Jump to content
IGNORED

Pay Phones Going Free


BECZ

Recommended Posts

8 hours ago, Ernegirl said:

We used to swap Irish and British 50 pence pieces on either side of the border. They were identical as far as the phone boxes were concerned. Feel a bit awful now. But that’s teenagers for you.

If that was the worst thing you did as a teenager then you are looking good :)

  • Love 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think its great.

In terms of what is Telstra getting out of it... I'd say, maybe it does something with taxes or gov funding? If they are mostly used for free calls to emergency etc, plus the decrease in overall use of them, I'm sure they maintain them at a serious loss already. Actually, it might even be something as simple as having charged calls go through them creates a bunch of extra work for them which isn't offset by the call charges.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spidey_Senses
21 hours ago, Elfie34 said:

also where are the phone boxes? i used to use them so often as a kid to call my mum to pick me up. i should find our local one and tell the kids in emergencies to go use the payphone...

There is a map you can use to locate them,  I tried and there are none within 4 suburbs from me showing up (Suburban Adelaide).  I have seen some in Adelaide CBD. 

My kids saw one when we were on holiday in a country town. They were fascinated by it as they had never one before.  We have not had a land line for 15+ years so I dont think they have ever seen a phone that isnt a mobile or a cordless hand set! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

lazycritter

1995 the year I moved out of home and onto residence for the course I was doing. The only way to call home was through a public phone or if home called the residences and then was put through. One person on res had a mobile phone or rather a brick and she was considered wealthy because of it. Lol.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, Ernegirl said:

I used to love the random chats I had with directory enquiry operators, usually when I was drunk 🥴 

My mother was a telephonist - phenomenally lucky to get the job really given she went out to work at the height of the great depression in the early thirties.

She told some entertaining tales.

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was thinking about the last time I used one. It was about 10 years ago, in a tiny country town on my way to meet up with DH at a larger regional centre. Pay phone at a road house. 

I was with Optus mobile and I had absolutely no coverage. But I needed to call DH to let him know that I’d taken a wrong turn and was now on the scenic route that would add an hour to my travel time. 
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, lazycritter said:

1995 the year I moved out of home and onto residence for the course I was doing. The only way to call home was through a public phone or if home called the residences and then was put through. One person on res had a mobile phone or rather a brick and she was considered wealthy because of it. Lol.

Yeah remember what absolute wankers people with mobiles used to seem? In the 90's and early 2000's I mean. Remember the term yuppie? It used to be like look at this dickhead, who does he think is going to call him? And when I was in year 12 (2001) there were two or three people with mobiles and we used to laugh at them, like oh mummy needs to know where you are!

Now I feel panicky if I forget to take it from the living room to the toilet with me 😄

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, WaitForMe said:

I think its great.

In terms of what is Telstra getting out of it... I'd say, maybe it does something with taxes or gov funding? If they are mostly used for free calls to emergency etc, plus the decrease in overall use of them, I'm sure they maintain them at a serious loss already. Actually, it might even be something as simple as having charged calls go through them creates a bunch of extra work for them which isn't offset by the call charges.

 

I reckon the actual money is worth SFA to them, and the repair costs where some dickhead damages it to steal the coins would be huge. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Lou-bags said:

I was thinking about the last time I used one. It was about 10 years ago, in a tiny country town on my way to meet up with DH at a larger regional centre. Pay phone at a road house. 

I was with Optus mobile and I had absolutely no coverage. But I needed to call DH to let him know that I’d taken a wrong turn and was now on the scenic route that would add an hour to my travel time. 
 

There is still a phone box outside the PO in a remote Mallee town where relatives have lived but there is no phone in there. just the box and a shelf. People still go in there because it is actually now somewhere where very strangely Optus internet connects, other than there it is on top of a very large sand hill out of town. Telstra is good everywhere in town, just not Optus.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

lazycritter
1 hour ago, Lurker said:

Yeah remember what absolute wankers people with mobiles used to seem? In the 90's and early 2000's I mean. Remember the term yuppie? It used to be like look at this dickhead, who does he think is going to call him? And when I was in year 12 (2001) there were two or three people with mobiles and we used to laugh at them, like oh mummy needs to know where you are!

Now I feel panicky if I forget to take it from the living room to the toilet with me 😄

I know right?  I felt like one of the last people to get a mobile.  Why on earth do we need to be attached constantly to a phone.  20 years later,  now just today I just was in a panic as I ended up in a no reception area in and I urgently needed to call my next job to say I was going to be late because I was only given 30mins to get from one job to another!  I guess people used to be ok with people being late? 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ana Beavenhauser

I had my daughter walk across the road to the bus stop where there is a pay phone and ring my mobile yesterday and whilst the call came through, the handset must be broken. She could hear me but I couldn't hear her. I could then save that number in my phone. Hopefully they do maintenance checks on them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, lazycritter said:

I know right?  I felt like one of the last people to get a mobile.  Why on earth do we need to be attached constantly to a phone.  20 years later,  now just today I just was in a panic as I ended up in a no reception area in and I urgently needed to call my next job to say I was going to be late because I was only given 30mins to get from one job to another!  I guess people used to be ok with people being late? 

Nah, we used to just be better organised. And probably more patient. It used to be "well I guess she's running 5 minutes late, oh well" and now it's "what the fuck, if she's late whey doesn't she call?!"

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Ana Beavenhauser said:

I had my daughter walk across the road to the bus stop where there is a pay phone and ring my mobile yesterday and whilst the call came through, the handset must be broken. She could hear me but I couldn't hear her. I could then save that number in my phone. Hopefully they do maintenance checks on them.

You can report payphone faults on the Telstra website.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suspect the "why" is because (a) they don't get much $$ from the phones but loads from using them as advertising posts; and (b) it is really good press in a time when they need the PR/business. They have been promoting it as a way of helping DV victims and people in emergencies (like during the bushfires). 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Advertisement

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...