Ofcom announces plan to protect endangered species – the Great British phone box
- Reference: 1636544712
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/11/10/ofcom_phone_box_protection/
- Source link:
BT has been tolling the bell for copper phone lines [1]for some time now , but upgrading payphones to digital too would require significant investment. So the telco is choosing which should stay and which should go.
Ofcom has noted that in the year to May 2020, 150,000 calls were made to emergency services from phone boxes, 25,000 to kids' counselling service Childline, and 20,000 to the Samaritans support line for those in emotional distress, so it's clear payphones still fulfil a need.
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On the other hand, call volumes from the 21,000 kiosks across the UK fell from 800 million minutes in 2002 to 7 million in 2020. And the regulator says that 96 per cent of UK adults own a mobile and few of us will have stepped foot inside a phone box for many years.
[3]
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To safeguard call boxes where they might do some good, Ofcom has said they shouldn't be removed if any of four criteria apply:
Its location is not already covered by all four mobile networks
It is located at an accident or suicide hotspot
More than 52 calls have been made from it over the past 12 months
Exceptional circumstances mean there is a need for a public call box
The regulator says this would prevent about 5,000 phone boxes from removal, and that "exceptional circumstances" could mean "geographic location of the phone box (for instance, a coastal location where mobile reception is less resilient); as well as the types of calls made from the phone, such as to helpline numbers."
It added: "BT and KCOM [the company responsible for communications infrastructure [5]around Hull can propose to remove phone boxes that do not fall within this strict criteria, but would need to formally consult with local communities before any action is taken."
[6]How long till some drunkard puts a foot through one of BT's 'iconic, digital smart city communication hubs'?
[7]BT Wholesale wants the channel to give SMBs a nudge before copper sunset in 2025
[8]BT hails hollow-core fibre trials as 'critical advancement' for secure communications
[9]BT says it's trading in line with expectations as revenue slides and pre-tax profit shrinks
Ofcom would also make the telcos install batteries in some boxes so that they would still work in the event of a power cut.
Selina Chadha, Ofcom's director of connectivity, said: "Some of the call boxes we plan to protect are used to make relatively low numbers of calls. But if one of those calls is from a distressed child, an accident victim or someone contemplating suicide, that public phone line can be a lifeline at a time of great need.
"We also want to make sure that people without mobile coverage, often in rural areas, can still make calls. At the same time, we're planning to support the rollout of new phone boxes with free Wi-Fi and charging."
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On the latter point, BT has begun installing what it calls "Street Hubs" in 300 locations across the country where it can get the go-ahead from local planners. These 21st-century call boxes provide "free Gigabit Wi-Fi, rapid mobile phone charging, and free calls," [11]as we reported earlier this year.
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BT Street Hub 2.0
As for the fate of the iconic red phone box, which ceased production in 1985, local authorities can purchase one for a quid under BT's [13]"Adopt a Kiosk" scheme and use it for another purpose – like a community library or housing for a public defibrillator.
Still, 21,000 to 5,000 functional phone boxes is a sizeable cut, and The Register wonders what you'd do if you're mugged, lose your phone and are lost, if you're running from a serial killer and need to warn their next victim, or if you're a superhero who needs to make a quick change into your costume. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2019/09/23/huge_copper_line_switch_off/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YYv6w8Qql4kFY50RJovqSwAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YYv6w8Qql4kFY50RJovqSwAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YYv6w8Qql4kFY50RJovqSwAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2019/10/10/hull_first_city_to_get_fullfibre_diet/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/17/bt_street_hub_2/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/15/bt_wholesale_pstn_switchoff/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/13/bt_hails_hollowcore_cable_trials/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/29/bt_q1_fiscal_2022/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YYv6w8Qql4kFY50RJovqSwAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/17/bt_street_hub_2/
[12] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/09/17/btstreethub2.jpg
[13] https://business.bt.com/campaigns/communities/adopt-a-kiosk/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
And yet some of us old farts can remember pushing button B on the offchance that a previous user had failed to, and having four pennies drop out...
I remember a weird payphone at boarding school that needed at least 10p inserted, but could only hold four coins. So you'd insert four 2p coins (that were enormous), and then push the fifth one in really hard. The first would fall out into the return slot, but the phone would register that you actually had 10p and could thus make a call. Upon connection it would start dropping in the coins, so you had to insert that extra 2p as fast as you could after the coins started to drop.
The senior phone was much more friendly. It always gave a dialling tone, so if you don't have money you could make a call by tapping out the number by quickly bashing the handset cradle. The phone would ring and you'd get about two seconds before it cut you off, but that was enough to say "call me back".
> "BT has begun installing what it calls "Street Hubs" in 300 locations across the country where it can get the go-ahead from local planners. "
given the use of the stock "artists impression picture" I wonder if any have actually been installed...
There's a few of them around in London. They're just electronic billboards. They do offer free calls - but no receiver. Not sure how the option of yelling into a speakerphone on the High St is going to be of much use to a vulnerable kid that wants to call Childline.
BT street hubs - where people gather
They put up a number of these "InLink hubs" in central Southampton about 4 years ago.
They quickly became a gathering point for people - who would beg, deal drugs and/or misbehave - all this while charging their phones though the free USB charging points.
Aside from providing communications for serial killer's and muggers victims or quick change facilities for super heroes, the phone boxes that used to be in the village close to where I kept my horses in the 90s, provided the young teens of the village somewhere for a knee trembler out of the rain.
I think the kids today do that in the metaverse
(pleased to note my phone doesn't believe that is a word)
All the phone boxes I've seen around here (rural France) are mini libraries nowadays.
As for the books on offer, my god. Let's just say that if the Daily Mail clocked their eyes on that, there would be many many column inches of "outrage". Over here, the attitude is more "meh, boobies, so what?".
Life line for the homeless
The last time I used a public payphone was about a decade ago, but it was a life saver. Full parliamentary disclosure of interests, I was homeless and I needed to make a call. I did have a £10 mobile phone but no money or charge in it. I had a pocket full of coins and a long walk to find a phone box as all the boxes I remembered had been removed.
I eventually found a row of three in the city centre. All of them were pitch black inside because all the glass was covered in advertising. The first one didn't work, the second one didn't work and kept my coins, but third time lucky.
I suppose I could have asked passers by to use their phone, but would you give your phone to a homeless man? I think phone booths should be maintained at current numbers with free calls subsidised by the tax payer, and if covered in adverts then they should be lit inside.
Hey, I've got a great idea.
Why don't we nationalise the phone boxes and the network connected to them? That way, they could be run as a public service.
>Ouch!<
What did I say? What did I say?
Re: Hey, I've got a great idea.
Would the public be happy keeping thousands of payphones operating for no good reason and wasting public money?
Re: Hey, I've got a great idea.
The logic for getting rid of phone boxes is not that different from plans to get rid of fire and ambulance stations ... "you don't need an ambulance or fire station locally we can just drive over from the end of town if you have a heart attack or catch fire ... we'll be there in 30 minutes." The way things work these days all that needs to be done is to make phone booth use free of change and fund them by insert adverts into all the calls ...
Does that sound stupid? try browsing the Internet...
Re: Hey, I've got a great idea.
"insert adverts into all the calls"
Yep, I will buy ad space selling hand guns, while you call 112 to report being attacked.
Subsidies
Surely, the advertising cards on the box windows should be a subsidy to the cost of keeping the box? 10 pence per week, per card, or something like that?
Digital?
BT has been tolling the bell for copper phone lines for some time now, but upgrading payphones to digital too would require significant investment.
Does that mean to a digital landline? Could installation of a robust mobile be cost-effective?
Re: Digital?
Could installation of a robust mobile be cost-effective?
Hardly; if a phone box is too little used to be worth retaining when connected by line how would it become worth retaining if converted to a "robust mobile"?
Some of the boxes that are likely to be decommissioned haven't been used at all in the last 12 or even 24 months.
And before anyone asks I do not and never have worked for BT.
Just helped a colleague move a [Bell System] phone booth from work (it was used in a "work of art")
While unbolting it from its plywood base, I was treated to proof of its authenticity: the lower portion had a distinct "pong" to it...frequently smelled in restrooms. Perhaps this one was originally located outside a pub. My colleague applied a liberal amount of bleach to the booth, and all was well.
I last used a phone box in 2002 or so when I left my mobile somewhere in the high street and rang home to say I'll be late back from the shops.
My kids have never used a phone box and have no idea how to use one.