On Sun, 11 Mar 2007 20:16:13 +0000, you wrote: >"Bob Wood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>You asked about Canada - charge band 4 - the first 40p would last for 6 >>seconds with each subsequent 10p giving 3 seconds. >> >>Expensive, innit? > >Which is why pay phones are vanishing.
They are trapped in a vicious circle with payphones. You can't install and maintain a collection of like that with the level of use they get now that many people have mobile phones. They aren't supposed to subsidise them (or not above a certain level anyway). If they put the prices up to cover the costs then even more, then even less people use them, so ... Which is fine except for the odd person without a mobile who needs a phone. I don't think there's much that can be done about it - I can't see public payphones (outside, say, touristy areas in big cities and a few other specialist) surviving more than another few years. -- On-line canal route planner: http://www.canalplan.org.uk (Waterways World site of the month, April 2001) My Reply-To address *is* valid, though likely to die soon
