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Australia'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-wil

Australia'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 ago
Also likely with a view to using them as locations for 5G/6G/WiFi access points, as cell sizes get smaller.
thaumasiotes 1y ago
In 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 ago
  You 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 ago
    That'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 ago
Sad 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
  That's not a prank, it's just idiotic. We all did stupid things when young, but most of us have by now realized that what they did wasn't actually funny.
  - rrr_oh_man 1y ago
    It's not about funny. I have observed it in dogs and young children. It's about taking action in the world and receiving (any) feedback that your actions have an impact. That's the origin of pranks, negging, playing. It's quite an important development step, imho.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
    - yusina 1y ago
      Definitely. But it also means acknowledging later on that it was actually harmful to others.
      - protocolture 1y ago
        I was also really good at prank phone calls if you have a handful of therapy words to throw at me over that.
  - protocolture 1y ago
    Its a lesson in human behaviour. And like all young people we were interested in what makes society tick. We were daring rogue anthropologists. You get the 3 payphones. If you have them all present the message, someone gets curious and lifts a handset, resolving the issue. But if you disable only 2, everyone just lines up behind the working payphone. Its a repeatable experiment, one we performed everywhere we saw telstra payphones. Apologies if you happen to be a disgruntled telstra payphone user.
    - iamflimflam1 1y ago
KolibriFly 1y ago
Still, I guess if the end result is functional public phones and revenue to keep them around, it's not the worst tradeoff
grishka 1y ago
In St Petersburg all payphones were made free for calls to local and mobile numbers around 5 years ago, but most of them disappeared since then.
- notpushkin 1y ago
  I’ve seen some in Moscow, too, and I think actually every Rostelecom payphone is free now (something about the universal communication services project I guess). In Russian: https://www.company.rt.ru/projects/uus/ https://www.company.rt.ru/projects/uus/
seb1204 1y ago
Every time we walk past one I somehow get a prank call from my kids :-), I think it's great they are free.
barbs 1y ago
Yeah, plus compared to having to maintain and empty the change mechanisms or removing them all it was probably the cheaper option.

Australia'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 ago

Also likely with a view to using them as locations for 5G/6G/WiFi access points, as cell sizes get smaller.

thaumasiotes 1y ago

In 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 ago
You 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 ago
  That'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 ago

Sad 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
That's not a prank, it's just idiotic. We all did stupid things when young, but most of us have by now realized that what they did wasn't actually funny.
- rrr_oh_man 1y ago
  It's not about funny. I have observed it in dogs and young children. It's about taking action in the world and receiving (any) feedback that your actions have an impact. That's the origin of pranks, negging, playing. It's quite an important development step, imho.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - yusina 1y ago
    Definitely. But it also means acknowledging later on that it was actually harmful to others.
    - protocolture 1y ago
      I was also really good at prank phone calls if you have a handful of therapy words to throw at me over that.
- protocolture 1y ago
  Its a lesson in human behaviour. And like all young people we were interested in what makes society tick. We were daring rogue anthropologists. You get the 3 payphones. If you have them all present the message, someone gets curious and lifts a handset, resolving the issue. But if you disable only 2, everyone just lines up behind the working payphone. Its a repeatable experiment, one we performed everywhere we saw telstra payphones. Apologies if you happen to be a disgruntled telstra payphone user.
  - iamflimflam1 1y ago

KolibriFly 1y ago

Still, I guess if the end result is functional public phones and revenue to keep them around, it's not the worst tradeoff

grishka 1y ago

In St Petersburg all payphones were made free for calls to local and mobile numbers around 5 years ago, but most of them disappeared since then.

notpushkin 1y ago
I’ve seen some in Moscow, too, and I think actually every Rostelecom payphone is free now (something about the universal communication services project I guess). In Russian: https://www.company.rt.ru/projects/uus/ https://www.company.rt.ru/projects/uus/

seb1204 1y ago

Every time we walk past one I somehow get a prank call from my kids :-), I think it's great they are free.

barbs 1y ago

Yeah, plus compared to having to maintain and empty the change mechanisms or removing them all it was probably the cheaper option.