Good Morning Gentlemen.

Let me first say how much I have been enjoying this site for several years. Long time lurker but never posted.

Is their a way to contact Verizon to remove a payphone from the lobby of one of our community centers? They disconnected the line years ago but never came and removed the phone itself.

I'd do it myself but do not have the key to open the unit and access the mounting plate. (it's mounted on a brick wall)

Perhaps Ed in VA might know since I am sure he's had plenty of fun dealing with Verizon Customer Service. I am in MD and we get practically no support from them anymore even being a local government.

Apparently now, they are also getting out of providing 911 Call Center Service so The group that handles that department are looking for alternatives.

Oh how I miss the old days.

Thanks,

Brian

Start sending them a bill for storage in a climate controlled ,secure,environment.

It's not worth it for them to send out a tech to remove it.
A few solid swings of a sledgehammer would probably do the trick.

Just start prying from one corner with an extra large screwdriver or a pry bar and the whole thing will come off. You will have some patching to do. The phone is worth something.

Rcaman

You could drill the lock but that would mess up a collectible phone. I agree with using a pry bar especially since it's mounted to a brick wall. Can't be more than expansion anchors holding it and with a little persuasion they should come loose.

-Hal

Pretty bad when a company like Verizon, leaves what looks like a working payphone with NO dial tone on it, installed Anywhere. Not everyone has a cell phone. In an emergency, not good. They should be ashamed.

No, it's a business decision. Nobody uses payphones anymore.

Occasionally I'll see a payphone being used. Probably not enough to cover costs. Still, if you break, lose or accidently discharge your mobile phone, a payphone can be a welcome sight.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'll head to the Depot and get a decent pry bar.

As I plan to keep it, How to I get keys to utilize it or is that going to be a drill and replace operation?

I find a couple or three pry bars work better

Send me a picture of the lock, I might be able to help. Locks are a major hobby of mine!

Those locks are unique and you will not be able to just find keys for them.

Bell Telephone/Verizon used a specific lock maker. I have their name and number somewhere. I will find it and I will PM you the name and phone number. I doubt, seriously, if they will help you as all those pay phone locks are serialized and Verizon and that company keep very good records.

The upside of drilling out the existing locks is that you can pick up a pair of exact same replacement locks and keys for that payphone.

Rcaman

I have two suggestions:

1. Contact the ATCA and find out the name of the person who now furnishes payphone locks and keys to collectors, now that the guru, Paul Vaverchak, is no longer with us.

2. Take a hammer drill, set it to "hammer only" insert a steel pin or dull drill bit in the 0.5" size and place it against the locks. The vibration will loosen the nuts on the studs that hold the locks in the phone. The nuts will fall into the phone and the locks can be pushed into the phone.

Doesn't anyone else here think, when you pick up a phone, you should get dialtone?

They are lucky no one tried to use it for an emergency.

To prevent any usage, the payphone could be wrapped in something...such as a plastic bag...and a piece of paper with the words "Out of Order" taped to it.

Old timers might not. You used to not get dial tone until you put money in. I believe they were called "pre-pay" lines.

Sam

Yes, "coin first" on an open tip line. Worked to deter fraud. That was the standard coin line, at least, around here for Bell Telephone/Verizon. When COCOT came into being, the payphones were supplied with just a 1MB loop start line.

Rcaman

I hate when people sidetrack threads with unrelated chatter, but this thread reminded me of something that I thought any of you might appreciate:

It is rare around here to encounter a payphone, and if you do, they aren't telco-owned, they are COCOTs (bandit payphones as I refer to them). Most don't work or are a complete ripoff anyway.

Recently, a friend came over who is about 30 years my junior. He hadn't paid his bill for his Sprint cell phone and was subsequently dead in the water. He asked if he could use my land line phone to call them in order to make a payment. I turned my desk phone around on the table toward him. This is where it gets funny.

First, he asked me how to use it. When he lifted the handset, he heard dial tone and didn't have a clue what that 'buzzing' meant (his words). I explained that he just needs to dial the digits as he would do on his iPhone.

He did this and then asked me if there was anything else he should do, as in "where is the send button?". Yes, he really did ask me where the send button was on my SLT. I laughed inside my head on this one because I couldn't blame his ignorance upon my experience. Oh, it's fun getting old.

That NYC is a dead giveaway In our little corner of the world, we had POSTPAY. You know, the kind where you could SHOUT into the receiver and your folks would be able to know to pick you up at some such place.

That's pathetic. When I was a kid I never saw a crank phone but I would be smart enough to know how to use it if I encountered one. You should have done him a favor and taken his damn iPhone, thrown it on the floor and stomped on it. IT'S ROTTING HIS BRAIN!

The cell phone is the worst invention EVER.

-Hal

Oh, Hal....you're losing your grip. I know you think the worst invention EVER is the IT 'professional."

Rcaman

When was the last time you saw an IT "professional" without a Bluetooth thingy Krazy glued into his ear?

-Hal

Social media, today, is a disease that needs to be addressed in medical books.

Along with the addiction to cell phones. Don't get me wrong, I actually think cell phones are very useful. But like many things, if they are abused they become damaging. Is there any reason a seven year old needs an iPhone that mommy and daddy are paying upwards of $50/mo for? Is there any reason kids from an early age into adulthood are glued to their phones while walking, in restaurants, on a checkout line making the cashier wait, at the dinner table? Is it any wonder cell phone use while driving laws are ignored? Now think about DWI laws and the people who can't seem to stay away from alcohol.

We have a problem here.

Now back on topic. Did you ever get that phone off the wall?

-Hal

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I haven't been able to get back up there yet but will set it up for next week and come back with some results.

Been really busy rolling out Crapco VoIP to replace our Verizon Centrex lines in several buildings. The outages are the fun part. "We need analog back ups?" Ok. How many and who's going to 1)pay for them and 2)routinely check then to see if they are working? Crickets..

Verizon probably doesn't own the phone any more, they sold most of them off to PTS Services, I believe.

Many were promptly disconnected and it is not worth their time or money to come get them quickly, though they will.