The Mobile Phone Is Killing The Red Telephone Booth In The UK

from the progress dept

Tue, Jun 22nd 2004 11:33am — Mike Masnick

While there have been plenty of stories about how mobile phones are killing off payphones, nowhere is such a story as upsetting to people as in the UK, where the distinctive red telephone booths are quickly disappearing, making it more and more difficult for tourists to get a picture in front of one. While there are a variety of reasons for the removal of such phone booths, including accessibility problems for the disabled, the main reason is simply that they're increasingly obsolete when everyone has a mobile phone. Of course, this is leading to a brisk business in reselling the phone booths for collectors who are turning them into lawn ornaments, conversation pieces, or even as part of a home bar.

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6 Comments

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Carl, 22 Jun 2004 @ 11:32am

Keep the booth, lose the wire.
Maybe they should just remove the phones and leave the booths. You can use a booth to have a private conversation over your cell phone without blaring your private life to everyone around you.
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dorpus, 22 Jun 2004 @ 11:39am

Next comes radio towers
Since who listens to radio anymore? It will change the skyline of many cities around the world. How much 20th century literature was written about the grotesque monstrosity of modern structures that polluted the landscape? Now that they will get their wish, will the art crowd be writing about the "holocaust" of economic progress, the memories of electric towers?

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Anonymous Coward, 22 Jun 2004 @ 12:32pm

Re: Next comes radio towers
This is no different than the lost pay phones here in America.

Progress marches on.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Jun 2004 @ 4:33pm

No Subject Given
I'm actually quite surprised by this. I don't know about the US and UK, but here in British Columbia pay phones are an integral part of the emergency telephone system. In the event of a major disaster such as an earthquake, the regular phone system and cellphone grid will be shut down. Only designated phones will continue to work, including payphones.
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Permanent4, 23 Jun 2004 @ 7:45am

Re: No Subject Given
Why would they shut down the cellphone grid in case of emergency? Wouldn't it be better to just put emergency communication on a different frequency so that cellular spiking wouldn't matter?
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2007 @ 8:14am

how much does a it cost to have one telephone booth?
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