Engineer restores pay phones for free public use | Hacker News Reader

Engineer restores pay phones for free public use

npr.org

118 pointsandsoitis55 comments

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Discussion (125 points, 2 months ago, 80 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44188204

> By Julian Ring

It’s a small thing, but if the reporter picked this story due to their name, I appreciate that decision.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism

Bfuller- do you happen to be a pastry chef?

filthy mutt

archaeologist?

Around 2016 I was visiting the bay area for the first time (and the US for that matter) and my phone ran out of battery, I was kind of lost without the map app and then I spotted a pay phone boot in the distance under some strong sunlight, I wondered if I could get some help with it, maybe bus routes back to the place I was staying, I pick the phone and a few tiny plastic crumbs fell from my hand, it's then when I noticed the handset was completely hollow, I looked more carefully and everything else was hollow too, it felt surreal, a bit like twilight zone but like I traveled through time and just realized it, I knew people didn't used them as much anymore but I guess I just hadn't grasp that they didn't exist any more.

In Australia the public pay phones have free nationwide calling and SMS, and double as wifi access points.

They've proven useful for natural disasters and victims of domestic violence/coercive control.

Since these phone booths tend to also show street advertising, it might be a way of preserving that revenue stream, while providing a reason for communities to want to keep the mostly redundant phone booths.

Except in Brazil, pay phones have disappeared across most of America, especially in the US. The last time I was in New York I only saw a few left.

This post made me realise how much work and cost goes into keeping a public phone running, including painting, repairs, cleaning, replacing vandalised parts, paying for electricity, and even sending people out to collect the coins. (I didn't even know collecting coins was an actual job)

> Since these phone booths tend to also show street advertising, it might be a way of preserving that revenue stream, while providing a reason for communities to want to keep the mostly redundant phone booths.

https://cities-today.com/australian-cities-win-appeal-over-t...

I actually investigated this exact thing (phone booths as advertising vectors) a little while ago: https://observablehq.com/@mjbo/sydney-qms-panel-public-telep...

To cut to the chase, I think local councils are really upset that Telstra has the right to put these anywhere they want.

> To cut to the chase, I think local councils are really upset that Telstra has the right to put these anywhere they want.

Yes, as per the link I posted (which appears to predate your investigation by a number of years)

I personally think that there needs to be a middle ground - Telstra have the real estate they do for the express purpose of providing access to a public phone, and I have no objection to them adding some advertising onto those.

I do, however, find it difficult to agree to Telstra using that to justify building a much larger billboard that has little to no purpose relating to access to the public telephone network.

Melbourne does not have any advertising on its pay phones now (not that I can think of, but I am going out some time this afternoon and will double check the CBD)

A walk up King Street showed that there were ten public phones, 2 had large screens for advertising integrated into them, 3 had other advertising on them, and the remainder had no advertising at all.

King Street isn't a main thoroughfare, just the one I happened to walk up

Meanwhile California is ripping out all of the call boxes along the roads even in areas with poor cell service. It can’t really cost us that much

There’s probably a vast difference btwn what the state says it costs the maintain them, and what it costs this guy. Really wish there were more opportunities for the public to do stuff like this. There’s been a light out in the alley near me for years and the city won’t fix it. I’d happily do it myself if it was allowed.

Is it literally just the lightbulb? Is it accessible? You should just do it, they likely won’t notice, and even if they do they’re not going to arrest you. If you’re within 30 min of Escondido CA I’ll even come do it for you.

Guerilla Public Service. If you've not heard of Richard Ankrom who fixed an exit sign on the 110 freeway, check it out. He made a documentary about it (and there are countless other videos on YouTube covering the story).

https://youtu.be/Clgl63CWOkM?si=CZQEzUsY9gWjWbLU

He did it so well, the modification stayed in place for years.

If you can do it right, I say go for it.

Unfortunately you left out the fact that despite his good intentions, it's illegal, and he would have been arrested if caught.

Here’s a short list of other illegal things:

- lemonade stands without a business license

- posting fliers on traffic light posts, yard sale signs, etc

- turning over a solid double yellow line to get into a plaza

There are lots of “illegal” things we do every day, because they are better for society than strictly following the law.

OK so if I understand you right, you're implying that it's only “technically” illegal but it won't be enforced?

Ya, it's a fair question, my claim isn't very clear in my comment. I think there are two elements that I care about:

1. Exactly what you said, it's illegal but is seldom enforced

2. I would rather break the law to improve the world, than to follow the law and watch it fall into chaos.

I'm with you on #2, but even more than that, I'd rather live in a world in which detrimental laws are easier to change/fix...

Ya, that's fair, and very noble of you. I think this sort of thing is often the divide between engineering and politics. Engineers want to do the thing. Politicians want to make it easier to do the thing. I realize those are loose definitions, and I'm just some internet guy, but I like my definitions. As you get promoted, you move away from engineering, and further into politics. Personally I don't have the patience for much politics, even though i recognize that it is good and important.

All that to say -- I think you should be promoted :)

Of course it's allowed. How far have things come that you think you'll get in trouble for replacing a bulb somewhere in the street?

Wow, this is terrible and dangerous advice. There are multiple laws that prohibit this, some of which are in place to protect people from danger (such as the high voltages involved or the possible risk of injury to yourself or others) while others are about certification.

The desire to help is absolutely laudable, and I wish it were easier for volunteers to get permission to go and do it, but to go on an Internet forum to wrongly claim that it's already allowed is irresponsible.

I usually agree, but it's fairly high up, the bulb is probably non standard, and it's not clear how to get the top off. Just slightly more work than I'm willing to put in.

You need to understand that there's The Law and then there's "what people get in trouble for". Practice anarchy in your daily life. Take control of your surroundings. Just make sure you only do good. And if you suspect you'll get into a "no good deed goes unpunished" scenario, make a game of it and do it under cover of night.

You should also consider a bat suit.

Or a high visibility vest and a clipboard.

Really, who is going to catch you in this scenario?

The one time, years ago, I tried to use one of those, it was non-functional because someone hadn't paid the cell phone bill.

That’s actually pretty hilariously ironic.

It cost about $1.7 million in LA alone during the Hahn administration.

In LA "alone"? The city of Los Angeles has a population of 3.8 million people and in 2025 a budget of about $14 billion. That would be something like 0.01% of LA's budget.

https://cao.lacity.gov/budget25-26/Budget_Summary/2025-26Bud...

That's like saying "At Google alone they spent X dollars" as if it was indicative of companies in general.

To be fair if you mean Kenneth Hahn, and are referring to when he was LA County Chair in 1978, obviously that would be a much larger sum relatively. But it's the largest city in CA now and it was then too.

Not sure I understand the point you're making. You were talking about the entire state of CA. I was pointing out that it's not as cheap as you think it is.

That's not an issue of cost, but the issue of anonymity. Terrorists, child traffickers, illegal immigrants could use them without authorities knowing who is calling.

You could get a tourist SIM and do the same? Cellphones don't have some perfect identification system.

who are you?

Your good buddy, Eva 5I7bHFq9mnYK

Some countries are even removing land lines. Denmark has removed the first bits of the copper infrastructure. Even if we wanted to have payphones back, they'd need to be cell-phone based.

In LA people remove land lines as theft for the copper

https://abc7.com/post/los-angeles-police-task-force-cracks-d...

Ours is buried, have been for 40 - 50 years, so theft is a bit unlikely.

They're buried in LA too and yet the theives are still stealing them

The loss of pay phones is a really good example of saving pennies and losing essential service as a result of technological progress. When companies started taking them down, local governments should've stepped in to take over or help form a non-profit to maintain these services. There's a number of times where I've been out and about and my phone either can't get service or just inconveniently died on me, and having easy access to a pay phone helps prevent one from being totally stranded. And strangers, rightfully so, are reluctant to share their phone.

The big problem is that the only people I would be able to call in that situation would be my own dead phone, my parents, my friend's house from 5th grade, and the pizza places near where I grew up. I wonder if people younger would even have that many numbers memorized.

a simple solution is to have emergency contacts written in your wallet, with the added benefit of letting bystanders call for you when you are incapacitated.

I couldn't find this information in the article: how are these phones connected to the network? If there is no cellular coverage in the area (as the article claims), then how was it achieved?

> I've already gotten a few people reaching out saying, 'We need a way for the students to call home or call whomever. Can we get one of your phones?'

I think Patrick Schlott should launch a “Sponsor a Free Phone” programme, where people with more money can contribute to his project and their community.

He could show the usage of each phone on a dashboard, so donors can see the impact their contribution is having on people's lives.

Pay phones might become a thing again, with governments pushing to end of E2E communication.

That’s indeed a very cool thing. I also guess it requires some PR so people would actually know where such phones available.

I wonder how Satellite services that just started to rise lately would change the dead spot issue.

Easy to PR, leaflet the 10000 people in tbe 10 towns (guessing population) and say "now you can use a phone and call people.... and it is free!!!!"

Could be paid for by that chamber of commerce in the background. In turn paid for by business that benefits from more people coming into shops.

Interestingly, someone on Reddit recently mentioned that “Pay phones started disappearing almost immediately after The Matrix movie showed everyone how to escape matrix”.

Let’s see if they will sustain :)

You could also argue that they disappeared the moment Neo took that Nokia 8110 out of his pocket and everyone wanted one of those instead. Even Nokia released the 8110i because people wanted that same phone, which had been modified for Neo.

The fact that mobile phones took off after the movie and replaced pay phones could also suggest that most people don’t want to escape the Matrix and realised that ignorance is bliss.

(Just saying what Cypher would say)

Surprised no mention of futel

Lmao we still have those exact payphone models in active use at every subway station in Toronto.

They're also for social connectivity in that they're maintained for the suicide hotline at this point.

good man

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