Last call for the phone booth? • Hacker News Board

Re: Last call for the phone booth?

#41

Post by thejosh » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 1:15 PM UTC

derefr wrote: post #23

daniel_iversen wrote: post #19

In Australia the leading telco is making all the phone booths (at least in sydney where I live) into wifi hotspots for its internet customers - clever - pay for your home internet and have wifi wherever you are - maybe nice in areas where there is not good mobile reception, for mobile workers etc

It'd certainly be nicer if, like a phone booth, they let people who aren't members of said network connect for five minutes by putting a quarter into a machine, so that they could then use said wi-fi to, say, make a (VoIP) call.

You basically can, once you connect you can just pay using card . also integrates with FON so if you're from overseas you can use that.

Re: Last call for the phone booth?

#42

Post by coldpie » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 1:18 PM UTC

rbcgerard wrote: post #40

I've been to a couple private clubs where cell phones are banned, except for in the phone booths that were installed 50+ years ago, sort of odd to see them disappearing everywhere, but then staying oddly relevant in random places

We haven't done it yet, but my boss has mused about the idea of installing "phone booths" in our office where people can take personal calls without hogging up our one conference room.

Re: Last call for the phone booth?

#43

Post by bronco21016 » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 1:34 PM UTC

rbcgerard wrote: post #39

bronco21016 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If everyone has a phone can't you just ask another person to borrow theirs or make a call for help in an emergency?

Now that you say that I feel like cell phones now need to have a "guest mode" web browser, maps and phone, but everything else walled off

My biggest concern if I let someone borrow my phone in a busy public space is that they will run off with it.

Perhaps the guest mode should primarily be a means of preventing a thief from doing anything meaningful with a stolen phone. It should probably restrict the 'guest' to only using the phone mode and prevent the phone from being placed into airplane mode so that if it is stolen it can more likely be tracked and recovered.

Re: Last call for the phone booth?

#44

Post by bronco21016 » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 1:36 PM UTC

sneak wrote: post #35

mrfusion wrote: post #33

I've been wondering if everyone should carry a backup phone now that there are so few phone booths? We seem so dependent on them and don't really plan for what to do if it dies or gets lost/stolen. I don't know what I would do if I ended up somewhere far from home without a phone.

I do this, not just for connectivity but also because frequently I am not near an Apple store or in a city where such is not 24/7. If I break my iPhone at 22:00 on a Saturday, I am capital-f fucked. In addition to my daily driver 7+, I keep the previous gen (6S+ presently) on me with a different carrier, and a 5C in my bag as an emergency spare. Next year the 7+ will become the backup and the 7S+/8+ will go in my poc…

Curious why you need to be so hyper connected?

I know people who live their lives without phones at all and I'm perfectly fine going days at a time without a phone.

Re: Last call for the phone booth?

#45

Post by fe90e0efie » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 1:46 PM UTC

coldpie wrote: post #42

rbcgerard wrote: post #40

I've been to a couple private clubs where cell phones are banned, except for in the phone booths that were installed 50+ years ago, sort of odd to see them disappearing everywhere, but then staying oddly relevant in random places

We haven't done it yet, but my boss has mused about the idea of installing "phone booths" in our office where people can take personal calls without hogging up our one conference room.

Give them offices, that would be far preferable.

Re: Last call for the phone booth?

#46

Post by noer » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 1:57 PM UTC

hueving wrote: post #22

daniel_iversen wrote: post #19

In Australia the leading telco is making all the phone booths (at least in sydney where I live) into wifi hotspots for its internet customers - clever - pay for your home internet and have wifi wherever you are - maybe nice in areas where there is not good mobile reception, for mobile workers etc

Comcast does this with their customers' cable modems (every cable modem broadcasts a Comcast network that any Comcast customer can use). It's somewhat evil and clever because it encourages you to use Comcast over and equivalent service because of the Internet access you get while out and about. They've given choosing an ISP a network effect.

You can turn that hotspot off on your own device: https://www.xfinity.com/support/internet/disable-xfinity-wif...

Re: Last call for the phone booth?

#47

Post by eumoria » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 2:01 PM UTC

rbcgerard wrote: post #40

I've been to a couple private clubs where cell phones are banned, except for in the phone booths that were installed 50+ years ago, sort of odd to see them disappearing everywhere, but then staying oddly relevant in random places

Was contracted to do work at the Greenwich country club and this was the case. No cell phones allowed or you'll be thrown off the premises (seriously) but they did have one old phone booth where you could go in and use your phone. This included texting. Not allowed to be seen otherwise.

That's wasn't the strangest thing there... those types of places are like stepping into another world.

Re: Last call for the phone booth?

#48

Post by sneak » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 2:25 PM UTC

bronco21016 wrote: post #44

sneak wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do this, not just for connectivity but also because frequently I am not near an Apple store or in a city where such is not 24/7. If I break my iPhone at 22:00 on a Saturday, I am capital-f fucked. In addition to my daily driver 7+, I keep the previous gen (6S+ presently) on me with a different carrier, and a 5C in my bag as an emergency spare. Next year the 7+ will become the backup and the 7S+/8+ will go in my poc…

Curious why you need to be so hyper connected? I know people who live their lives without phones at all and I'm perfectly fine going days at a time without a phone.

I run three businesses and a lot of people depend on me in emergencies. Not many people can do what I do, and fewer yet can do it on the notice that I can.

Re: Last call for the phone booth?

#49

Post by thenaterhood » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 3:18 PM UTC

rbcgerard wrote: post #39

bronco21016 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If everyone has a phone can't you just ask another person to borrow theirs or make a call for help in an emergency?

Now that you say that I feel like cell phones now need to have a "guest mode" web browser, maps and phone, but everything else walled off

If you run Android, that is a feature on recent versions (Marshmallow and up seems to have it - it might go older, I can't look).

I have actually put my phone into guest mode to lend it to people at the office.

Re: Last call for the phone booth?

#50

Post by gadders » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 3:21 PM UTC

Near me in the UK countryside, a lot of the phone boxes are being used to house AEDs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_external_defibrillat...).