General Questions
I'm researching a book/movie. How much did a call from a payphone cost in 19xx?
It depends on the location of the country. There are some areas that still have 10 cent local calls today (due to public utility commission rules). If you contact us with the year and location we'll do our best to help you figure out an appropriate cost.
How much does it cost to call another country from a payphone?
Sorry, but we don't have that information.
I'm researching a book/movie. Would a payphone have had a rotary dial or Touch Tone keypad in 19xx?
Touch Tone calling was introduced in late 1963, but wasn't widely available until the late 1960's or early 1970's. So, a phone call made prior to 1963 would have been either manually placed through an operator or dialed on a rotary dial phone. Calls made from 1964 to the late 1970's could have been rotary or Touch Tone and from 1980 or so on were likely Touch Tone. However, I know of several rotary payphones still in use today!
Telephone Booths
Where can I buy a telephone booth?
As companies continue to exit the payphone business, telephone booths are becoming easier to find. The easiest sources are eBay and Craigslist. The Phonebooth does not have telephone booths for sale.
Will you buy my telephone booth?
We'd at least like a chance to make an offer. Send us an email with a picture of the booth and most importantly, the booth's location.
How much is a telephone booth worth?
A booth's worth is determined primarily by three factors: it's age, condition and location. As telephone booths are becoming more scarce, some people are putting one in their game room or family room. These indoor locations are usually more suited for a wood booth, so prices for wood booths are higher than metal ones. Because it is difficult and expensive to ship a phonebooth, it's location in relationship to the person interested in it has a huge impact on it's value.
Do you have a wiring diagram for a particular telephone booth?
We have wiring diagrams for most Western Electric booths. Until these are posted online, feel free to send us a request and we'll try to locate the information you need.
The Phonebooth Website
What is the difference between phonebooth.US and phonebooth.org?
Phonebooth.US was launched in 2002 as a place to share historical telephone related information. In 2006 the author obtained the phonebooth.org domain and decided to re-launch the site now referred to as The Phonebooth. In late 2008 the remainder of the Phonebooth.US should be moved to The Phonebooth and the Phonebooth.US domain will be retired (it will redirect visitors to The Phonebooth).
Why isn't "www." at the beginning of the URL for The Phonebooth?
The Phonebooth can be accessed at either http://www.phonebooth.org or http://phonebooth.org. To save a little typing, and since the www is pretty much assumed, we've standardized on http://phonebooth.org.
Why are there ads on The Phonebooth? Are you trying to sell stuff?
We not not currently offer any items for sale. The ads are provided by Google AdSense and help offset the cost of hosting this site.
Will you link to my site?
If you have a quality site that is likely to be of interest to our visitors, we'd be happy to include a link to your site on our links page. Just let us know your website's address and, if you'd like, a few sentences describing your site.