Public phone life

This post is inspired by Hel who wrote this most interesting post about the history of the classic red English phone box and other models, or perhaps that is the UK.

So, let's have a look at public phones in Australia that lie in my memory.

This is the first oldest public phone I can remember. On the horizontal part, you can just see a half round circle and you sat your sixpence or five cents there, and when the phone was answered at the other end, you would push your coin to the left and it would roll and drop down into the phone.

This is not a public phone but some of the above had separate earpieces and fixed mouth pieces similar to what is in the candlestick phone below. I don't remember there being much in the way of vandalism as everyone used them at time, and wanted them to work. 

This model became quite standard in my younger years.  Five cents would be inserted into the slot at the top and when the call was answered, you pressed button A. Button B was to retrieve your coin if the call wasn't answered. As kids we often just pressed button B to see if anyone had left a coin in the phone but I can't remember if we ever found any. It was common knowledge that if you yelled into the ear piece, the person at the other end could faintly hear you, enough to say 'Pick me  up', if there was an arrangement in place. I don't remember if that worked either. Sometimes just calling without using a coin was sufficient. My grandmother called her home and the phone ringing alerted my grandfather to drive to pick her up from church.  It's a wonder you could get a dial tone without inserting a coin. 

So what housed these important machines? It was an English style classic red phone box, of various styles. This one has panes of glass but I remember some at least, having louvred windows, which I guess let in external noise. This was taken at the National Communications Museum in the suburb of Hawthorn. It's well worth a visit.

I assume the paint used inside was to stop people writing on the walls. I can imagine people scribbling a  phone number on a wall that they needed to remember. It could have also been for insulation the boxes from external noise too. They had a very dead sound inside and with the door shut, very little noise penetrating. 

Now, I wonder if there is a gap in my knowledge. These are the next public phones I can remember. They were virtually vandal proof, with the very inconveniently short metal cord.

                                               

With a closing door, these boxes weren't too bad.

But clearly vandalism was becoming a big problem, with this version minus the door and with a metal grill around the bottom of the box, rather than glass.

Indoors, you would see phones more like these.

What do we have now? These very modest affairs. The pink topped one indicates free WiFi, which was originally only for Telstra customers, of which I was then one. In days before apps, how did the system know you were a Telstra customer? 

At one point as usage fell by 2020s, all calls within Australia to fixed phones and mobiles became free from public phones, so no complicated machinery for coins or bank cards were needed, no risk of coin theft.

Many are now covered in advertising, electronic at times. 

I suppose these phone cards are from the nineties into the two thousands, and before you could use a bank card. Kosov loved the Australian dinosaur card. The two lower cards have punch holes in them, made by the phone as you used your stored value card. I've heard since that you could put tape over the holes and whatever detected the holes saw the card as unused. The two top cards were later when a circuit was printed on the card, so no more punch holes.

Of extra interest to note, the lower right has the name Telecom, which followed the earlier PMG, Post-Master General's, the title for our government postal and phone company. Without fuss or fanfare, Telecom became Telstra, as seen in the left hand card.  

Found phone

A call at 7.45 today from Yarra Trams to say they have Phyllis' phone. He's gone into town to collect it. That got him out of bed early. I've told him I am going to drill a hole in his phone and chain it to him. 

Tales of Phyllis

Kosov was at work, so it was just Phyllis who I took to the big green shed, Bunnings hardware store, for charity fund raiser sausage with onions on top (controversial. Should they be on top or the bottom?). Phyllis declined the sausage. He thought it would be like a hotdog. 

He decided it was his turn to choose a balcony annual, and I really wish I had gone to the posh plant nursery in Surrey Hills. Most of the plants on offer looked like they were the leftovers after everyone had bought the best. We bought a purple pansy, which should be ok. Purple and mauve are Phyllis' favourite colour. 

It was then on to Port Melbourne's Bay Street, for coffee and cake. Phyllis bought a small pizza, and I as gay man, naturally bought a slice of lemon meringue pie. We both had coffee and then Phyllis bought a cake too. 

Phyllis was looking his absolutely girliest, wearing wide flowery pants, his nails beautifully painted, with plenty of bling and a new wrap over his shoulders. 

The back story. At the bakery there are two baristas, both of which Ray and I used to like. One is East European, cute with an almost shaved head. I would guess Latvian or Lithuanian. That is an educated guess. The other I think white Australian, and in summer when he wore tight shorts, well the rear view of him was rather impressive. It helps that they are both really nice guys too.

Well, the last barista I mentioned complimented Phyllis on his outfit and look, and then young female staff joined in with compliments to Phyllis. Phyllis was over the moon with the compliments. I full know what people think when they us out together. Ah yes, younger foreign born with a rich sugar daddy. I need a tee shirt, He is just my tenant. But that would be a lie. While Phillip and Kosov are my tenants, boarders, lodgers, whatever, they have become important in my life, and that was not what I was expecting. I know they will move on one day, but... I don't want to think about it. 

Phyllis attended Uni today, which is rare, everything is mostly online, and then later passed the final part of his driver learner permit test after visiting he VicRoads office and he now has a driving learner's permit.

I will suggest he has a couple of professional driving lessons by an RACV approved driving instructor, and I need to check my car insurance to ensure that a learner can drive my car. 

I was having my afternoon rest in my bedroom and about 5.15 Phyllis and Kosov arrived home. I could hear rapid fire voluble Tamil being spoken loudly. Somethings up.

I ventured out from my room and there much ado, with Phyllis having lost his phone. He soon went out to check where he has been. Later he went out to buy a new cheap sim card, so he could lock down his bank account. He was stressed, Kosov was stressed, and naturally I am stressed for him. He borrowed Ray's phone, but soon gave up on that. The big problem with getting his phone back is that the battery was flat. I hope some kind soul will charge up his phone and call the number that is not locked on the phone. If your memory is good, he lost his phone last year, the day before he returned to India to see his family. He got it back just hours before he was due to depart. 

He came to the kitchen just before 7.00 to prepare my meal. I told him to forget it. I can do it myself. He seemed relieved. 

I gave him comforting hugs and assured him even if he doesn't get his phone back, it is not the end of the world. Believe me, I know similar after my Google account was killed.

Ah, the kiddies keep me so occupied. Yes, my insurance covers him. He said he first wants a couple of driving lessons from me. I said not. I found a nice looking RACV driving instructor of Indian heritage. After a couple of lessons, then I will get his learning driver up to the needed hours. For a few years I taught people to drive, albeit not cars.

Tonight I called Tradie Brother for his birthday. He left his phone on his car roof two weeks ago, and it has not been returned after I guess falling off. Oldest Niece is sorting out a new phone and logins for her dad.

Here are a few photos of food Phyllis has made or improved. 

Phone Museum

Lots of photos and I hope you enjoy the memories. 

A new museum opened in Hawthorn, a local area known as Glenferrie. There used to be one at the old Richmond Post Office.

It took me about half an hour of searching to find who owns this. It is still not clear to me who owns the site.

Charity Size:

Small

Who the charity helps:

• Adults - aged 65 and over
• Children - aged 6 to under 15
• Youth - 15 to under 25

Date established:

26 April 2018

Last reported:

20 December 2023

Next report due:

31 January 2025

Financial year end:

30/06

Summary of activities

We operate museums in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, which maintain heritage telecommunications of national significance. We provide programs and educational tours for schools as well as the general public in the area of telecommunications.

It is called the National Communication Museum and is appropriately located in an old telephone exchange (putting you through now caller).  

I certainly remember these public phones. Earlier phones had you rolling a coin into a slot. Press button A to load your coin to speak. Press button B to retrieve your coin if your call did not connect. I recall button B made a kind of buzz noise as it returned your non existent coin. Is below a typewriter with circular typing keys?

We had an Ericofon. You had to be careful when on a call and you put the phone down, as sitting it upright would cut the call. 

This phone was a bit of fun.

An inert phone exchange board.

A very active phone exchange board whereby you plug in cords and operate switches that made many different noises. 

Oh yes. I was more attractive in the 1990s and I remember sending naughty photos using one of these web cams. 

It doesn't seem so long ago.

This does. They keys were fairly light touch.

A proper Post Master General phone box.

They were soundproofed and the interior painting was I guess to deter graffiti. 

James, each person must weigh 79kg. 

The building was nice enough but across the road was the old Post and Telegraph Office. 

A very nice building. 

This was rather trippy to enter.

A Marconi cypher machine. 

A code breaker, I think.

I was there and it was wonderful to see the internet bloom, though so frustrating at times. Apparently one of these computers makes the internet phone lone connection sound, but the area was so busy, I couldn't find out which one. 

I remember this phone style but they were rare.

Ohh, some of these look very familiar.

I was once an avid fan of phone banking, and paying bills by phone was so simple.

An old candlestick phone so often seen in mid twentieth century American films.

The entry fee wasn't cheap, at something like $25 but an annual pass was a bargain and I rather wish I'd bought to revisit.

I filmed some short videos. The first is surveillance cameras, with Big Brother watching you.

The second is, would you believe, is a talking clock machine. "At the third stroke, it will be 5.02 am and ten seconds."

The third is a creepy robot lady I was a little scared of. She did not seem aware of people as obstacles, so people stepped out of the way. Had they not, maybe she would have diverted around them.

 

A civic duty and public service

As frequent public transport user, phone noise drives me mad. The evil eye does not work as the culprit is engrossed with what they are seeing and or hearing. I have theatrically moved seats. I've certainly thought about speaking up. I've thought about offering advice about the price of earbuds at a $2 shop. 

As for the dimwits who hold their phone like a plate in front of their face and use the speaker phone, they need to be removed from the gene pool. Thank you for the example, Alistair Dabbs. 

 

I don't remember any of this happening on English public transport but clearly it does now according to the newspaper article I've linked to above. The citizens of Japan and Malaysia get it right. If there is a train vestibule or an area between carriages, they will move there to talk on their phones, otherwise noise does not emerge from their phones. I qualify this broad statement with it is a few years since I have been in either country. 

I don't expect people to ignore an incoming call, but please, keep it brief and there is no need with modern phones to talk at maximum volume and no need to see the person you are speaking to, or use speaker phone. As for any other noise coming from your phone, just don't do it. 

Our regional trains have a quiet carriage. Photo from Southern Highland News. I was on a train last week in a quiet carriage with some young women sitting on the floor, blocking an exit doorway and being very loud. The conductor came and had a word and all was silent as the girls moved a bit out of the way. There were seats available but they wanted to stay in a group. 

Thoroughly Modern Millie

While I liked the convenience of just swiping my phone screen to make it operational, R convinced me it was not secure, which I already knew. Use a four digit PIN as I do, he suggested. Eventually I did and although I became used to entering the PIN to open the phone, I still found it a nuisance. 

Although fingerprint recognition was an option on my last phone, after buying my latest, I decided to give it a try. Nothing gained, and all that. It wasn't too difficult, the only problem I had was that in sunlight I would have to swipe the screen to find the finger print symbol on the screen to wake the phone up, but the more I used the phone, I came to know exactly where to put my finger on the screen. All good.

I've been observing people using their phones at public transport card readers and paying for goods in shops. At times it seemed to be more trouble than it was worth, with card readers not responding but when I saw someone my age pay using their phone to pay, that was it. I will not be left behind.

I already use Stocard on my phone for large company loyalty cards, thanks to a former blogger who lives on the mid New South Wales coast. That helped me remove cards from wallet. 

Again it was easier enough and an automated system contacted my bank and sent a six digit code to my phone to confirm my identity for both my debit card and separately my credit card and it was all done. I chose my debit card as the normal payment choice as I primarily use my debit card and so I have to open the app to choose my credit card. I only use my credit card when paying for internet purchases, holiday travel and accommodation. 

But I didn't actually know how to use the system. Does the app need to open? Does the phone need to be unlocked? A little online research told me the app doesn't need to be open but normally you have to open your phone. I also discovered the centre of my phone is where the RFID reader is located. I was set to go.

Do you want a disaster story? Sorry it isn't. It works and does so brilliantly. I guess those who have trouble paying with phones are using older models. Now a further discovery from yesterday is that when paying over $100 in a shop, I no longer need to enter to enter my PIN as I did when tapping my card. I asked staff why and she said it was just tech stuff and because I must use fingerprint or face recognition on my phone.

I love tech but believe me, I will always have my physical low tech cards with me. I don't trust this higher tech stuff and our phone internet systems, as was recently proved with many hours of downtime by our second largest telco Optus, owned by the SingTel which is owned by the government of Singapore. As seems to be often happening, the female CEO of Optus Australia became the sacrificial lamb and subsequently resigned. 

Disconnecting from the old ways

A few months ago, sick of nuisance calls, I unplugged the phone line from our phone. I left the power on to keep the stored numbers and the phone charged.

Mother was the only person who called our landline as she didn't like talking to people on mobile phones. This was sister's fault as she calls people handsfree from her car and it can be very hard to hear her properly. What Mother didn't like was Sister's phone calls. She happily spoke to everyone else on their mobile phones. I told ABI Brother that our landline was disconnected but he forgot of course. 

That was a few months ago. About four weeks ago I decided to unplug it from the power supply and take it away. For two days R did not notice it was missing. I mentioned it and he said I did that ages ago. No hon, I've removed the phone altogether. R was not sure about the wisdom of this. I assured him I could plug it back in to the power, which I did the next day. Two days off the charger, the stored phone numbers were lost and the batteries must have been just worn out as they would not recharge.

R put the modem up where the phone used to sit but still expressed concern about not having a mobile phone alternative. We could buy new rechargeable batteries but ah, under my bed there is landline plug in phone from the 90s. I would have had to move my bed to retrieve it so here is a photo from the internet.

So a  little more to add to the e-waste pile for disposal at the council tip transfer and recycling station. 

Of course if the power is off,  with 'fibre to building' the fixed landline phone won't work anyway.

New phone

It is over four years since I have bought a new phone. The older me is coming to the fore now and not replacing devices every two years. 

I've always bought the model before the latest as it will be much cheaper. I was doing the same this time but it was looking expensive. I found a local site selling demo phones carefully checked and made to act as brand new. I told R. But I also mentioned the best phone camera made that comes with the Samsung S23 Ultra. To buy one would be over half as much again as what I was looking at. R must have thought about it overnight and next morning told me a was a stupid penny pinching old man. You can afford to buy the best and forget about a used phone. 

But I cried, as people with no help from government in their retirement do, I am a self funded retiree on a a fixed income..."So aside from me who deserves your inheritance, who are you going to leave all you money to? For goodness sake, spend some money on yourself."

He is right. Aside from having a newish desktop and tablet, I don't spend much on myself personally. Most of my clothes are old, but not shabby. I haven't bought bedding for years. Aside from daily living, I spend so little directly on myself. 

R convinced me and over the next couple of days I researched the new phone and of course prices. The price varied very little wherever I looked but one retailer including an internet connected watch, worth around $350. R thought he might like that. I haven't worn a watch since the 1990s.

To the shop we went. The sales attendant learnt about the new phone deal on the fly. Firstly there was $100 gift voucher, then he discovered that deal had ended.  He came up with another, a $400 discount as long as you join our internet provider, the once government owned Telstra. There are no exit fees and no contract so you can cancel the plan tomorrow and after the first month's payment of $49 you will save $351. The watch and this deal convinced me.  

Once home, the complete wireless transfer worked well, though it took some time. But then the hard work started. I had been logged out of many apps and I had to know my login in and password for each for them to work. That really took time. Most were listed on our password list but a few more personal apps weren't. That task has not been completed but close to the end. My new phone is much like my old phone, but with a larger screen, making it easier reading. I have yet to try the best phone camera in the world and I hope to see good results. It seems to have five lenses at the back. It is the front lens I worry about, when I accidently turn it on and see my myself on the screen. 

Curious phone screen

Here are a couple of screen shots of my from my phone when I was vertically scrolling through The Age newspaper. As you scroll through now, there is a tiny pause when passing through ads. It is not smooth scrolling.

My phone is not old, I have fast WIFI and a good 4G strength so I was surprised to see this pop up. Good work Chrome. 

But why? Here is the answer. Advertising is so dominating and using so much of your phone's resources to the extent that Chrome says it is not going to bother showing such ads. A shot in the foot by those who place such advertising. They have gone too far.