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Installing a payphone in my house

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Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#161

Post by languageserver »

unityByFreedom wrote: post #94
bmitc wrote: post #52

That's a really awesome story with a great opening, middle, and especially the end, if one ignores the adolescent fraud. I think it really highlights the simple joy that technology that literally just works can bring. I'm around the same age as the author, a little younger in fact, but there's just something about today's Internet and a lot of the overwhelming amount of technology that just isn't fun or memorable. Fr…

> That's a really awesome story with a great opening, middle, and especially the end, if one ignores the adolescent fraud. That admission was the best part! Everyone here was not goody two shoes in their teens. Accepting this reality can release people from expectations of perfection. Perhaps ironically, kids' behavior can improve when they feel their imperfections are airable.

I am not sure credit card fraud is innocent pranks or misbehavior... I can tell you with certainty that most teenagers have never committed that sort of crimes tbh.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#163

Post by bluGill »

wildmanx wrote: post #141
bmitc wrote: post #52

That's a really awesome story with a great opening, middle, and especially the end, if one ignores the adolescent fraud. I think it really highlights the simple joy that technology that literally just works can bring. I'm around the same age as the author, a little younger in fact, but there's just something about today's Internet and a lot of the overwhelming amount of technology that just isn't fun or memorable. Fr…

> but there's just something about today's Internet and a lot of the overwhelming amount of technology that just isn't fun or memorable. That's right -- modern age stuff isn't as _hackable_. Especially not at the hardware level. You get an Alexa or a mobile phone or a camera, it's all just a chip on a PCB in a plastic case, not intended to be fiddled with by anybody (not the owner, not some repair show, literally _no…

In the past you couldn't upgrade the memory in your C64, now you can open the case on any desktop and put in different RAM. Laptops are sometimes upgradable as well. The raspberry pi even comes as a bare board for hacking on.

The kinds of hacking you can do today are different, but things are just as hackable if you want. If you don't want to hack, just get things done, then today things are much better, computers mostly just work for people who need to get things done.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#166

Post by GuB-42 »

bombcar wrote: post #146
AlbertCory wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very true. The old-fashioned telephone handset was a masterpiece of human engineering. I bet with state-of-the-art mic and speakers, it would still be way better than a smartphone for actual phone calls. Of course, I have to admit that my Bluetooth headset is pretty good, and a first-class gaming headset would be even better.

The low latency with a completely analog phone call is amazing. We forget it but it was really really low.

If I remember correctly, in many cases, latency was lower than in-person talk, because of the speed of sound.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#167

Post by b112 »

franga2000 wrote: post #158
b112 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems weird, to me, that you would need a card. Every phone booth I've used took dimes, then quarters. Some, near the end, could take a credit card or a telco card. I presume you could buy the cards back in the day, anywhere and easily?

For at least the last 25 years of operation, all of our phone booths only took smartcards that you could buy in basically any store or news stand.

Interesting.

Seems the same elsewhere, too, as per other replies.

I recall our phones, as I said, having a card slot and coin slot at the end.

I wonder if they retrofitted, with the goal of getting people used to cards, before removing the change slot entirely. This logic seems typical here.

But then the smartphone explosion happened, so just decided to never buy new payphones with slots only.

EG, rather than phase out for card only, they'd have years of spare parts and phones, as they slowly removed booths.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#169

Post by wrboyce »

bpye wrote: post #46
newman314 wrote: post #5

I want to do this but with a real British phone booth.

Well it looks like you can buy them https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/403689859315

It’s worth noting a K6 weighs in at about 1,250kg so “collect in person” is easier said than done!

Personally I’d go with a specialist/approved company such as x2connect.

Re: Installing a payphone in my house

#170

Post by bombcar »

GuB-42 wrote: post #166
bombcar wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The low latency with a completely analog phone call is amazing. We forget it but it was really really low.

If I remember correctly, in many cases, latency was lower than in-person talk, because of the speed of sound.

Yeah, effectively you're both whispering directly into each other's ear, which, even if possible in-person is a bit uncomfortable.
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