One Man's Battle To Save the Last Phone Box in His Village (theguardian.com) 42
Derek Harris, born the same year as the iconic K6 red phone box he's fighting to save, has launched what he calls a "David and Goliath" campaign against BT in the Norfolk village of Sharrington. The phone box is among 10 in North Norfolk marked for removal, having logged fewer than 10 calls last year. Harris argues the box remains vital in an area with poor mobile coverage, high elderly population, and proximity to an accident-prone stretch of the A148.
He recounts how it once saved a driver trapped in a snowstorm when mobile networks failed. BT's regulator, Ofcom, protects phone boxes that meet specific criteria, including emergency usage and location in signal-poor areas. Of the UK's original 100,000 phone boxes, only 14,000 remain functional, with 3,000 being the classic red design. For Harris, the fight transcends practicality. "It would be alive, wouldn't it? I feel an empathy for a living thing," he told The Guardian. "The nearer you get to the end, the more you want to see things live."
He recounts how it once saved a driver trapped in a snowstorm when mobile networks failed. BT's regulator, Ofcom, protects phone boxes that meet specific criteria, including emergency usage and location in signal-poor areas. Of the UK's original 100,000 phone boxes, only 14,000 remain functional, with 3,000 being the classic red design. For Harris, the fight transcends practicality. "It would be alive, wouldn't it? I feel an empathy for a living thing," he told The Guardian. "The nearer you get to the end, the more you want to see things live."
so Slashdot (Score:3)
will have to change their UK story icon
Re: (Score:2)
Um.... why not get a cell phone?
You don't even need to read the article, the summary says that mobile coverage is poor in the area.
Re: (Score:2)
Um.... why not get a cell phone?
Because the cell phone was invented by someone in New York and has nothing to do with the UK.
Re: (Score:2)
"The first commercial cellular network was launched in Japan by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) in 1979, initially in the metropolitan area of Tokyo. The first phone that used this network was called TZ-801 built by Panasonic.[3] [...] After Japan, the earliest commercial cellular networks launched in 1981 in Sweden, Norway and Saudi Arabia, followed by Denmark, Finland and Spain in 1982, the U.S. in 1983" (UK 1986) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Nah... this is Slashdot we're talking about. They'll keep the icon for at least another 15 years, when even the old timers are struggling to remember the cultural relevancy of that picture.
Re: (Score:3)
They eventually got rid of the Billgatus of Borg icon once he started pushing mandatory gene therapy. Or is that just when I noticed?
Speaking of which I hear the #EpsteinClientList is a dud.
`Your culture will adapt to service us.`
The Icon is Perfect (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
There are still a few red telephone boxes around. After the phone was removed they have been repurposed as, among other things, miniature public libraries [minitravellers.co.uk]. In one of life's little coincidences such a library is facing closure because people are still using the phone [bbc.co.uk]. There's also a group who wants to use defunct phone boxes to house Automatic Emergency Defibrillators [communityh...eat.org.uk].
As to the article itself it must be one of the most Guardian of Guardian articles in recent memory, and I'm saying that as a Guardian reader.
I can't even remember (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
While you are technically correct, my toothbrush would only contain MY fecal matter (and, perhaps, my family's).
Also, "you're".
Re: (Score:2)
So eating your family's poop is cool then?
Re: (Score:2)
You've been doing it ever since your mum pooped herself giving birth to you*. It's how your gut bacteria got in there in the first place. That gut bacteria has been in your family for unimaginable generations, for even longer than mammals have been mammals.
But yeah, all the same, close the lid before flushing. And wash your hands.
Re: (Score:2)
* https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.go... [nih.gov]
Re: (Score:3)
Maybe what you miss are all those telephone sanitizers that were sent away.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That explains why there was never a payphone mediated pandemic, then.
It's a shame... (Score:2)
I completely get why they're going away but I still find it to be a shame given just how iconic these booths are. I still remember my first sighting of one of these on my first trip to the UK. It put a big smile on my face seeing something so distinctly British.
Re: (Score:2)
Hahaha, never been in one!
Place (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
There's still a use for them. ...
It's good to have a last-resort backup
Despite the summary, this isn't an issue about if there is still a use for them or if they are a good idea.
The issue is neither Derek or BT is willing to keep paying for the phone.
Derek argues it is only worth keeping if someone else pays for it, but isn't worth keeping enough for him to set one up on his dime.
You can still to this very day purchase a UK red phone box.
You can also purchase payphones, of all shapes and stiles, with a plethora of connectivity options.
The one and only potential "loss" is the e
Re: (Score:3)
Telecommunications companies have an obligation to provide service, that's why they are granted such privileges as easements for their infrastructure. Of course the the telco should pay, it's their job.
Re: (Score:2)
Agreed. I know of one active pay phone near where I live (at least I'm pretty sure it's still active). Just like with my earthquake kit (I live in California) I'll probably never need it but it's just prudent to know about it in case something horrible happens.
I was only suggesting that I understand why most are being phased out as there certainly isn't a need to have as many active as there was in the 20th century.
The box is alive? (Score:2)
Cannot remove? (Score:2)
A phone box cannot be removed if it is the last in an area (more than 400 metres from another phone box), and if one or more of the following conditions apply: if it’s in an area without coverage from all four mobile network providers, or if at least 52 calls have been made from it in the past year, or if it is somewhere with a large number of accidents or suicides
So all he needs to do is use it once a week and they won't remove it.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Cannot remove? (Score:2)
The phone box is among 10 in North Norfolk marked for removal, having logged fewer than 10 calls last year.
Fewer than 10 times in 2024 did anyone find a reason to use this pay phone - there is no historical reason to keep this pay phone, his desire to keep the phone booth in service is irrational (meaning there's no rational reason) - according to the guidelines there's no reason for it to remain.
Re: (Score:2)
The phone box is among 10 in North Norfolk marked for removal, having logged fewer than 10 calls last year.
Fewer than 10 times in 2024 did anyone find a reason to use this pay phone - there is no historical reason to keep this pay phone, his desire to keep the phone booth in service is irrational (meaning there's no rational reason) - according to the guidelines there's no reason for it to remain.
Fewer than 10 people in my area needed a fire truck last year - should we get rid of the firefighters too?
Hotels? (Score:2)
How is it that hotels don't get their lines cut off when their guests (who must occasionally) make terrible phone calls to people.
Any normal person would get slammed for abuse with a VoIP line.
My thought was this guy could put in his own booth with a cheap voip line but then the abuse potential seemed like a stumbling block.
But hotels don't have this problem so there must be some variable treatment.
Australian payphones (Score:4, Informative)
Telstra in Australia has done good things with their payphones.
1. They are now free to use.
2. They have free wifi
3. They have usb ports you can get a charge from.
There is certainly not as many as there used to be, but they stopped pulling them out when they realised they can sell advertising space on them.
Re: (Score:1)
They have removed a lot of them though.
Not all have Wi-Fi.
Re: (Score:3)
Telstra in Australia has done good things with their payphones.
1. They are now free to use.
2. They have free wifi
3. They have usb ports you can get a charge from.
There is certainly not as many as there used to be, but they stopped pulling them out when they realised they can sell advertising space on them.
Sometimes government regulations work. Telstra receives over $250M per year from the Australian government to maintain a minimum standard, and to their credit they have spent some of the cash on the services you describe. Sin they shutdown 3G they can't provide cellular service to my suburban house, but I agree that the wifi-enabled phone boxes are useful to the community.
Telstra phone box's (Score:2)
Telstra get paid by the gov to maintain payphones under the USO
"Telstra has a Universal Service Obligation (USO) to ensure standard telephone services (STS) and payphones are reasonably accessible to all people in Australia on an equitable basis, wherever they work or live."
secondly they can put a cell site to broadcast the Telstra LTE signal
think for a moment how difficult it is to get real estate in the middle of towns or villages (they dont use them all like this but they do it where it makes sense)
BT co