-kiosk-scheme/ https://business.bt.com/public-sector/street-hubs/adopt-a-ki...
- KolibriFly 1y agoBeats letting them rot or turning them into novelty coffee stands. It's kinda cool how these relics are finding second lives in ways that actually help people
- Animats 1y agoSomebody set up a pay phone (free) at Burning Man years ago. They had to tie it to a satellite link, because cell phone service hadn't reached Black Rock yet.
- WarOnPrivacy 1y agoIn early days of 3G, I had unlimited data and a hotspot that took a PCMCIA EVDO card. I also had SIP adapter w/ pulse dialing and a spot on my minivan dashboard that would have perfectly held a candlestick phone. Except I could never find a dang phone (that I could afford).
- karlshea 1y agoHas cell service reached Black Rock now?
- bombcar 1y agoProbably portable systems for Burning Man. https://cellsitesolutions.com/cell-on-wheels/ https://cellsitesolutions.com/cell-on-wheels/
- onlygoose 1y agoWhen traveling, I always try to use local payphones and call friends or just myself. Maybe the name is not quite apt because the phone service is often provided for free.
- KolibriFly 1y agoThat's such a cool little travel ritual... kinda like sending yourself a postcard, but more ephemeral
- ekianjo 1y agoMost people would not even know the phone number of their friends and don't carry a notebook anymore for that, so the utility of those is very limited if your phone's battery is dead
- neuroelectron 1y agoThe only phone numbers I still have memorized is my two home phone numbers for like 20 and 30 years ago. The touch tone song is still burned in my brain. Can't remember my best friends' numbers though. I would probably recognize them though if someone told them to me, not that they're any good anymore anyway.
- KolibriFly 1y agoI've got my childhood landline number permanently etched into my brain
- ElevenLathe 1y agoThere's no point in memorizing numbers anymore because unless I call from my phone, nobody will pick up anyway.
- ekianjo 1y agoVery true!
- AStonesThrow 1y agoThe Brady Bunch, Season 1 Episode 9: "Sorry, Right Number" Airdate: November 21, 1969 A huge phone bill prompts Mike to have a pay telephone installed to teach the kids a lesson in financial responsibility. His plan nearly backfires when he is forced to use the payphone to close a deal. Thankfully, his client has three teenagers of his own and understands Mike's situation and even installs a pay phone in his own home. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Brady_Bunch_episodes#Season_1_(1969%E2%80%9370) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Brady_Bunch_episod...
- temp0826 1y agoI lived on Whidbey Island in Washington for a few years, and the quaintest thing (well, one of them, the whole island is just that) is the free payphones all over. I think only free for calls on the island but still.
- shawn_w 1y agoNot a whole lot of them left on the island. I don't remember them ever being free but last time I used one was probably in the 90's.
- bitwize 1y ago...Don't ask! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITfQGEASYvU&t=0m40s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITfQGEASYvU&t=0m40s
- KolibriFly 1y agoCell service fails, batteries die, disasters happen... but a solar-powered rotary payphone? That's gonna ring through it all.
- reginald78 1y agoI actually think these use cellular connections behind the scenes. It wasn't explicitly stated but when I watched a video there was a brief shot of a 4G modem.
- Alex_001 1y ago[dead]
- Molitor5901 1y agoWow! The resource load from Core77.com's website is unusually high and I can't quite figure out why. Ublock is working overtime.
- anovikov 1y agoIt will certainly have a side effect of attracting bums. Just as park benches and other things people in the community tend to fight against, or even vandalise themselves to prevent them from becoming bum magnets.
- supertrope 1y agoIf someone vandalizes a payphone I'd consider them a bum too.