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Mar
27
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I was walking through an hotel lobby in New York last week and came across a wall full of fixed-line pay-phones - each partitioned to provide sound insulation and privacy; some were even fully enclosed; door and all. How quaint. A remnant from a time gone by, I thought. I can't even remember the last time I used a pay phone.
Fast forward a week - Different hotel, different city, I'm in one of those pay-phone booths, on a conference call (on my cell phone). To my left and right are other fellow conference-goers doing the same - most with their laptops open; some even using Skype. No-one has used the pay-phones yet. We're all huddled in these pods because it is the only place in the hotel you can actually hear yourself speak.
So, I thought - rip the pay-phones out (OK, maybe leave a couple) so the 'desk' can be made a little bigger and you have a drop in office. Locate these at airports, train stations, hotels, shopping malls, conference centers, libraries - maybe even charge $5/hour to maintain them.
