One Less Public Payphone
Posted by Cottontimer on 28 May 2006 | Tagged as: London
Click for larger image.
We saw this public payphone being yanked from its moorings today in London. How much longer will it be before the removal of the last payphone?
From Wikipedia:
Payphones that accept coins have been largely discontinued in some places, due to the high occurrence of damage to the payphone caused by attempted theft of the money. However the primary reason that payphones are being discontinued is the sharp decline in use due to the ubiquitous usage of cell phones.
The Payphone Project is collecting “stories, pictures, phone numbers and news from payphones and public telephony.”
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Hmm. I should take some photos of payphones before they become museum pieces. I should also ask my mom, someday, if I can have her manual typewriter from her high school days…
That reminds me a little of a project here in the US called “Story Corps” - they play some of the interviews on NPR. It’s quite interesting. Sort of, collecting stories from people before they’re “discontinued”.
The demise of payphones is a bit upsetting to me. I am one of those who doesn’t just dislike cell phones. I -loathe- them. I had one for a couple years out of necessity, but now that I don’t -need- one, I am happily untethered.
Strange to watch a way of life shifting in front of us.
There was once here in KL when I had left my mobile at home and was out and about. I missed it for a bit (the phone that is) although I hardly needed it that day. But I had to check some thing with someone and realised the only numbers I know by heart is my home & office phone number! The rest lay safely in the phone! :-S I had to call office to get the other number.
Alas that had its trouble as although there are plenty of payphones in every shopping centres, finding a working one that accepts coins is harder to find. Most payphones here require you to get a phone card tht you slide in or your credit card. sigh… And out of the 5 in the mall, one will accept coins and there often is a queue.
Guess it’s changing to support more the tourists who come without a mobile phone with roaming!
echomyst: Totally! We’ll only start to wish we had some pics and other memories when it’s too late.
river2sea72: Fascinating. You’re really good at collecting interesting tidbits!
Deb: I’d still prefer to use a cell phone rather than a public payphone. Ick….
Smitha: It’s already pretty hard to find a payphone in Japan. I just hope that in an emergency, people can ask the shopkeepers to lend their phones!