THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016). |
---|
>>Endangered Pay Phones Pay phones seem headed down the same path as the dinosaur. Maybe pay telephones won't become extinct, but they sure are getting harder to find on the streets of America. It's estimated the number of pay telephones in the United States stands at around 2 million, down from 2½ million several years ago. And industry watchers believe that number is likely to fall further as more people get mobile phones. Cellular phone use has soared in recent years: Between 80 and 90 million Americans currently have wireless phone service. The shift from pay phones to wireless phones has meant a big decline in annual revenues at Bell Atlantic's pay phone division -- one of the biggest pay phone operators in the country. Hear more about a vanishing icon of American life as NPR's Jack Speer reports for Morning Edition. << |
|