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__________________                         ___________________
__________________>THE FUTURE OF PAYPHONES<______11.04.01_____
_________________/ By the Visual Assassin  \__________________

Due to the fact that almost everyone has a cell phone nowadays,
payphone  use has dropped  considerably.   Bell recently raised
their payphone rates to  50 cents, stating that the increase in
cell  phone use has  caused payphone use to  considerable drop,
therefore  they raise their prices.  What better way to attract
new customers by raising the  price?  It seems Bell is  digging
themselves into a whole.   Recently  I was  trying to  complete
a long-distance call with coins, and  after I paid, a recording
played  saying "Effective shortly, this  payphone will not acc-
ept coins  for long distance calls" and  that I should consider
paying  with  a calling  card or  credit card.  Obviously, Bell
could make  much more money  from coin-paid  calls than calling
card calls.  Is the loss from redboxing enough to equal out the
legitimate calls with coins?
Now, more  than ever, telephone  companys have  to find ways to 
attract a customer.  There is a new type of  payphone out  now, 
called  the Elcotel  Grapevine.  This payphone  has  buttons to 
order  Ty, Disney,  Coca-Cola, and McDonalds  products  off the 
internet  (The advertisements will vary, as  the payphone owner 
sells ad  space).  The  Grapevine is  actually a  public  comm-
unications  terminal (As  Elcotel calls it).  The grapevine has 
both coin  and calling card options, as well  as controlled web 
access.  I recently e-mailed an elcotel representative for more 
information, in the meantime, you can download the .pdf file at
http://www.angelfire.com/tx4/phonelosers/grapevine.pdf
But I digress, it seems to me that payphone  companies are des-
perate to make some money. The  Grapevine & other new payphones
are desperately  trying to appeal to customers with sleek looks
and very limited web access.  Will it work? Only time will tell 

Note:  This  is a relatively  short article meant to bring some 
attention to the failing payphone market. Soon, payphones could 
could be hard to find.  
You can see the Elcotel Grapevine at
http://www.nettwerked.com/grapevine.jpg