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AT&T to Phase Out Pay Phones By 2009
The writing is on the cave wall as a tried and true friend moves from city mainstay to relic of the Stone Age. Telephone giant AT&T will leave the pay phone market by the end of 2008, the company announced today. PR Newswire reports that the widespread use of cell phones and other communication devices has left AT&T with a declining market it no longer wishes to pursue. The phasing out of public pay phones and phones contracted out to correctional facilities will begin immediately and be limited to AT&T's thirteen state service area. Verizon, meanwhile, continues to offer pay phone service in 33 out of 50 states.
The move by AT&T, though, follows a general trend in the shrinking pay phone market. BellSouth Corporation, an AT&T acquisition in 2006, halted pay phone service in its nine state area in 2001. Indeed, today there are only about 1 million public pay phones in the United States, compared to 2.8 million in 1998. It is expected, however, that independent providers will pick up a portion of AT&T's business. In its announcement, the company assured customers that it will honor all existing contracts over the next year, while publicizing alternative providers and service options.
As sentimental as we can get about the passing of an era into a new, annoying age in which even nine year-olds have a CrackBerry and Bluetooth headset attached to the dome, we realize that it's true: All good things must come to an end, especially when we're talking wireless.
From PR Newswire Via MarketWatch (AOL Money & Finance)
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Reader Comments (Page 3 of 5)
KittyLu920 said 10:19PM on 12-05-2007
meant to add that expired long-distance card was AT&T (a gift from dear ol' Dad!) btw, AT&T's customer service is non-existent (even on the rare occasion you can get someone that speaks English!)
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Elizabeth Cicinelli said 2:03AM on 12-06-2007
I forgot my cell phone once and needed to make a phone call and I drove around for 20 minutes looking for a pay phone. Get rid of them? There aren't enough out there.
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Dianna McFarlin said 9:46PM on 12-06-2007
What can AT&T be thinking of? Of course we still need pay phones!!
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Tina said 6:18AM on 12-08-2007
Food for thought: MAYBE they are trying to push people into getting cellular phones...They own Cingular now, right? Besides that, I think other providers will buy out whatever contracts they have on the pay phones anyway.
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Jim said 7:11AM on 12-08-2007
what if your cheating on your wife and you don't want her to see who your talking to on the cell phone bill ? answer pay phone
what if your in prison they don't let you have a cell phone there. answer pay phone (we need to be able to continue to pull our scams by telephone !! )
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mary valantine said 8:09AM on 12-08-2007
if we do away with pay phones how would a child that has been Kidnapped be able to get help, not everyone has cell phones or can afford them just like not everyone has computers or can afford them just like not everyone has credit cards or can afford them.their are still Poor people in this world take off your rose colored Glasses and take a look on the other side of the railroad track as the people who had money in myday used to say dot bother with them they come from the other side of the track.because being poor is a stigmatism.to them. but to me it wasn;t anyones fault it just happened.we still have it and worse than ever.
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mary said 8:13AM on 12-08-2007
Pay Phones are essential, the cell phones are not always in use sometimes the Battries are dead or out of range. not everyone has one. please leave them their still needed the elderly hate change and most do not have cell phones or want them.
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Bob Brooks said 8:19AM on 12-08-2007
I would be interested in purchasing a discarded pay phone as a collectible
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Mary said 8:29AM on 12-08-2007
I believe that the Cosby Show had a scene where Cliff had a pay phone installed in the house to shorten the kid's phone time. Perhaps that isn't such a bad idea. Maybe they will give them away too!
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iaintsayingwho said 8:52AM on 12-08-2007
i dont own a cell, so what would happen if i got lost? see, they just do that on purpose. 4 the rest of my life, i'm gonna be walking in the rain. with no one to call.
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Kathy said 6:10AM on 12-09-2007
The problem with pay phones is that you can be charged an exorbitant rate by some off brand carrier or even your own home service - that happened to me once when I used my home phone # & code, a $17 charge for a short call from a local phone. I talked to SBC (now ATT) and they reduced the charge, but I will never use a pay phone without change again.
In France you can buy a $10 equivalent phone card and call home from public phones very reasonably, but whether French people can do the same here with an international calling card I don't know... I suspect it would depend on who owned the phone, and I think that is something that should be regulated by law. Exorbitant charges like I received are discouraging use of public phones, and there is a need for them.
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Ralph Garcia said 9:00AM on 12-08-2007
Please keep pay phones. When we had hurricane Katrina, hurricane Rita, hurricane Wilma in the second part of 2006, the only thing that really worked were pay phones in South Florida. Also I gave mine up as it's in a drawer in my computer desk. I stopped using it after finding out that comic book artist Michael Turner got cancer on his hip bone. Before he was diagnosed, he had it on him there all times of the day.
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PB said 9:04AM on 12-08-2007
We definitely need to keep pay phones around . There are way to many areas cell phone usrs can't get service. I feel much better knowing my kids have the option of a pay phone in case they forget or lose their cell phone.
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bim4m123 said 9:22AM on 12-08-2007
Not to worry! Their are plenty of Independent Payphone Companies that have taken away business from AT&T and Verizon that are providing payphone service at locations where there is still a need for them.
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JJ said 9:11AM on 12-08-2007
Not everybody have cellphone. Hearing impaired can hear the pay phone with volumn control better than cellphone.
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Reality Check said 9:22AM on 12-08-2007
Recently landed in Tucson, couldn't get a cell signal in the baggage claim area to call my ride from the "cell phone lot". Spotted a pay phone. Should have have been wary when I discovered it only took credit cards. Later found it cost me $5.76 to make a 1 min local call.
If that's the future of pay phones you can rip 'em all out, I'll use smoke signals...
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pookiemang69 said 6:10PM on 12-08-2007
Maybe they should fase out Pay phones. and convert them into emergency lines where an operator could connect your call for .50 cents in case of emergency's. No dialing required just tell them who you want to call and they charge them the .50 cents
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Rick Morrow said 9:32AM on 12-08-2007
How will Liberals call home from the NUTHOUSE?
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ronnie said 7:20PM on 12-09-2007
it doesn't surprise me- i live in what used to be called affectionately the suburbs- and when you can find a pay phone most times it doesn't work- i've seen pay phones with wires hanging where the reciever is supposed to be, coin return slots which have been purposely jammed and broken and i can't tell you how many other problems- you can't expect the phone companies to spend the time and money to repair these phones when someone is only going to break them again as soon as the repair is completed- and pay phones aren't the only item on the endangered species list- there used to be a mailbox three blocks away from my house until one morning when i saw that someone had torn it out of the ground- the postal service is not replacing it- the street sign at the end of the block was torn out of the ground too as well as a dead end sign a block over- and the town is not going to replace these items anytime soon as they are more pressing things that need their time,moneyand attention.
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joncdodge said 9:49AM on 12-08-2007
yeah this is a dumb idea... we still need land lines in case of an emergency...
JonBoy
http://curiousread.com
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