I've been doing a bit of reading into the various designs of telephone boxes. I can't remember exactly what triggered it, but I'm sure you know how "internet tangents" go! I'm mindful of a recent BBC news article reporting that BT are consulting on the next batch to be culled, and I found myself going out to check to see that we still had one here in the village. It's definitely still there, but it's one of those on the the hit list.
I can't remember the last time I used a telephone box. I obtained my first mobile phone in the very late nineties, but it was still quite expensive to run. Cross-network calls were still prohibitively expensive, and it was generally cheaper to call a landline from a call-box than from the mobile. I also had a BT Chargecard (home calls only) which I used to contact my folks. I do recall phoning from a public call-box and noting that the minimum charge was 40p - perhaps this was the tipping point for me.
My earliest recollections of phone boxes are from when my mum used to take me out to phone my grandparents. We didn't have a landline in the house then. The coin denominations accepted were 2p and 5p. The nearest box was a K6, but occasionally there would be a queue to use it; the closest alternative was a K8 - a design that I preferred due to its more "modern" look.
In my early student years (1992-3), we had rows of phone boxes at our halls complex, and often I'd walk a considerable distance to avoid queuing to make a call.
I'd be interested to hear other people's stories and views. I totally understand why BT wants to get rid of public telephone boxes, especially now that most of us now have mobiles. I was about to say that it'll be a sad day when our village loses it's phone box, but I had to double-check that it hadn't already gone!
I can't remember the last time I used a telephone box. I obtained my first mobile phone in the very late nineties, but it was still quite expensive to run. Cross-network calls were still prohibitively expensive, and it was generally cheaper to call a landline from a call-box than from the mobile. I also had a BT Chargecard (home calls only) which I used to contact my folks. I do recall phoning from a public call-box and noting that the minimum charge was 40p - perhaps this was the tipping point for me.
My earliest recollections of phone boxes are from when my mum used to take me out to phone my grandparents. We didn't have a landline in the house then. The coin denominations accepted were 2p and 5p. The nearest box was a K6, but occasionally there would be a queue to use it; the closest alternative was a K8 - a design that I preferred due to its more "modern" look.
In my early student years (1992-3), we had rows of phone boxes at our halls complex, and often I'd walk a considerable distance to avoid queuing to make a call.
I'd be interested to hear other people's stories and views. I totally understand why BT wants to get rid of public telephone boxes, especially now that most of us now have mobiles. I was about to say that it'll be a sad day when our village loses it's phone box, but I had to double-check that it hadn't already gone!