Engineer Revives Pay Phones

Humanity is enjoying a bit of a devolution back to analog, and a perfect example of this comes from Vermont, where refurbished pay phones are connecting a community with poor cell signal.

When was the last time you used a pay phone? For many working Americans the answer may be never. But for one rural Vermonter, he saw them as a potential public service project.

“I realized, wow, there’s no cell service for 10 miles in either direction,” Patrick Schlott, an airplane engineer told AP’s Amanda Swinhart. “The community could really benefit from something like this.”

Taking an entrepreneurial idea and turning it into a charitable one, Schlott bought an old pay phone, which sell for between $100 and $500, and installed it outside the North Turnbridge General Store using a device that converts an internet connection to an analog telecom line the phones can use.

He then removed the coin-operation mechanism, and suddenly, a free phone service was available for all, though it did take some convincing on the part of the general store owners.

“Everyone’s pretty surprised, and they’re like, ‘Is that a real pay phone? Does that really work?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, but it doesn’t cost any money now,’” said store owner Mike Gross. “We’ve had people use it that broke down. It’s a great thing because service is so spotty in Vermont.”

The phone proved pretty useful to the community, and suddenly he received requests for more: from the Latham Library in Thetford and inside an informational booth in Randolph off Interstate 89, Swinhart reports.

Schlott’s charitable participation doesn’t end there, since it costs $2 to $3 per phone for the phone line and another $5 for calls. Then, Schlott has to act as the operator, fielding or transferring calls and helping users when needed if they but dial 0. The operator calls arrive on his personal cell phone, which uses an app to keep his number private.

370 calls were made from the Lantham phone last month, many of them students without cell phones who needed a pickup from a parent.

Schlott would like to expand the project if he can figure out financing possibilities.