Date: 11 Aug 2000 06:15:14 -0400 Message-ID: <20000811101514.168.qmail@xuxa.iecc.com> From: owner-telecom-digest@telecom-digest.org (Telecom Digest) To: telecom-digest@telecom-digest.org Subject: Telecom Digest V2000 #17 Reply-To: editor@telecom-digest.org Sender: owner-telecom-digest@telecom-digest.org Errors-To: owner-telecom-digest@telecom-digest.org Precedence: bulk X-UIDL: e5a54c0e6f562ea9b932b65092195a94 Status: RO X-Status: Telecom Digest Friday, August 11 2000 Volume 2000 : Number 017 In this issue: Where o where have the phone booths gone long time passing Re: Where have all the phone booths gone? Re: Where have all the phone booths gone? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 10 Aug 2000 23:04:20 -0400 From: Joseph Singer Subject: Where o where have the phone booths gone long time passing 10 Aug 2000 11:22:15 -0400 Roy Smith wrote: >The other day, I needed to make a phone call at work which required some >privacy. I set off to find a phone in a phone booth where I could shut the door >and use the phone. Could not find one. I checked out a few locations in the >complex where I work where I seemed to remember phone booths, but they had all >been converted to little alcoves with pay phones hung on the wall. I'd dare say that enclosed phone booths both the outside aluminum and safety glass and the interior ones with the wooden doors, fans, directories, etc. have not been around for the most part since the early 70s when most were replaced by "boothettes" i.e. a sometimes acoustic enclosure. These were taken out of service for several reasons among which are the fact that all too often these booths would be vandalized and it was more trouble than it was worth to be constantly repairing these booths. Also in the outdoor booths they were often used as a replacement for "facilities" and it was not uncommon to walk in to one of these booths to discover that it reaked of urine. More and more the telco's attitude towards pay phones is that they are more of a pain than anything else and they make it as onerous as possible to use. They charge onerous rates for a local call, they charge even more onerous charges to make sent paid long distance, they don't provide directories yet expect the user to fork over 85 cents to get a directory call. USWest er Qwest spent megabux on providing new Nortel Millennium "smart" payphones that can use "smart" cards, but they don't market them and if you want one of these smart debiting cards you have to order them specially! It's no wonder that people just aren't using payphones when you can have a mobile phone and don't have to surrender to the telco or COCOT owners' pocketbook I'm afraid real honest to goodness phone booths are a thing of the past at least in the US and Canada. However, that being said when I was in the Netherlands in May I noticed many enclosed modern clean phone booths/call boxes. I also noticed that when I was in the Netherlands a couple years ago all the call boxes had PTT-Telecom on them and now I notice that many call boxes have KPN-Telecom on them as well. They look identical with the same colors the only difference that I could see is that the name etched on the glass was KPN-Telecom rather than PTT-Telecom. The instruments looked the same and as far as I could see dialing instructions were the same. I noticed when I went to Berlin a few years ago that most of their outside phone booths smelled badly of urine. Guess Deutsche Telekom doesn't have a cleaning program? Joseph - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joseph Singer Seattle, Washington USA [ICQ pgr] +1 206 405 2052 [voice mail] +1 206 493 0706 [FAX] - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 11 Aug 2000 03:46:04 -0400 From: Anthony Argyriou Subject: Re: Where have all the phone booths gone? jwm@spdcc.com (Jeffrey William McKeough) wrote: >Payphones in many places were removed (or in some cases converted to >rotary to discourage people from calling pagers from them) because of >drug dealers. The telephone *booth* was phased out because it was >inaccessible to people using wheelchairs. The Willows in Concord, CA, has a British-style phone booth (near Trader Joe's), which I think is large enough for most wheelchairs. Anthony Argyriou Unix _is_ user-friendly. It's just selective about its friends. - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 11 Aug 2000 05:25:26 -0400 From: Peter Morgan Subject: Re: Where have all the phone booths gone? In comp.dcom.telecom I saw that on 10 Aug 2000 14:58:42 -0400 "Kluso" wrote: >We've got a couple of the UK style booths in Suttons Bay, Michigan. >http://www.multimag.com/city/mi/suttonsbay/spring2.jpg Thanks for the photo. Nice to see a traditional red box. You may be unaware that they are not as widely distributed as they were... They are being replaced, unfortunately, by altogether less sound- proof boxes, where traffic noise enters by way of a 3" gap at the bottom... which does at least mean they are easier to keep clean, and much less smelly ! Around a dozen years ago, when I lived in Brighton on the south coast of the UK, the whole of the south had a major storm with hurricane force winds, which flattened all the trees in a number of areas and did significant damage to property. I remember a photo showing several red phone boxes near "The Dome" (- at one time the stables attached to the "Royal Pavilion" but which is now a theatre for both stage plays and held music gigs...) and all the boxes were at something like 40 degrees off vertical, because an Oak or similar tree was pushing the first and the others went like dominoes. Peter Morgan (near Liverpool, UK) - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ End of Telecom Digest V2000 #17 *******************************