AT&T -- or whatever company it is that's going by that name these days -- has decided to pull the plug on its pay phone business, over 100 years after the first coin-operated model was installed in Chicago. Currently, the telecom giant owns and operates public telephones in 13 states. With the number of pay phones having more than halved since 1998 -- due in large part to BellSouth's exit in 2001 -- AT&T clearly thinks that the sidewalk stalwart is at the end of its shiny metal rope, although it will continue to provide related services until the dial tones go silent at the end of 2008. While public reaction to the announcement has been mostly tepid so far, several groups have raised their voices in protest, most notably the Justice League of America, which calls the impending lack of changing stations "a national crisis."
posted Dec 3rd 2007 11:01AM
How will one now escape from the Matrix?
There will now be a software update for all cell phones that allow you jack in and jack out of the matrix on the go! Sure to satisfy all your jacking needs.
simple by taking the red pill :P
@blade:Well if Vivid ever gets their photo-to-ID [movie] service going then your mobile will definitely help you jack-off!
terrible.
damn.... made a stupid comment :D
"There will now be a software update for all cell phones that allow you jack in and jack out of the matrix on the go! Sure to satisfy all your jacking needs."
All cell phones except the iPhone...
yes the justice league got it right...no more pay phones is a national crisis...no not the war in iraq, our failing social security, or lack of free health care...yes justice league, you have your minds set in the right direction...
FFS, who doesnt have a cell phone these days?
Zoom....
Did you hear that?
You're kidding, right? I really don't think anyone should have to explain what the Justice League is, but apparently that joke went right over your head. Time to hit up Wikipedia in shame.
"failing social security, or lack of free health care"
Right in the same sentence. Wow.
Well lots of people as I see someone on a pay phone at almost any gas station I go to in Indianapolis.
Probably the same folks that can't afford health care that you had on your list of things that Superman and his friends needed to help fix...
Wow...just...wow...
You uhh...need to develop a sense of humor there sir.
Wonder Twin powers: Activate!
Form of a giant clue!
Voooosh!!!
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... a clue!
ROTFLMAO
Please, no more jokes about the guy. You guys are killing me.
@NHAnimator: That's my new favorite comment. If i knew you in person i'd totally give you cookies AND milk!
LOL @NHAnimator
Hey Brad
Ain't nothin' free in this world, not even health care. 'Free' just means someone is paying for it some other way and I will be damned if I am paying for YOUR health care. I already gots 4 kids and a wife whose health care I AM paying for.
You want health care go ask your mommy and daddy to pay for it or go get a job and pay for it yourself like a real adult.
(any misspellings or grammitcal erros are intentional and used to illustrate a point or give flava to my brilliant observations)
@D: That's a disturbing lack of compassion you have for fellow human beings there.
Payphone can be important for someone to hide their identify. Psst psst!
Obviously you don't watch enough Law and Order, the new fad is Pay as You Go phones.
See you use a gift credit/debit card to buy a pay as you go phone, then you rent a car under an assumed name & *bam* you have yourself 50 episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Original (term used loosely) now on USA.
so, Phone Booth (film) don't count?
These things must have been money losers for years. They were a real part of America when many homes did not have even one big, black rotary dial party-line phone. And they could be counted on as a source for last-minute dates (just select from among the phone numbers scratched onto the booth's walls).
R.I.P. phones.
But they can't fix things like failing social security and health care for all, if they can't change into their super hero costumes. att is Professor Ivo, I just know it!
I saw that sneaky Simpson's reference...
Maybe pay phones are dead, but perhaps people will pay to enter "silence booths"- acoustically insulated chambers with an outlet and antennas from major carriers to conduct their calls in private?
You mean you don'e carry around a "Cone of Silence"
Get Smart reference.
If you *state* the reference, its not much of an allusion, now is it?
They are just working to phase out the phone booths so no one mistakes them for the suiced booths of the future.
That's too bad. I liked that they provided a selection between "fast and painless" and "slow and painful." I thought it was a very sanitary method...
That's just what I was thinking.. Kudos!
me and a friend use to use payphones to call sex hotlines. oh the memories.
where am I gonna piss after a big bender? Where am I gonna sleep?!
Pay phones are still relevant where you can't get cell service, like the subway.
Having the option of calling the police as you bleed to death from stab wounds is comforting.
That actually applies anywhere, since the person who stabbed you probably took your phone too.
lol... At first I thought to myself, oh that's too bad I used a pay phone a few years ago and if it wasn't there I would be SOL... but then I remembered: that was almost 5 years ago, before I got a mobile phone. This sorta makes sense then. I guess the only reason for pay phones now is if your mobile runs out of battery life and you really need to call someone.
Goodbye pay phones...
Pay phones are still a legal requirement in the UK, but they do have several other uses, wi-fi hotspots and touch screen internet access.
To be honest I think most survive in the UK cities because they have premium ATM's strapped on the back.
Pay phones are still useful for civic emergencies like area-wide blackouts and natural disasters where the cellular network could either get overloaded or lack of power could cause the whole network to shut down.
If if it were not for public phones, I would not have been able to get in touch with my wife on 9/11, to let her know that I was still alive. In fact we still insist on having a land line at home, just for emergencies.
If the phone companies don't provide them, I think the local/state/fed government may have too.
The poor need pay phones. Yes some are used as drug dealer offices. But some of the people I work with can't afford the $30 a month even a cheap contract costs. I see a lot of folks using the pay phones where I work.
Yes my company needs to pay better wages for low skilled workers. But until them the pay phone has been a useful link for some of my co-workers.
CELL PHONES?
HAHA... continue your stupid slide... we all love it.
Cell phones are so 1990s. Get with the times haha!
I never carry a cellphone. It's a hassle. Let's get rid of all the Landlines too, right retards?
Who's the real retard here?
man.. back in the day I used to use these to call home collect and say "mom, pick me up", then whoever's home would reject charges and come get me.
I did the same thing. you can also do that with cellphones found in thrift stores.
In fact there's the solution to the problem. just pass out flyers and make psa's that let people without phones know they can use any (almost) cell phone to make emergency calls without a plan.
Well, one, not everyone can afford cell phones and, two, not everyone can afford pay-as-you-go phones also. Payphones were more of a convenience, especially when there is an emergency-- flat tires, something on fire, robbery, etc.
I have not owned a cell phone in ten years. Regardless how much I do make, cell phone rates are expensive and costly. The companies have convoluted fees and hidden charges. You be getting x-amount of minutes for this and that for y-amount dollars per month, but when you see the bill it's not that exact amount.
Removing payphones is going to be a big mistake unless they can do a couple things:
- Reduce cell phone fees and make them less convoluted and deceptive
- Provide incentives to those that can't afford them
You forget that Payphones are provided not as a public service, but as a business service. Ergo, they have to make money or they go. The rise of the popularity and decrease in the operating costs of cellular phones has eaten away the market base for payphones.
I understand that there will be some individuals who will be inconvenienced, and there will be situations where the lack of a Payphone service will be an annoyance (or worse), but the only way to keep Payphones alive is through subsidies. And these subsidies will come from either a) your cell-phone bill, or b) your taxes.
So unless pagers come back into fashion, it's goodbye phonebooths. Deal with it.
I usuallly flight to america,and i normally use a payphone to call some firends to pick mu up from the airport or the train station.. i have a great mobiel at home and great service.. the international roaming rates are impossible to afford so.. i can not use my mobile phone. .. lets stop acting like dumb people and think, payphones are good social service, the gorvenment should not let them die...
Wait, you want the US taxpayer to subsidize pay phones as a social service so when you come in on your international flight you can call friends to pick you up?
Uh...shut up and go away.
eh dumb, so when social and subsidise is the same? you can post advertisement in the payphones cabins, create some extra services around it (like in UK), the idea is the government should not let these service die , it can be useful in an emergency, and yes it can be your emergency next time...
"yes the justice league got it right...no more pay phones is a national crisis...no not the war in iraq, our failing social security, or lack of free health care...yes justice league, you have your minds set in the right direction..."
Oh man. Not only was this a total display of ignorance, they also dont know The Justice League. HAHA WOW.
I used to have a pay as you go plan that averaged to about $6/month. So please spare us the pitty party. Landlines cost upwards of $30/month after taxes and fees unless you file special "i'm poor" papers. Even then it's almost $20/month.
tmobile offers a prepaid plan that is only $100 and gets you 1000 minutes that last a year. $8.33/month no hidden fees.
don't need to talk and only need to dial 911, go to goodwill and pick out a phone for $2 and keep the phone off until you need it to keep the battery charged.
Drug dealers and pimps everywhere are mourning the lost of an icon in their business model. Oh well they'll get over it
When was the last time any payphone wasn't used for some illegal purpose? DESTROY THEM!
They've been phasing them out a lot here too, until about.. 3-4 months ago, starting popping up all over the place... must be some committee behind it, old people run this country, sigh.
Well... are tourist supposed to use their foreign cell phone to call within the US? That is going to cost a hell lot!
Also... how will the small majority who does not have a cell call one another?
Although it won't shake the world, I think it's a bad idea to remove a public service (and yes public services tend to loose money. Ask MTA :D ).
I use them sometimes with a calling card when I go on vacation. That is, when I can't get internet access to use VOIP.
It would be great if At&t donated these pay phones to the government and there was legislature to make them operate for emergency purposes only (like they only call 911).
When I was in Spain, I noticed emergency phones on the side of the road all over the place and something like that would be of a great benefit to our public welfare.
It shouldn't cost too much and if some savvy politician could work out some deal to do it with a low overhead then I think this situation could really be a positive thing for our country.
Possibly, depending on the Tel-co infrastructure here in the states, 800 number access could also be established for these emergency phones (meaning calling cards could be used). Many years ago I remember using an 800 number on a pay phone without having to insert coins.
this will effect people in poor area's, maybe they should keep a couple in high pedistrain traffic area's like subway stations most stations don't have cell phone coverage so, if something happens in a subway station and there is no cell coverage then no pay phones your shit out of luck
This is a sad article. I will certainly miss pay phones. When i was a small child I would go to a bank of payphones, and place a collect call to the payphone next to me. My friend would answer the other payphone and offer to accept the charges, but the operator just told us to stop messing around, and terminated the call. As I went through my teenage years I would use payphones to call girls I had a crush on, but instead of asking them out on a date the only thing I could think of was to tell them I was going to kill them with an axe and then start breathing really heavy. Now that I'm older I use payphones to call my girlfriend, since my wife is irrational, paranoid, and obviously unstable. She checks my cell-bill statement for numbers she doesn't recognize, then calls them. The payphone allows me to carry out my torrid affairs in complete anonymity. Dearest payphone, I will miss you my friend.
thank goodness dr. who uses a tardis!
Why!? Why!? Our hardlines cannot be taken! They will not be taken.
On the other hand though, we do need public pay phones. I have been in jams where I actually needed one. What, do they expect everybody to have a cell phone? What about when the cell phone goes dead? What about people who see beyond the simulation?
Our hardlines will not go down!
Now they can turn them into Suicide Booths.
Perferably Stop and Drop, America's favorite suicide booth since 2008.
Interesting that the pay phone you show in your article isn't even an AT&T or Western Electric payphone. It's an Automatic Electric payphone!
I could never find the IPod port in those phones anyhow.
I don't have a cellphone, but even if I did, I would be still a tad reluctant to losing the security that from any corner of the street I can make a call if I need to. But I think the cost outweighs the small advantages.
Well what about the people in areas where they can't afford cell phones and don't have house phones? No one cares about the little people or the less forunate. I may not be one of them but if something happened I would like to be able to use a pay phone!
So now, anyone with a dead cellphone battery, or anyone whos homeless, or anyone who left the house in a hurry and just left it at home and all of a sudden has an emergency...
is screwed.
I'm all for advancing technology but I'm also kind of disappointed. I forgot my cell at home one day and me and my friend went to a shopping area by car pooling. I couldn't find him later when we split up anywhere, so by the trolley center there was a payphone. Apparently it was 50cents for any amount of time the call..I only needed to talk for about a minute, to find him, so it was a waste of money, but it was extremely helpful, rather than have me wander for hours trying to find him. Sigh..I guess I'll just need to remember my cell all the time now and to make sure the battery is charged.,\
Ever occur to any of you BOZOS who are sneering and making asinine, misspelled, ungrammatical remarks here that cell phones CAN BE and ARE TRACED constantly? Just give our government carte blanche (sorry, I know you can't understand French, LOL. deal with it) to listen in and arrest you whenever it feels inclined. Welcome to Fascist AmeriKKKa, toads. You asked for it and you will most certainly GET IT. LMAO!
I think the average here is something like 1.5 mobile phones per person, our main telco has put wifi terminals in all the old public phone boxes, revamped them to accept credit cards and put connections for laptops making them truly useful.
Psst! there's other ways to get around private or untracked phone calls instead of a pay phone. Try a prepaid cell phone and pay cash!
for just $130 (tops) you can get a prepaid t-mobile (cheap) phone and 1000 minutes and the phone would last you all year!