AT&T To Decommission Pay Phones

oahazmatt writes "According to MarketWatch, AT&T said that its pay phones will be phased out over the next year. A company spokeswoman declined to say how much revenue its pay-phone business generated, but the number is small and declining. 'The first public pay-telephone station was set up in 1878, just two years after Alexander Graham Bell invented the talking device. The first coin-operated pay phone was installed in Hartford, Conn., in 1889. For decades after the pay phone's invention, many Americans relied on them because of the expense and difficulty in obtaining reliable home service. Only after World War II did the telephone become a household necessity.'"

No longer required..

[in2mind]

..Because there are cellphone everywhere? But if you find yourself without cellphone in a situation,would some stranger lend you his for a call you want to make?

Oh its about profit...ok..

farewell, anonymity

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh look, a violent crime. Better go to the nearest payphone and report it so I don't get roped in to the case just 'cos I'm concerned about someone being beaten to a pulp.

Oh, no payphone.

That's how I switched

[NetDanzr]

When I moved to Atlanta in summer of 2004, it was the lack of pay phones in Midtown that finally made me purchase a cell phone. Had there been easily accessible pay phones in the city, I would most likely still rely on them. I wonder whether we'll see a significant increase in cell phone subscription now, or whether there aren't enough crazy luddites like me left anymore.

Re:No longer required..

[Abcd1234]

And what about those who either choose not to have a cellphone, or can't afford one? Not everyone is willing to dedicate themselves to multi-year plans, or spend a not-insignificant number of dollars on a handset so they can pay (exhorbitantly) as they go.

Re:farewell, anonymity

[vhold]

This was my first thought as well. Case in point: A friend of mine used a pay phone to report a car being broken into, and when they asked for his name he just said "Nope" and hung up. The cops arrived shortly thereafter and caught the thief in the act. He would not have made that call on his phone.

Re:No longer required..

[LighterShadeOfBlack]

Oh its about profit...ok..

Well... yes, yes it is. AT&T are a business, profit is their general goal.

Even if someone won't lend you a cellphone in case you run off with it, just go into a building and ask if you can use their landline. Most people are pretty reasonable. OK... some people are pretty reasonable. But even if you had to try two or three places it's hardly a big deal for this life-and-death call you just have to make, right?

That is, unless you find yourself alone without a cellphone in the middle of nowhere. But then again there probably wouldn't be a pay phone there anyway.

+1 GP

[brunes69]

Every year that passes it gets more and more difficult to communicate without being monitored.

Re:No longer required..

[Average]

In the US, at least, a new handset for prepaid (Tracfone) goes for $15 plus sales tax. You can get a year's worth of operation for $80 (if you buy a $20 card quarterly) or $100 (for more minutes than that). Minutes that you use are much cheaper than the 50 cents + long distance for a payphone call.

Plus, any cellphone can call 911, activated or not. Lots of working ones for $3.99 with a charger at my local Goodwill.

Not saying it's a good deal, or that I can't understand not wanting to bother with one. But, they aren't that expensive in this country.

Canada on the other hand doesn't have anything nearly as affordable as Tracfone (or I would get one for use when I'm traveling there).

Re:No longer required..

[leoxx]

Don't be absurd. Cell phones as a necessity is only true in countries where there is little to no telecommunications infrastructure. In north america one can easily get by without a cell phone, and I do so every single day.

Re:No longer required..

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"Don't be absurd. Cell phones as a necessity is only true in countries where there is little to no telecommunications infrastructure. In north america one can easily get by without a cell phone, and I do so every single day."

I like how you guys are dumb enough to argue this with two different definitions of 'necessity'.

Re:No longer required..

[smooth wombat]

Cell Phones have become a necessity, like it or not.

No, they haven't. Folks like Verizon/Cingular/whomever have spent millions convincing people that cell phones are a necessity when in reality they are not. As the poster above you intimated, there are those who get along quite well without a cell phone and for whom one is not remotely necessary.

The vast majority of people who think they need a cell phone are the same ones I hear in a grocery store or mall having the following conversation:

"Uh huh. Yeah. We saw that. I told her not to do it but she don't lis'n. Uh huh. Yeaahhh. I like dat. Oops! Sorry, didn't see you there. Just ran into something because I'm talking to you. Heh heh."

There are very, very, VERY few people who specifically need a cell phone. Those that think they need one would be very surprised to find out how few "necessity" calls they make in a week if they would keep track of their calls.

Re:+1 GP

[hobo sapiens]

What, you think it's impossible for "them" to put cameras up near pay phones? In other words, if someone wants to monitor you, it's already a done deal. Don't kid yourself into thinking that someone cannot find out who used a payphone to make a certain call. With enough resources (and I'd bet AT&T and the NSA have it) you cannot be anonymous. Do you really think those payphones at airports aren't monitored closely?

I dunno, I think getting rid of payphones isn't so bad. If there's a market for them, someone else can provide the service. I really think the market is drying up. Why should any company go to an expense to meet the demands of something there is little to no market for? Doesn't make any sense.

Re:+1 GP

[Bill_the_Engineer]

What, you think it's impossible for "them" to put cameras up near pay phones? In other words, if someone wants to monitor you, it's already a done deal. Don't kid yourself into thinking that someone cannot find out who used a payphone to make a certain call. With enough resources (and I'd bet AT&T and the NSA have it) you cannot be anonymous. Do you really think those payphones at airports aren't monitored closely?

The real question:

Is my using a pay phone really worth the time and expense for At&T or NSA to figure out who I am?

Pay phones make it more expensive for whoever would like to track you, using a cellphone makes it easy and cheap for them.

Or those...

[gillbates]

Who choose not to have a cellphone because they:

1. Don't like the ability of the government to track their whereabouts, or
2. Don't want to enable the government to surrepititiously monitor their conversations, even when they're not talking on the phone.
3. Don't feel like being part of the my-employer/wife/etc-has-me-on-a-leash culture.

I only reluctantly got a cellphone a few years ago. AFAIC, they're as close to a travesty as one can get; they've got more computing power than a PC did a decade ago, but are even less usable than the GI Joe walkie talkies I played with as a child. (I believe the audio was clearer.)

Re:No longer required..

[in2mind]

Even if someone won't lend you a cellphone in case you run off with it, just go into a building and ask if you can use their landline.

Its not about running away with their phone..Its about a call to a person about whom the owner has no idea & in case any trouble,the phone owner will be the first to face it.

just go into a building and ask if you can use their landline. Most people are pretty reasonable. OK... some people are pretty reasonable. But even if you had to try two or three places it's hardly a big deal for this life-and-death call you just have to make, right?

Thats when assuming there are always buildings around you, open & welcoming you at Night anywhere!

Re:farewell, anonymity

[jayveekay]

So you see someone getting violently attacked. If your number one concern is to help the victim ASAP, then I would think that given the choice between A) whipping out your cellphone and dialing 911 to summon help, or B) looking for a payphone, running to it, (possibly asking whoever is using phone to hang up for an emergency), and dialing 911, I would think that you would choose option A.

Why would you be concerned about possibly getting "roped into the case" when someone's life is in jeopardy?

Re:No longer required..

[ajs]

And what about those who either choose not to have a cellphone, or can't afford one?

What about them?

I don't mean to sound harsh, but honestly this is just not one of the phone company's concerns. They're a business, not the corner phone maintenance division of your city government. If you want a phone on every corner, lobby your local government to put one there, and be ready to pay for it with your taxes. Public phones just don't make enough money to cover their costs anymore.

Re:No longer required..

[gauauu]

And what about those who either choose not to have a cellphone, or can't afford one? Not everyone is willing to dedicate themselves to multi-year plans, or spend a not-insignificant number of dollars on a handset so they can pay (exhorbitantly) as they go.

The answer is: sorry, tough luck. AT&T has no duty to you to provide these pay phones for you. If they stop being profitable, they stop existing. They don't care about whether you are willing to dedicate yourself to a multi-year plan.

I'm not saying I like the result, but it's the way life works :(

You don't understand the word 'need'.

[FatSean]

Most Americans don't, which is why they carry so much debt and the economy is shitting the bed.

Re:No longer required..

[Beardo the Bearded]

All of those plans cost more than a quarter.

Re:farewell, anonymity

[rubycodez]

you've never lived in a big city where armed gangs spray the houses of witnesses with bullets, I take it

Re:No longer required..

[darjen]

Uh, speak for yourself. I just switched to the 18 cent per minute plan on Virgin Mobile. Personally, I was tired of having to pay $50 a month to AT&T when I only ever used 100 minutes a month at the most. (And half of that time talking to the parents). I'm not exactly poor... I have a decent paying IT job like the rest of us here. This new plan will probably cost me no more than $10/month.

There are plenty of ways for me to communicate with friends and family nowadays without being a wireless company's sucker.

Now!

[atari2600]

Now where/how exactly can Neo get back to base? Or for that matter Morpheus :(

Re:No longer required..

[Jhon]

The pay as you go phones are for people who are either A) poor (obviously because they can't manage finances since they bought this) or B) buy into the whole "it's cheaper cuz you pay for the minutes up front".

Or C) They are GOOD with their finances and are willing to pay $.25 per minute for 50 or so minutes per month they *WILL* use rather than pay $40+ per month or more for minutes they will *NEVER* use.

I fell in to this catagory through 2005. ATT had a deal where I spent $25, got a cell phone with $15 of minutes on it ($.10 per minute) -- and got 20 minutes per month for free every month for 1 year. The entire plan cost me $50 over a year (I needed to buy one $25 phone card when I ran low on minutes one month).

Other than for work, I can't see how ANYONE can spend more than 100 (hell, even 400) minutes on a cell phone per month. Even now, I RARELY go over 200 minutes per month.

Re:Profit != Bad

[Anonymous Coward]

"I simply do not see pay phones as having any further use to our society."

Then I guess you clearly aren't: a) homeless (or just poor), b) recently mugged and beaten and need help (they took the cell phone), c) broken down in the bad part of town after your phone's battery died, d) witnessing a crime and want to report it but remain anonymous, or e) someone who simply doesn't want or feel you need a cell phone (we may be a minority, but there are still a surprisingly large number of us out there -- and not just old farts and luddites; I'm a 35-year-old software developer with no interest in getting a cell phone).

Re:farewell, anonymity

[Foolicious]

He would not have made that call on his phone.

Why?

Not just Finland

[pavon]

I have to deal with this here in the US. The apartment complex that I live in has gates at all the entrances (not on the parking lot), to improve security. Of course they do nothing of the sort - I jimmy them open almost once a month when I forget my keys while doing laundry, and the thugs that are too stupid to do this just break the gate - happens about once a year. Only one of the gates has a device to buzz someones apartment, and that is the front-facing gate that no one uses because all the parking is in the rear. Half the people that come visiting either don't have cellphones, so instead they just sit out in the lot and honk their horn until whoever it is they are waiting for comes out. All hours of the day and night.

Just because management thinks these flimsy pieces of metal decrease crime (or know that idiot customers think that) and they are too cheap to put in more call boxes. Can't wait till I get hired on permanently so I can buy a house.

Re:No longer required..

[wakingdreaming]

That is, unless you find yourself alone without a cellphone in the middle of nowhere. But then again there probably wouldn't be a pay phone there anyway.

That's when you go back to that castle you passed a few miles back and see if they have a phone you can use.

Re:farewell, anonymity

[jayveekay]

If you're afraid of an armed gang showing up at your house sometime in the distant future during a trial, then I don't think you're a candidate for showing the courage to act against the armed gang that is 100 feet away beating someone up right now. I think that you're far more likely to mind your own business entirely, and rationalize the victim of the violence as probably just another thug or prostitute getting what he/she deserves.

Re:farewell, anonymity

[Doctor Faustus]

you've never lived in a big city where armed gangs spray the houses of witnesses with bullets, I take it
I live in Detroit and I've never heard of such a thing here. Maybe New Orleans...