Time to hang up?

There has been a dramatic fall-off in the use of public payphones. But there is still a place for them on our streets, writes Brian O'Connell

Inside the GPO on Cork's Oliver Plunkett Street, large queues form at both the general post and parcels counter. Outside, a violin and keyboard busking duo belt out Only You, while charity hustlers work the street. Queues also form outside Butler's Cafe for the first caffeine hit of the day, and, at the newsagent directly across the street, people are lining up for the morning's papers. A group of construction workers zone in on a deli counter, as giggling school kids colonise the middle of the road.

In the midst of this early morning mayhem, a pair of public payphones stand alone and unwanted, practically invisible to the passing crowds. At one time the area outside the GPO boasted upwards of 12 public payphones, with shoppers, suits and students often queuing round the block to use them. Not any more.

Eircom estimates that, from a total of 8,000 public payphones nationwide in 1997, only about 5,900 remain.

A decade ago more than 40 million calls were made from payphones in Ireland - last year this figure had shrunk to 14 million.

So why aren't we using public payphones any more? Has mobile phone use become so ubiquitous and low-cost? Or are phone boxes too prone to vandalism and doubling up as late night lavatories to attract our custom?

I wait outside Cork's GPO and ask payphone users directly. It's 10.31am and nearly half an hour passes before the first customer arrives. Looking bothered and annoyed, Michael McGrath hangs up the receiver in frustration. "I just put €1 in and the call didn't connect. The call stopped and the phone swallowed my coin." He admits he's not a regular payphone user, but he says, "When you have to, you have to", and he walks off.

Five minutes later he returns. "I went to use another payphone around the corner, and that wasn't working either, but at least I got my money back this time."

But why use public payphones at all? "I find that mobile phones can be very expensive, especially when you are dialing different networks, your credit goes very quickly. At least with the payphones you can see exactly how much it costs."

By 11.25am I've had enough. Over the course of an hour, Michael was the only payphone user on this busy street. The lamp-posts saw more action. So, is the game up for Ireland's public payphones?

Paul Bradley, Eircom's head of communications, doesn't think so.

He agrees that payphone use has decreased dramatically, yet says that the majority of payphones in Ireland are profitable. He admits that, of the payphones provided by Eircom, roughly 4,000 are there because of the company's public service obligations and not because of market demand.

Despite these figures, Seamus Boland, chief executive of Irish Rural Link, warns of the dangers of eliminating payphones from our streets, especially in isolated rural communities.

"WE KNOW THAT payphones are disappearing, partly because of mobile phone technology and the fact that fewer people are using them," says Boland. "Yet, in some rural areas they are still being used, not profitably perhaps, but there is still a need for them. I don't agree with them disappearing totally, at least not for another generation. Some people simply don't use mobiles, or indeed in certain areas coverage is not comprehensive, so payphones are still needed."

While the number of public payphones still needed is debatable, what is universally accepted is that payphone use is in serious decline.

"Certainly in terms of call volumes, there is no question that there is a decline. Numbers are down and down substantially," says Paul Bradley, "As usage has dropped, we have been trying to provide payphones to meet that usage. Although we have certain obligations, ComReg also recognise that this is a business and there is no point having phones present which just act as magnets for vandalism or defacement. The idea is to continue to provide a service that is sensible and relevant."

While Bradley wouldn't be drawn on the exact cost of maintaining public payphones, he said a team of 50 workers is needed nationwide to service, clean and maintain the phones each year.

I tell him of my observations earlier in Cork, where a user found two payphones out of order within a few hundred yards of each other.

"Vandalism is an ongoing issue," he says, "yet most of the time if a payphone is faulty or not accepting coins, the system will notify the company. If it's a case that someone decided to vandalise the kiosk, our team will discover it or sometimes members of the public will call and notify us and from there we will address it quite quickly."

Aside from phone companies becoming more flexible in their approach to public kiosks, the payphones have also become more adaptable in recent years. They are no longer seen solely as facilities for making and receiving calls, but as broader communication cubes, with wi-fi and broadband leading the evolution.

"We have tried to develop payphones with what users want," says Bradley. "For example, we now have 200 payphones that are wi-fi enabled for wireless internet connection up to a radius of 50m. From an anecdotal point of view, photojournalists love them.

"They can go onto our website, find the nearest connection, drive up there and send their pictures back to the office. So we are trying to provide convenience and relevance. Back in the late 1990s, we launched integrated payphones and internet kiosks in airports and shopping centres. Now we provide freestanding internet kiosks, as well as wall-mounted and sit-down ones. In order to maintain payphone relevance, we are constantly exploring and looking to see how to provide better services."

BUOYED BY THE positive PR, I decided to give payphones another chance to redeem themselves and headed for the Boole basement at University College Cork.

During my college days, the area was payphone paradise, with a phone fixed to every spare inch of the wall and long queues a constant. It's a different sight today. Now, only three kiosks remain.

I arrive at 2.23pm, and by 3.06pm I'm still awaiting the first user. In the meantime, I ask security guard Patrick Barry if this is normal payphone activity. "The phones don't get a whole lot of use really, certainly it's been declining down through the years.

"For instance, Eircom used to come weekly and empty them, whereas now they come once a month, so they know themselves that they're being used less and less." The majority of people who do still use payphones are foreign students with call-cards, says Barry, while he can't recall the last time he saw a queue for the phones.

Just as I am about to leave, at 3.36pm, John Paul O'Riordan searches his pockets for change beside a kiosk. He says he rarely has reason to use the phones. So what's different today?

"Well, the only reason I'm using it is because I forgot my mobile phone. Right now I'm calling my girlfriend to tell her to meet me in college and bring it in with her."