BT phone boxes still on major roads Why?

[Jim606]

I spotted this lonely phone box on the A120 (just after the A133 merging slip running towards Colchester . Does anyone actually use such boxes anymore?

BT phone box on A120 near Colchester

[Berk]

Despite the frequent claims about “radiation” everywhere, mobile signals can be surprisingly weak - especially on the road.

You’d be surprised how just 4 walls can reduce a signal strength.

[DB617]

I don't think I've seen one being used in my life, and my living memory starts in about 2000. My favourite BT box, at the layby between Barry and Rhoose, has long since been removed and I think the telecom lines have been re-used for some ANPR equipment which appeared in exactly the same spot.

Follow up question, if you don't mind, did BT ever make much income from phone boxes? Was it ever even enough to cover install and maintain costs for the equipment?

[Berk]

I think not, they must’ve been running at a loss/cross-subsidised for many years. But until mobile reception became ubiquitous, they fulfilled a need.

Many removals started around 2006, a lot went cash-only first (meaning you could still dial 0800, use phone/charge/credit cards, or reverse the charges). But it didn’t seem to catch on.

You’ll probably notice a lot of old K6 kiosks which have been listed have been adopted by the parish/town council. But many more later KX100’s (like the one above) have had the phone equipment removed, but not the kiosk.

Fortunately many of the K8 (late 60s design) have been removed. They were ugly looking things.

Some kiosks are still kept active near suicide hotspots, or near locations which are very remote, or have safety implications.

[Jim606]

Despite the frequent claims about “radiation” everywhere, mobile signals can be surprisingly weak - especially on the road. You’d be surprised how just 4 walls can reduce a signal strength.

Yes, this could be a problem in rural areas, but this particular box on the A120 is situated near a unofficial truck stop (on the unbuilt Elmstead Market bypass slip road stubs). There must be good mobile coverage here, as they're always vehicles parked up. If the A120 box is used, it must only be for a very few calls per annum? Perhaps, it is on the list to be removed? Please see this article from 2017 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40934210

BT is to scrap half of the UK's remaining 40,000 telephone boxes and focus on the ones in locations where people are more likely to use them.

• In 1992 at their peak before mobile phones became popular, there were 92,000 phone boxes in the UK.

• Telephone boxes still handle 33,000 calls a day, but one third of kiosks are never used to make a call.

• BT said many phone boxes had become a burden and were expensive to repair and maintain & cost £6m to maintain

• "BT is committed to providing a public payphone service, but with usage declining by over 90% in the last decade, we continue to review and remove payphones which are no longer used," a BT spokesperson told the BBC.

• BT intends to scrap the 20,000 telephone boxes over the next five years.

• Out of the 40,000 phone booths still working, 7,000 are the traditional red phone boxes designed in 1935 to commemorate the silver jubilee of King George V.

• More than half of phone boxes lose money and the number of calls is declining by more than 20% per year.

• The cost of maintaining telephone boxes annually is about £6m. BT is responsible for repairing damage to the kiosks, including replacing glass panes and broken receivers, as well as removing graffiti, rubbish and human waste.

• It is estimated that 93% of all people in the UK now own a mobile phone, and 98% of the UK has 3G or 4G mobile internet coverage.

• However, phone booths are still used by children, the elderly, people who can't afford mobile phones, and in emergencies when smartphone batteries go flat.

[KeithW]

I don't think I've seen one being used in my life, and my living memory starts in about 2000. My favourite BT box, at the layby between Barry and Rhoose, has long since been removed and I think the telecom lines have been re-used for some ANPR equipment which appeared in exactly the same spot.

Follow up question, if you don't mind, did BT ever make much income from phone boxes? Was it ever even enough to cover install and maintain costs for the equipment?

Up until the late 1990's when mobile phones became affordable and the network reached much of the country they filled a real need and were well used. It was not unusual to find people queued up to use them. If you ever watch film of a press conference in the 50's and 60's you may see journalists dashing from the room to get onto a public pay phone to get their story in first. Our family was not unusual in not having a phone in the house until the 1970's

When I was travelling in the construction industry during the 70's and 80's call boxes were my link to home. Even the pubs would often have a pay phone installed and there were ranks of them in airports, large railway and bus stations. Call rates from call boxes were higher than from landline phones so they were generally profitable. Once installed they were not high maintenance. Up to a decade ago they were still profitable, the last time I used one would have been in 2008 in a village in mid Wales where was no mobile phone signal.

The year 2000 was the tipping point for mobile phone ownership. Supermarket deals on Pay as you Go phones helped push mobile ownership from 46% of the population to 76%.

[Jim606]

Perhaps, the lonely old phone boxes are actually a cunning disguise for the roll-out of the 5G network? https://www.gov.uk/government/collectio ... -programme

[B9127]

Where I live I don't a signal until I go and stand in the middle of the road outside the house - I can see the masts but no signal - we always had a house phone from the 30's as far as I am aware -the number I remember was Monifieth 424 and my mum used to say the exchange listened in ! You had to book a call at xmas to relatives in the USA. Got first mobile circa 1992 courtesy of the company and have had the same number ever since - never seen anyone in a phone recently but believe they are popular with drugs community. Some extreme rural areas would still require phone boxes for emergency use only

[Fenlander]

A lot of old phone boxes only survive in their role as advertising hoardings. In some cases new ones are being installed sidestepping the planning & advertising rules as phoneboxes have historical special exemptions.

[trickstat]

I suspect these phone boxes might occasionally get used by people with Pay as You Go mobiles who have discovered they don't have enough credit for a call.

As for making money, I suspect the payphones (they tended not to have actual boxes) at railway stations took plenty of money. Although perhaps not so much if too many people used our family's old arrangement where ringing home and hanging up after 3 rings meant that we were ready to be picked up.

[Fenlander]

Although perhaps not so much if too many people used our family's old arrangement where ringing home and hanging up after 3 rings meant that we were ready to be picked up.

We used that for work, it was designed in to our ansaphone. It answered after 4 rings if there was no messages and 2 if there was so you'd phone in to check it and if it rang 3 times you could hang up and save the cost of the call, which considering we'd check it every half hour if on call was worth doing, especially so if you were out on the road already and phoning in from a payphone.

[KeithW]

Perhaps, the lonely old phone boxes are actually a cunning disguise for the roll-out of the 5G network? https://www.gov.uk/government/collectio ... -programme

As I recall the industry wants the rules relaxed to let them install masts that are taller than the current limit of 25 m so old phone boxes are not a realistic option. You can see examples of 5g Masts at
https://pedroc.co.uk/content/ee-5g-masts

see also
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2 ... icult.html

[Helvellyn]

Not that many left so I usually operate on the assumption that I'm not going to make a phone call at all when I'm out (don't see much point in getting an expensive box of electronics and lugging it around in the very unlikely case I'll need to make a call) but I do use them occasionally. Probably not for a few years though. But the specific type on this thread, i.e. looks like on a road with nothing much else nearby, I've never used one of those.

[c2R]

I do know of one that was used for drug dealing, as I know someone who had the task of physically monitoring it on behalf of the local constabulary...

[Berk]

Not that many left so I usually operate on the assumption that I'm not going to make a phone call at all when I'm out (don't see much point in getting an expensive box of electronics and lugging it around in the very unlikely case I'll need to make a call) but I do use them occasionally. Probably not for a few years though. But the specific type on this thread, i.e. looks like on a road with nothing much else nearby, I've never used one of those.

Is your internet steam-powered?.

[Helvellyn]

Not that many left so I usually operate on the assumption that I'm not going to make a phone call at all when I'm out (don't see much point in getting an expensive box of electronics and lugging it around in the very unlikely case I'll need to make a call) but I do use them occasionally. Probably not for a few years though. But the specific type on this thread, i.e. looks like on a road with nothing much else nearby, I've never used one of those.

Is your internet steam-powered?.

The implication being because I use some developments I should therefore be OK with them all, a simple black and white reject everything or embrace everything position? This happens with tiresome regularity from people who love the latest gadgets. It's not a clever retort. FWIW I like gadgetry for essentially hobby or entertainment purposes, rather less so when it gets into day to day life but again, not one extreme or the other - for example not wanting a car full of computerised gimmicks doesn't mean I should be happy walking everywhere, or driving a Model T Ford. With most things there's a point where I find "this has got it about right" and going beyond there gets first silly, then obnoxious.

Anyway, don't know. Depends how the electricity it needs is generated

[A303Chris]

Yes, this could be a problem in rural areas, but this particular box on the A120 is situated near a unofficial truck stop (on the unbuilt Elmstead Market bypass slip road stubs).

That's what I love about this group, you learn something new everyday. Never realised that was a dead bridge to this comments, and can't believe I've never seen that before.

[Jim606]

Yes, this could be a problem in rural areas, but this particular box on the A120 is situated near a unofficial truck stop (on the unbuilt Elmstead Market bypass slip road stubs).

That's what I love about this group, you learn something new everyday. Never realised that was a dead bridge to this comments, and can't believe I've never seen that before.

There has been lots of talk of reusing the old bridge which dates form over 30years ago. However, as part of a recent transport funding package it appeared again in the press https://www.halsteadgazette.co.uk/news/ ... olchester/ Although, surprising they seem to want to construct another junction nearby instead of using what's already there. The phone box is situated on the westbound carriageway in this area

[rhyds]

Perhaps, the lonely old phone boxes are actually a cunning disguise for the roll-out of the 5G network? https://www.gov.uk/government/collectio ... -programme

As I recall the industry wants the rules relaxed to let them install masts that are taller than the current limit of 25 m so old phone boxes are not a realistic option. You can see examples of 5g Masts at
https://pedroc.co.uk/content/ee-5g-masts

see also
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2 ... icult.html

This. You need decent elevation for mobile serivces, a 3m phone box isn't going to give you that

[c2R]

Yes, this could be a problem in rural areas, but this particular box on the A120 is situated near a unofficial truck stop (on the unbuilt Elmstead Market bypass slip road stubs).

That's what I love about this group, you learn something new everyday. Never realised that was a dead bridge to this comments, and can't believe I've never seen that before.

Ooo, we should have a wiki page for that one; I can't see that we do - I've even seen a map with the proposed line of the road on it somewhere. Will have to have a more detailed look when I have time...