A payphone (alternative spelling: pay phone or pay telephone or public phone) is typically a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or in high-traffic public areas. Prepayment is required by inserting coins or telephone tokens, swiping a credit or debit card, or using a telephone card.
The company that operates the payphone generally pays either rent or a revenue share to the owner of the property where the phone is installed.
Invented in the late 19th century, payphones became ubiquitous worldwide in the 20th, enough to contribute to the notion of universal access to basic communication services. The charge for a call may be a flat rate, or dependent on call duration. Following the explosive growth of mobile telephony, the use of payphones, and the number installed, has decreased greatly; several countries and areas have now abolished their payphone services altogether.
Countries
Australia
, in Australia, there are approximately 17,000 payphones. Previously, there had been over 30,000 payphones.
In Australia, Telstra operates 15,000 payphones, which have been available free of charge as of 2021. Telstra had previously made payphones available for free at Christmas and the New Year. The number of payphones Telstra operates is determined by the Australian federal government.
Telstra has a universal service contract to provide payphones, which was criticized by ABC News for failing to secure mobile phones in February 2024 after a severe storm destroyed houses and shut down power and communications in Mirboo North.
In 2017, the Australian government considered abolishing the payphone network.
Canada
Most payphones in Canada are owned and operated by large telecom providers such as Bell, Telus Communications, and SaskTel. In the last 20 years, customer-owned coin-operated telephones (COCOT) have also appeared in the market, but their numbers are smaller due to the emergence of mobile phones.
The cost of most local payphone calls is 50 cents CAD, having increased from 25 cents since 2007. Payphones in Alberta were 35 cents for a time, but in most jurisdictions the price simply doubled. Newer phones allow users to use calling cards and credit cards. For coin-paid long distance, COCOTs are less expensive for short calls (typically $1 for three minutes) than incumbent providers (whose rates start near $5 for the first minute).
Dialing 0 for the operator and 911 calls are still free.
The Toronto Transit Commission deploys payphones on all subway platforms as a safety precaution; a blue "Crisis Link" button on 141 payphones connects directly with Distress Centres of Canada as a free suicide prevention measure.
As of 2013, there were about 70,000 payphones across the country.
In 2013, the CRTC issued a temporary moratorium on the removal of payphones in small communities.
In September 2015, the CRTC remarked that "32 percent of Canadians used a payphone at least once in the past year," and that they are used "as a last resort in times of inconvenience and emergency."rob: "Canadians aren’t ready to cut cords with payphones just yet", 26 February 2015
Germany The payphone model 23, introduced at Deutsche Bundespost Telekom in 1992, is an electronic software-controlled payphone for analog connections. It is equipped with coin, (), and integrated test program setting. It has a remote maintenance – the independent reports of a background system by means of an integrated modem error (for example, defects in components, lack of listeners), operating states (for example, full coin box), or departures (for example standing open the cartridge mounting door, missing coin).
The Payphone 23 consists of two basic units, the equipment part including all the necessary for the operation modules (BG) and the secured below the growing payphone cassettes with the coin box.
Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, public payphones have been installed and maintained over the years primarily by HKT (formerly PCCW).
Many public telephones were removed throughout the 2010s and early 2020s due to low usage, but thousands of physical kiosks still remain across the territory.
Following structural changes in the telecommunications market and a decision by the Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) to reduce subsidies, operators are no longer obligated to maintain public telephones in areas with low demand. However, the provision of communication services remains highly visible in specific public infrastructure, with free courtesy phones consistently maintained throughout the Hong Kong International Airport.
Italy In Italy, public payphones have been installed and maintained over the years by Telecom Italia (formerly SIP).
Many public telephones were removed in the early 2010s, but there are still several thousand in operation throughout Italy.
From 26 May 2023, following an AGCOM decision, TIM-Telecom Italia is no longer obliged to keep public telephones in service (but still has the option to do so). In hospitals, prisons, barracks and mountain refuges, the provision of public telephone services is in any case mandatory.
Japan
The majority of payphones on the street and in buildings in Japan are installed and maintained by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT).
Russia
In the Soviet period, different types of payphones were produced. There were also long-distance call payphones costing 15 kopeks, and also provided services of paid media such as listening to an anecdote, obtaining legal advice, or finding the address of the subscriber by phone number. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the monetary reform of 1991, this form of payment became irrelevant. Some payphones were altered to accept tokens, while others have been designed to use telephone cards. For example, in St Petersburg, payment for payphones can be made with metro tokens. In some regions, calls from public phones are free of charge.
Spain Telephones were a monopoly of the national government in Spain. Payphones took a ficha (token), a piece of metal with two troughs in it, making it hard to counterfeit. Payphones were typically found in bars, restaurants, and stores, never freestanding. Phones would accept some five fichas at a time (the exact number varied depending on phone model), showing through a plastic window the number remaining, and return unused ones to the customer.
An older and simpler system was to use a mechanical counter, the marcador de pasos, which automatically counted units of time called pasos. The duration of each paso depended on the distance of the call, and its cost could vary by time of day. At the conclusion of a call a human attendant would collect the appropriate payment. This system survived in small hotels at least until the 1970s. Spain also had locutorios ("speaking places"), where a person could make and pay an attendant for phone calls. Locutorios diminished in the 21st century, as the country moved to direct distance dialing and mobile phones.
United Kingdom
The telephone service in Britain was run by the General Post Office (GPO), a state monopoly, which had taken over the National Telephone Company in 1912. Coin-operated payphones in Britain in about 1950 cost 2d (2 old pence) for a local call of unlimited duration. This eventually increased, and by about 1960 calls were timed, costing 3d for 3 minutes. Long-distance calls, connected by an operator, cost more. Telephones had a coin slot and two buttons, marked A and B. One or more coins had to be inserted and the number dialled. If answered, the call was enabled by pressing button A; if not answered, button B returned the coins. Payphones later changed and the old A/B button design was dropped; prices changed over time.
The telephone system was privatised in 1984, operated by British Telecom, still a monopoly. Phone cards were introduced for paying for calls. Payphones were later deregulated, no longer a BT monopoly. The great majority of them are still operated by British Telecom (BT) but other companies provide services, mostly in urban areas. Hull, Manchester, London, Cardiff and Glasgow, at the turn of the 21st century, have a greater concentration of non-BT payphones, since BT has been removing many payphones which are unprofitable. The use of payphones declined greatly in Britain, as everywhere, with the explosive growth of mobile telephones.
Kiosk adoption
BT allows local communities to adopt the iconic Red K6 Kiosks due to strong opposition to their removal from the communities that the kiosks reside in. This will mean the removal of the phone, leaving the empty kiosk in-situ. Adopted kiosks are often repurposed as libraries, defibrillators, information kiosks or other uses.
Sponsored kiosk
Another option BT has provided is the sponsored kiosk, that will retain the phone service, and retain the kiosk for an annual fee of around £300 excluding VAT, whether it is the Red K6 or the newer aluminium and glass kiosks that cannot be adopted.
Payphone types
Due to disability discrimination law, specifically the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, in the past payphone providers were required to provide a certain number of textphone payphones as part of their network, as this was deemed a "reasonable adjustment" for deaf customers. These phones can also make voice calls, as well as send SMS and e-mail messages, and although this requirement is no longer in force due to minimal use of the textphone feature in these phones, many of these devices remain in service, generally in populated areas.
In addition, in the early 2000s BT installed a large number of 'Multiphones' that provided internet access, on top of voice, SMS, and e-mail functionality. These payphones provided these services through the use of a 2-channel ISDN2 connection, a QNX-based operating system, and a touchscreen interface to allow the user to browse websites and receive e-mail messages on a pay-per-minute basis. However, these devices have since been removed due to quickly becoming obsolete, often with the ordinary payphone previously installed in that location taking its place once again.
Cost
From 1 June 2010, BT payphones have a £0.60 minimum charge which is for the first 30 minutes of any direct-dialled national geographic call. Previously the minimum charge was £0.40 for the first 20 minutes of any direct-dialled national geographic call. Then before November 2006 the minimum charge was £0.30, before 2004 it was £0.20 and before 2000 it was £0.10. Credit/debit cards can also be used, and many BT payphones have card readers for this service; however, calls made using a card are charged at a significantly higher rate than calls made using cash.
BT Phonecards purchased from participating retailers were introduced in 1981, and could be used in most BT payphones to pay for calls. Cards originally used an optical system to register credit, changed to a chip-based system in the 1990s, and were withdrawn in 2003.
In the past, a BT Chargecard could be used from any UK landline to charge any telephone calls made to the cardholder's BT home telephone account, with no charge to the landline the card was being used from. These were most commonly used in payphones, and some BT payphones had dedicated readers for these cards. This service was discontinued in 2018. Other cards which are often used instead include supermarket international calling cards and many other telephone cards which can be bought from newsagents.