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311 complaint of the day: One historic artifact in the Back Bay needs to go
By adamg on Fri, 11/15/2024 - 11:05am
A concerned resident files a 311 complaint about this relic of the time before everybody had their own personal communications device:
Can this obsolete phone booth please be removed?
It's the latest in a series of complaints from concerned residents across the city about pay-phone booths that long ago ceased to have any meaning.
Earlier:
Citizen complaint of the day: Old payphones never die, they just rust away.
When Bostonians relied on pay phones.
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
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Comments
James Cole and Neo would both disagree
Payphones can be critical in relaying messages to the future as well as escaping threats within the Matrix.
Complaining to an artifact
Complaining to an artifact about an artifact.
There must be some Covid-19
There must be some Covid-19 funding laying around that can be used to support this beautification work.
L O U D
L
O
U
D
When mommy needs a bump..
That will come in handy for situating a line
These can be turned into places for art
Somerville has repurposed a number of old phone kiosks this way.
And we don't need permission
We can just make it happen. I'll contribute the LED strips and jello molds
This looks like it would make
This looks like it would make a lovely little free library with some retrofitting
The Somerville Public Library did exactly that in Ball Square
a few years ago. I haven't been back there lately to see if it's still there.
Ill have to check it out. I
Ill have to check it out. I love that sort of reuse if the alternative is destruction
I miss pay phones
I miss pay phones. They gave me a sense of security that cell phones simply do not.
A bit of trivia---there was a distinct, vaguely unpleasant odor to the mouthpiece of pay phones, obviously the stale residue of the breath of thousands of users. This odor was unique to pay phones. I never encountered it anyplace else.
Not a phone booth.
Not a phone booth.
Make it a free charging station.
Surely it's still wired. Spruce it up, add some ports, and turn it on.
Good idea
I was in NYC this summer and running very low on phone juice. I came across just such a public charger and it really helped out.
I think those NYC kiosks also
I think those NYC kiosks also let you make free phone calls.
Wifi
There was talk at one point a while back about turning these into free wifi stations. I am sure if you searched here, you'd find the article. (it was a looong time ago). Apparently nothing happened.
I also will be that 'security' guy and tell you that free charging stations are ripe for data theft with a usb skimmer device that snap right over the usb port (similar to the way credit card terminals are skimmed in stores). Yep you can get an adapter that will block it, but many do not.
Hmmm.
Good point. I know wireless charging wouldn't be usable for most people yet, but maybe it would be more secure. Sad that it's an issue, but you're right.
file under
"this is why we can't have nice things"
Hackers and Scammers have ruined so many nice things.
My hope is with near field wireless charging (i.e. just standing near (feet) the power charger device.. not placing your phone directly on the chargers surface) will eventually become common enough that charging will happen everywhere. And since it uses its own technology to charge that it will be more secure than usb-based charging. Thus we *can* have make these charging stations, just add a bench on one side for people to sit N wait while their phone charges. Maybe even convert the area around a phone booth to a pocket park. (again near-field would be 3-6ft away!) with benches & planters. You could even still convert the booth to a lil library and just hide the power charger behind the bookshelves. ;-)
(the near field charging does exist.. its in development. Plus "wifi charging" is a thing, so it's not too far away)
Not just hackers and scammers
Not just hackers and scammers. Also the person who decided the same port on a phone needs to be used for charging as well as data communication. And that just plugging in is enough to do that communication without further permission.
Like, I just want to charge my phone in the car. I don't want it to interrupt the radio, route all my calls through the car speakers, upload my contacts to the car, etc.
Hello? Hello?
I'd give real money to have Verizon put payphones back in there just to shut them up. ;-)