Pay Phones Don't Take Incoming Calls?
David / Amicus
phone. The detectives question the 911 operator. The phone call was
cut off and they ask the operator if she called back and she replied
that pay phones don't take incoming calls.
I thought that odd. I seem to remember scenes like a kidnapper giving
the person bringing the ranson the round-around going from one pay phone
to another directing them where to bring the money.
David Johnston
wrote:
Yeah. That's the kind of use of pay phones for crime that led to
companies changing how pay phones work. (Well, really drug dealers
using phone booths as their offices.)
theget
But it seems odd that they wouldn't allow 911 to call pay phones. The
law of unintended consequences? I guess criminals will just have to
resort to disposable cell phones.
Theget
Jeff Gersten
>I'm watching an SVU ep (Closure, II) and a
>911 call was made from a pay phone. The
>detectives question the 911 operator. The
>phone call was cut off and they ask the
>operator if she called back and she replied
>that pay phones don't take incoming calls.
Pay phones have not taken incoming calls for a long time now.
>I thought that odd. I seem to remember
>scenes like a kidnapper giving the person
>bringing the ranson the round-around going
>from one pay phone to another directing them
>where to bring the money.
Just because it happens on a tv show or movie doesn't mean it conforms
to reality.
David / Amicus
Thanks! I did not know that. I've not used a pay phone in many years.
I still remember when a call cost a dime.
David Johnston
Basically. How often does 911 really need to call a pay phone?
I guess criminals will just have to
>resort to disposable cell phones.
Yup. The reason for pay phones not receiving calls may be obsolete.
theget
I'm curious, do you happen to know if your baby bell gets charged some
sort of rent for the real estate the pay phones use? If they do, I
wonder if that would be more expensive in NYC?
Theget
Porter Smith
news:4b0c3592$0$22550$607e...@cv.net:
>
> Don't get me started on that one when the rest of the nation's pay
> phones went to 20 cents, only NYC went to 25 cents a nice big windfall
> for OUR baby bell.
>
Pay phones normally operate at a loss. The equipment has to be engineered
and manufactured to put up with the normal wear and tear as well as
vandalism. Then they have to send a guy out on a regular basis to pick up
the coins.
theget
Or other costs?
> in any case I'm not the only one to say
> they had a windfall.
I daresay you aren't. I was just curious to know if you knew about
the costs of operating a pay phone and if you had any evidence that it
was a "windfall", whatever that means.
Theget
Vince
First off you're beating this to death, anyway the experts said this was
a windfall I'm sure they did the math at the time, a windfall means you
made a lot of something i.e. money.
If you win first price in a 10,000,000.00 or more lottery thats a windfall.
theget
That's me! The horse may have already laid down in frustration and
kicked the bucket, but I just don't care! I'll get that nag up again
and beat it to death again. Rinse. Repeat.
> anyway the experts
Ah. The experts! And they are always right. Or else it's an argument
by appeal to authority or something.
Neigh I say, neigh.
> said this was
> a windfall I'm sure they did the math at the time,
Ok, so then it must've been.
> a windfall means you
> made a lot of something i.e. money.
Whoa! The experts give a somewhat different definition.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/windfall And no, I'm not saying
that because they don't mention money, but fruit. But it's nice to
know what you meant by it.
> If you win first price in a 10,000,000.00 or more lottery thats a windfall.
Now don't go getting a burr under your saddle. I suppose that would
depend on the odds, wouldn't it? If they are low enough and I make
enough bets, it might be expected. I mean by the dictionary
definition.
Oh drat. I see that sorry old plug has fallen again. If it doesn't
want to run into People Eating Tasty Animals or at least get itself
stuck like glue, it'll get itself up again, so I can whip it back
down.
If as you say, the experts said it was a windfall, I find it rather
surprising that the owners of the public pay phones could charge so
much they'd get a windfall, as I expect they are regulated by some
public authority, perhaps a utility commission, who would have bridled
at the high prices. So surely there was _another_ set of experts who
argued that it wasn't a windfall.
Which set of experts was right?
Theget