No more booths in Germany

[countryman]

German Telekom will soon discontinue any payphone service. Actual booths have be become extremely rare already, but some pay stations were still provided, with a plastic weather shield at best.
From November, 21 on no coins will be accepted, card payment will end in January. I suppose emergency calls will still be possible until the phones are eventually removed or vandalized. A small number of sites will remain in use to improve cellphone service, but will not allow physical calls. It's not specified in the article but I guess small scale cellphone boosters will be installed there instead of the pay stations.
Link to the article (in German, Google will translate):https://www.sr.de/sr/home/nachrichten/panorama/telefonzellen_werden_abgeschaltet_100.html

[MMikeJBenN27]

So, if you don't have a cell phone, you are out of luck.  It seems like a conspiracy to force everybody to get a cell phone, even if we don't want one.

Mike

[countryman]

How is the situation in other countries?
After the liberalization of the German phone market, Telekom had the obligation to provide public phones for a long time. Apparently this responsibility has been lifted completely now, after more than 90% of the formerly existing facilities had been removed already. About 30% of the remaining stations had no calls at all, according to the report. The majority of the others had a turnover of a few Euros. And they are located in much frequented places, where at least some demand might be expected. But it does not happen.

[tubaman]

Very few phone boxes here in the UK still have phones in them. Most are now either used for defibrillators or as things like a community book swap store.
If you do find one with a phone still in it it'll likely be for emergency calls only - ie no payment facility.

[FABphones]

Very few phone boxes here in the UK still have phones in them. Most are now... ...a community book swap store...

Similar situation in France. Sometimes the phones are in the booths but they stopped working a long time ago.
A couple I knew of have gone. Booth and phone removed, just a relaid area of pavement to mark the spot.

[RDPipes]

So, if you don't have a cell phone, you are out of luck.  It seems like a conspiracy to force everybody to get a cell phone, even if we don't want one.

Mike

You guessed it! Big business doesn't make enough off payphones and home phones are next to nothing to purchase.
Besides they can't track you on either one.
I don't own a cell phone and I don't plan on ever owning one.

[tubaman]

You guessed it! Big business doesn't make enough off payphones and home phones are next to nothing to purchase.
Besides they can't track you on either one.
I don't own a cell phone and I don't plan on ever owning one.

I got my first one in 2000 when my commute involved several quiet roads that would've needed a few miles walk back to civilisation if I broke down. I don't use my current one that much when out and about but it's great to know it's always there if I need it and I certainly wouldn't be without it now.

As for tracking where I am - well if my commutes and shopping trips etc are of interest then they can fill their boots!

[countryman]

2000 was the year for me, too. In fact my wife gave it to me. Did she have the tracking thing in mind? Well, probably 

[RDPipes]

2000 was the year for me, too. In fact my wife gave it to me. Did she have the tracking thing in mind? Well, probably 

Yeah, If I remember correctly, wasn't it Eve that offered Adam a bite of the apple? LOL!

[TelePlay]

So, if you don't have a cell phone, you are out of luck.  It seems like a conspiracy to force everybody to get a cell phone, even if we don't want one.

Telephony is and has always been a business be it private or government run. Revenue has to exceed expenses (including plant and equipment, labor, R&D, overhead and depreciation) for a private company and if not for a public company (GPO), the amount in the red each year is made up from income taxes.

There is a lot of money in wireless, both in building the networks (expenses) and collecting user fees (revenue). There is no money in POTS copper networks so public operations use taxes to pay the bills and private companies shut down unprofitable endeavors (payphones and copper land lines).

I have AT&T VOIP as a backup to my different provider PCS wireless phone. Received this letter last Friday telling me Ernestine is being fired. While I know Operator and Directory Assistance has been available at what I considered an exorbitant price per use, I never used either. Seems many others haven't either and the revenue generated "per call" was not enough to cover costs, even if they have for the past few years been covered by excess revenue (profits) from other divisions in the company. I'm sure they know how many people were using those two services and have been watching that number decline for some time making their decision to pull the plug now an easy and necessary one. Just as no need to find a corner payphone to make a call because a PCS phone within the range of any tower can be used to make that call. Probably no need for these services since there are quite a few ways to get the required information faster and cheaper with a web search on that same PCS phone.

[19and41]

One sees the small enclosures that once held pay phones around here.  They are only around because there is no value to them, so they aren't stolen.

[MMikeJBenN27]

...As for tracking where I am - well if my commutes and shopping trips etc are of interest then they can fill their boots!

It's the principal, not that I am so fascinating or secretive.  I just don't like being spied on, especially by corporations.

Mike

[countryman]

I spotted this leftover booth in Lünen/Germany lately. I could not take photos but found one on Google Street View instead. It's a FeH 90, one of the last actual booth designs, in the grey/magenta Telekom colors already. As mentioned above the service was discontinued over a year ago, but Telekom obviously has no hurry in taking the remains down.