• The Payphone is Back! (well in Rural Vermont at least)

    From Richmond@dnomhcir@gmx.com to uk.telecom on Mon May 18 09:53:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.telecom

    "VoIP Brings Back Old-Fashioned Pay Phones to Rural Vermont Dial zero
    for a direct line to the engineerwho installed them

    "Remember pay phones? Those relics of telecomrCOs distant past were once everywhererCoon many busy street corners, in bars and restaurants, even
    built into airlinersrCO seatbacks. Now, an engineer in Vermont is aiming
    to give the old-fashioned device some present-day relevance.

    "Patrick Schlott, 32, is an electrical engineer by training who works at
    the South Burlington, Vt.rCobased eVTOL maker Beta Technologies. Inspired
    in part by the free-phone projects Futel and PhilTel, herCOs restored and installed free-to-use pay phones at over half a dozen locations across
    Vermont. "

    https://spectrum.ieee.org/payphone-voip
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adrian Caspersz@email@here.invalid to uk.telecom on Mon May 18 11:02:59 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.telecom

    On 18/05/2026 09:53, Richmond wrote:
    "VoIP Brings Back Old-Fashioned Pay Phones to Rural Vermont Dial zero
    for a direct line to the engineerwho installed them

    "Remember pay phones? Those relics of telecomrCOs distant past were once everywhererCoon many busy street corners, in bars and restaurants, even
    built into airlinersrCO seatbacks. Now, an engineer in Vermont is aiming
    to give the old-fashioned device some present-day relevance.

    "Patrick Schlott, 32, is an electrical engineer by training who works at
    the South Burlington, Vt.rCobased eVTOL maker Beta Technologies. Inspired
    in part by the free-phone projects Futel and PhilTel, herCOs restored and installed free-to-use pay phones at over half a dozen locations across Vermont. "

    https://spectrum.ieee.org/payphone-voip


    BT are busy installing Street Hubs

    https://business.bt.com/public-sector/street-hubs/street-hubs-for-the-public/

    There is one outside our local train station, you can make free phone
    calls, connect to wifi and gaze at the latest crucial must-see
    advertising for Dolmio pasta sauce....

    Oh on that, also found a chance to buy your own historical telephone box
    and accessories

    https://www.x2connect.com/RedPhonebox/Telephone-Box-Pricing

    Is this an investment thing?
    --
    Adrian C
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Richmond@dnomhcir@gmx.com to uk.telecom on Mon May 18 11:21:13 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.telecom

    Adrian Caspersz <email@here.invalid> writes:

    On 18/05/2026 09:53, Richmond wrote:
    "VoIP Brings Back Old-Fashioned Pay Phones to Rural Vermont Dial zero
    for a direct line to the engineerwho installed them
    "Remember pay phones? Those relics of telecomrCOs distant past were
    once
    everywhererCoon many busy street corners, in bars and restaurants, even
    built into airlinersrCO seatbacks. Now, an engineer in Vermont is aiming
    to give the old-fashioned device some present-day relevance.
    "Patrick Schlott, 32, is an electrical engineer by training who
    works at
    the South Burlington, Vt.rCobased eVTOL maker Beta Technologies. Inspired
    in part by the free-phone projects Futel and PhilTel, herCOs restored and
    installed free-to-use pay phones at over half a dozen locations across
    Vermont. "
    https://spectrum.ieee.org/payphone-voip


    BT are busy installing Street Hubs

    https://business.bt.com/public-sector/street-hubs/street-hubs-for-the-public/

    There is one outside our local train station, you can make free phone
    calls, connect to wifi and gaze at the latest crucial must-see
    advertising for Dolmio pasta sauce....

    Oh on that, also found a chance to buy your own historical telephone
    box and accessories

    https://www.x2connect.com/RedPhonebox/Telephone-Box-Pricing

    Is this an investment thing?

    Street Hub sounds useful, but the FAQ doesn't say where they
    are. Searching on Google suggests the nearest one to me is about 50
    miles away.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2