On 2017-03-25 18:52, Michael A. Terrell wrote:
wrote:
On Wed, 22 Mar 2017 12:10:15 -0700, mike wrote:
I later spoke with someone from the fire dept, and was told that they
have been trying to get a cell tower in that area for years and all they
get is a runaround. He said the population is too small to make it
profitable. I proceeded to complain about why they removed the pay phone
in that town, which was still there about 7 years ago, when they knew
that there is no cell service there. He said they fought that with the
local phone company too, and was told that pay phones were no longer
maintained. Personally, none of that makes any sense.... Why was there
better service back in the days before 2010? And why is maintaining a
pay phone so difficult? It could have prevented a major fire, and could
even save a life. STUPID STUPID....
Yes, you are. Pay phones started dying, when cell phones became
popular. They started to disappear, as they no longer took in enough
money to pay for the equipment, the line and the labor to service them.
They finally reached the point where the equipment was worn out, and too
expense to maintain. Payphone companies started to disappear, in the mid
'90s. I hauled off trailer loads of aluminum phone booths from one
company when they downsized to a smaller building. A year later, they
were bankrupt. That was in 1995.
Depends on which country you are. In mine, there was a mandate by which
each village must have at least one payphone, specially on small
villages that do not have a phone per house. That is, if the company can
not set a phone at each house that wants one, they must at least install
one payphone (or more, depending on the population).
I don't know if that mandate is still valid.
As for mobile, I think there is another mandate that the dominant
provider must provide service on every village. But I'm unsure.
--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.