It's getting harder and harder to find payphones. ANYwhere. When you do, they are vandalized or smell like a nasty truckstop bathroom (often the case when transients are nearby). Phone companies realize that they are a losing proposition except in the most trafficked of areas.

They are usually the last things to get repaired on the worklist, the first things to break or get broken by punks, and don't return nearly enough on the investment if they aren't busy. Funny enough, even those call collect commercials have gone away because of the advent of ubiquitous cellular and VOIP technology and drop in both cost and barriers to entry (such as the pay-per-use phones and widespread broadband). I mean, if Carrot Top can't make a buck anymore on those commercials, how do you think the local Telco thinks about the spraypainted piece of crap payphone with the missing handset?

As a retired communications engineer with over thirty years experience both here and abroad, I must say that not all communications lines are the same even within the same company or area. Part of this is the technology used to provide service. For instance you may be served via land line all the way back to the central switch, by carrier, by fiber optic, or any combination of systems. You may even be on a shared line with other people, i.e. the old party line. Fiber systems cannot transmit power. Glass fiber is an insulator. The small power systems designed for fiber optic systems are supplied by the commercial power company on the subscriber's end. Those remote sites have backup battery systems and contingency dispatched remote generators. But if a large area is without power for very long or if flooded, fiber systems will fail as well as the power to energize remote LED lights.

Most telephone companies pull the heat coils at the Central Switch when a subscriber disconnects their phone service, so no power or dial tone reaches them. If they want service reconnected, they must find another way to reach the phone company. There are not enough lines yet or will there ever be to dedicate to every residence. That is how communication engineers make their money.

Wow, I've never seen them kill the circuit. Tell the computer to mostly ignore it, sure, never completely take it out of service. Does Vermont actually have enough of some kind of infrastructre asset? I'm shocked.

FWIW: I went to the "horses mouth" on the subject and called the ATT/SBC repair dept. Talked to a woman there that seemed knowledgeable on the subject. She said that if one asks to discontinue their phone service, the line is physically disconnected (no dial-tone, no minimal level of service). Of course this practice probably varies among providers and locales. Best to check with your own provider.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I think you were just asking if the technology worked...not if you could get free power from any phone outlet. Yes, technology should work, rotary dial phones get their power from the outlet...so it should work. In a storm, this would be an excellent light source.

If I remember correctly, each phone has a "ringer equivalent". The network will power up to some "ringer equivalent", after that, you will have issues. I believe it was a mostly amperage thing, but since they're all related, you might want to look into that.

I do know from experience if you put more than whatever this magical maximum "ringer" value, the phones will not ring, or very low. Make sure your device is compatible...

Exactly. It's really no different than when I ask "Where do you keep the key to the liquor cabinet?" It just means that I'm intensely curious about such things as the places people find to keep their keys. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Sheesh, people are just sooo defensive about some things...