Quote:
Originally Posted by Hermitcrab
Quote:
Originally Posted by hamid_1
I get the impression that BT are running down the remaining payphones in order to justify removing them. Some of them look dirty and uninviting. The minimum fee is now 60p (quite a lot for a short call) and you must make up the minimum fee using 4 coins or less, which can be awkward if you don't have the right combination of coins. Some payphones no longer accept cash, only credit / debit cards or free calls such as 999, 112 or 0800 numbers. This further limits their usefulness. The 'Phonecard' payphones are long gone.
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I have wondered whether you do really have to use a minimum of 4 coins to make up the 60p minimum charge. Or whether if you only had 6 * 10p coins on your person (or 1 * 20p piece and 4 * 10p!) that might work. Maybe someone was in that situation and has tried it?
Your 60p buys 30 minutes apparently on a local call which is quite generous. You might think that people wouldn't talk that long on a payphone, but I have observed people in the past spending longer than that talking on payphones, in some cases giving people the payphone number and getting them to ring back to cut the cost. |
I get the impression that BT aren't interested. There are no BT kiosks located in the area covered by our council. The last one in our village was a K8 but in the year before they became 30 years old and could be listed, BT changed all the K8's out for a KX100's. However for the last two years it had no handset on the end of the lead. I reported it a number of times and when they asked for its location, they denied there was one there. Then because of alleged drug dealing, the local council had it removed.
But as you drive around it is still possible to find the 'odd' one at the roadside but they do take some getting at
Can't get used very often!
And this is another one used into the early 1990's (it was the penultimate A/B box) when it was in use using 'shillings' (5p in new money) as the minimum charge and as it is now ! Still got the parcel & Directory shelves in it. I'll leave you to guess who's got the A/B box - it was still in the exchange when I recovered the exchange a year or two later.
But outside the old post office in Tintinhull in Dorset, is a kiosk which will not be going away and still has a working telephone it
How times change!