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Where the Phone Booths went (Germany)

Started by countryman, January 11, 2020, 12:15:29 PM

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countryman

What the Mojave desert is for old aircraft, is a forest near Berlin for German phone booths. Here's a short article, Chrome will translate it.
The pic is an aerial view, but the site is also well visible in Google Maps. Search 'Michendorf' and zoom into the large forest northwest of it, just outside the town limits...

The yellow booths are older state owned Bundespost models, from the early 90ies on magenta colored Telekom models appeared.
According to the article the booths can be picked up for 350-450 €, but the demand is limited. They are stored on the site and will be repaired to replace existing booths when required. But not many are replaced any more, they have widely disappeared from public places. If any public phones are provided, they are mostly installed without an enclosure.


andre_janew

Apparently, the translator is taking the weekend off.  I could only see the article in its original German.  I would've loved to see it translated into English.

countryman

#2
"I'll buy a phone booth"
For decades they were a sought-after place - but their shadowy existence began with the cell phone. The number of telephone booths has been falling for years. Telekom is now selling them to lovers. Retro fans can place an old vintage telephone booth in the garden or set up a small recording studio in it.

An aerial photo of old Deutsche Telekom telephone booths, taken on May 1st near Michendorf (Brandenburg). Around 3,000 old telephone booths in classic yellow or the more modern magenta coloring are in the only warehouse of this type in Germany.
Michendorf
Seen from the air, it is a sea of ​​pink and a few spots of yellow in the middle of the forest. There is a huge warehouse in Brandenburg with 3000 telephone booths, some of which can be bought. If you want to place an old cell in the garden, for example, you will find it in Michendorf near Potsdam.

It is the only warehouse of its kind in Germany. Cells are also repaired there. The prices for the yellow and magenta-colored houses are between 300 and 400 euros, as spokesman for Deutsche Telekom, Georg von Wagner said. "The interested party has to organize the removal itself."

In the mobile phone age, telephone booths have been scrapped for years. According to Wagner, they are often used as library houses. They are also used as a garden house, as a film prop or as a soundproof room for making calls in large areas. There are still 40,000 telephone booths nationwide - "The trend has been falling for years," says von Wagner.

dpa

BTW 400€ seems like a bargain, considering the kind of money I spent in such a yellow booth when I studied away from home, calling my girlfriend ....

19and41

They will one day become collectors items, but only after storing and lugging them around for decades.  If I had one, they would have their collector's renaissance a few days after I'd given up and got rid of it for a pittance.  ;D
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
— Arthur C. Clarke

countryman

A restaurant in town installed one inside. They do not want cell phones to be used in the restaurant but only inside the booth  :)
Another one I know of stands on private ground next to a public place as a book exchange. People can bring their old books there, or pick them up for free. I have also seen one next to a truck weight scale as a shelter for the ticket printing terminal. One I saw in a classified ad stood in a garden with the windows painted over. The seller mentioned he had installed a urinal inside. Yuck!
By the way he wanted more than 400.-€.

19and41

Those could make a shelter for using a laptop in a outdoor locstion, like a bus stop.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
— Arthur C. Clarke