Pay phone
A coin-operated telephone (abbreviation of the Deutsche Bundespost: MünzFw) - also known as a coin-operated telephone or Münzer for short -, known as the cashier station in Switzerland , is a telephone that was and is installed in post and telegraph offices, in publicly accessible busy places or on buildings. After inserting coins , it enables a telephone connection to be established. The development became necessary because with the advent of telephony at the beginning of the 20th century, not everyone could afford their own telephone.
General
Two different types of coin are used in Germany:
- The public payphone is accessible to the public, placed in streets and squares and in a higher density at traffic hubs such as train stations and airports, see telephone booth (Germany) .
- The private payphone ( subscriber payphone in Telekom jargon ). There are private payphones, for example, in restaurants, businesses, hotels and club houses. The devices can be rented or purchased. The device is connected to a telephone line for which the operator of the device has to pay connection and connection fees. The coin revenue is due to the operator, see club telephone .
Emergency numbers (110, 112) and freeCall numbers (0800) can be reached with all public payphones without inserting a coin.
Calls using call-by-call area codes from other providers are generally not possible.
Payphones are mainly installed in telephone booths (TelH) or telephone hoods (TelHb). In addition, coin operated telephones can be mounted on so-called media carrier systems (MTS) or on a wall with the help of a wall mounting frame or an adapter plate.
Some devices are available as a table model or a combined table / wall model. The historical subscriber pay phone 55b (Tln Mü 55b) is an example of a table model. It was mainly found in restaurants, hotels and similar establishments, partly on the counter or in telephone booths and was also known colloquially as the penny grave. Public payphones are only available as wall-mounted devices.
The development went from the mechanical, through the electromechanical, partially electronic to today's electronic pay phone.
The 28 payphone was used for a period of more than 35 years (approximately 1928-1965). It could be used for both self-dialed local calls and hand-switched long-distance calls. 1 DM, 50 Pf, 10 and 5 Pf coins could be inserted into four different slots. For a local call that cost 20 Pfennig regardless of the time, the subscriber's number could be dialed in the same local network after inserting two 10 Pf coins. When making a long-distance call, the telephone exchange was called first. The person making the connection recorded the connection request, asked how long the call would at least last and stated the cost of the call (e.g. 95 Pf for a 3-minute call over a distance of 60 km).
The caller was asked in which denominations and in which order he would insert the coins. At the end of the respective coin channel, the coins met chime bars. The mediating person could thus hear which coins were inserted and how many. In the meantime, she had established the connection with connecting cords (depending on the distance, other people may have been involved). The caller was asked to press the pay button, after which the coins were collected. The connection was then switched through. Towards the end of the conversation, the caller was asked whether he wanted to continue the conversation. If necessary, he was asked to insert more coins.
With the introduction of the self- dial telephony service and the long-distance coin-operated telephone (MünzFw) between approx. 1956 to 1965 in the Federal Republic of Germany, the coin-operated telephone 28 was replaced.
The long-distance coin-operated telephone (MünzFw) also allowed long-distance calls in the self-dialing service and was able to continuously collect coins depending on the price of the long-distance connection and the duration of the call. With the Münzer models MünzFw 56, 63 and 57 of the Deutsche Bundespost, the speaking guest could see through a viewing window how the row of inserted coins was getting shorter and shorter, and was thus able to add more coins in good time. These devices had a very complex, electromechanical internal structure.
Payphone types
Deutsche Post payphones
The GDR's Deutsche Post initially developed the M60 district coin-operated telephone for local calls and hand-switched long-distance calls. The device was basically just a further development of the Reichspost model M28 and accepted coins of 20 Pf and 50 Pf. Like the pre-war machines, this machine had a dial button to pay the fee when requested by the operator. From the 1970s, the self-dialing long-distance telephone number 69 was in use in the GDR , initially with a rotary dial, and later in a smaller edition from the 1980s even with buttons. Coins of 20 Pf, 50 Pf and 1 Mark were accepted. The available credit was displayed under the respective coin slots with red lights. The device did not have a movable fork, but rather a permanent magnet in the handset's earpiece , which, when placed on the housing, operated a corresponding switch. After the fall of the Wall , many of the devices were converted to DM and only replaced by more modern Bundespost models in the mid-1990s.
Payphone 23
The payphone 23, introduced at the Deutsche Bundespost Telekom in 1992 , is an electronic, software-controlled payphone for analogue main lines with HKZ with a 16 kHz charge pulse . Telekom dismantled the last devices in the middle of this year, and operations and support have ceased. It was developed by Landis & Gyr as BTE 6480 in Switzerland and later distributed by IPM. It is equipped with a coin validator , coin storage trolley and an integrated setting / checking program. It has remote maintenance (the background system is called BlueS and is, a special development of REMAS III by Landis & Gyr, later IPM), which uses an integrated modem to detect errors ( e.g. defects in assemblies, missing headphones), operating states (e.g. full coin cassette ) or break-ins (for example the cassette attachment door is open, missing coin cassette) independently reports to a background system to which all public coin and card telephones of Deutsche Telekom AG are connected. Software downloads and the complete configuration of the device are possible. Operation without a background system also, however, then with some restrictions.
The payphone 23 consists of two basic units, the device part with all the assemblies (BG) required for operation and the cassette extension with the coin box attached below the payphone. Assemblies are:
- Telephone circuit
- Coin processing
- Computer control
- Power supply
- Payphone 23 in detail
- Coin validator : Checks the inserted coins for diameter, thickness and alloy
- Coin storage: Intermediate storage of the coins found to be in order by the coin validator during the call; the value of the coins in them is registered and saved
- Main board: The main board is practically the brain of the coin operated, on it is the control computer, the modem and the telephone circuit.
- Motherboard: The modules coin validator, coin storage and the main module are attached to the motherboard, all other modules and the incoming telephone line are also connected to this; the main assembly is located on the rear wall of the housing
- Credit display / display: Two-line LC display with 16 characters per line, backlit, with a sensor for monitoring the functionality of the cell lighting
- Power pack : Double insulation , 230 V, to supply the backlight of the display (the payphone 23 can also be operated without a power pack, it is fed from the telephone line, provided the line is not too long and or the supply voltage is too weak.)
- Keypad (TWB): Keypad made of die-cast zinc with 16 keys, weatherproof, resistant to vandalism. With the older keypads, the keys only have numbers. Newer ones have letters in addition to numbers. This alphanumeric keypad is required for devices with SMS functionality (only possible in connection with the BlueS background system, the device itself cannot send SMS messages on its own).
- Monitored coin return tray: It reports a blocked or jammed return flap to the computer
- Armored Cord Telephone Receiver: The telephone receiver is either black or magenta
- Handset suspension with hook switch : The hook switch has a non- contact reed contact
Instead of the cassette extension , the version that is more strongly protected against break- ins , the coin safe , is also installed.
Cassette attachments and coin safes are available in different designs, from older models made of welded steel, with drill-proof lock, which are less secure, to models with lock protection (cover or screw connections that are located in front of the actual lock and protect it from manipulation, clogging and the like ), reinforced models made of special drill-resistant steel up to heavy cast safes that are largely burglar-proof. Sensors are built into them that are supposed to detect a break in, which prompted the device to send a break-in message from a SEG 93 (signal receiving device 93) to the local police, later the SEG 93 was no longer available and the message was only sent to the BlueS background system.
Information is also stored in the cash boxes. Here are two examples: in which device they were / are currently installed and how many coins they contain. After each emptying, in which the memory is read out and deleted, they are re-sealed.
In addition to making calls , the payphone 23 can also be used to send SMS messages at many locations .
Telestation
Allpayment devices such as the Telestation from Deutsche Telekom AG offer alternatives to pure coin or card devices . This device is a combination device that can accept coins, phone cards (chip cards, and with some but not all devices also cash cards ) and credit cards. This model is also currently being rebuilt in different versions (long version, short version, wall version) or used as a replacement for telephone booths. The Telestation is a device for ISDN connections. The BlueFace control, which is also used in the BluePhone compact and in the BlueInterset, was developed by Landis & Gyr, FMN and Siemens. FMN controls should no longer be in use.
The cassette attachments and safes from the payphone 23 and the cash cassettes are compatible and are also used in the devices.
BluePhone compact
The BluePhone compact is a further development of the Telestation. The BluePhone is a telephone for ISDN connections. In principle, it is a greatly shortened telestation, without a remote number (illuminated Telekom logo), which is intended for installation in telephone booths. The BluePhone compact is the successor to the payphone 23, as the production of payphone 23 complete devices has been discontinued by the manufacturer. The manufacturer of the BluePhone devices is the company IPM-PayPhone Systems GmbH, formerly Landis & Gyr.
With the Telestations and the BluePhone compact, only the housings (stand and wall versions) are different, the actual device part is identical in all models and can be interchanged with one another. This part of the device is called the BluePhone. The BluePhone is a device door to which all parts required for making calls are attached. Outside: handset, handset suspension, keyboard, display, coin slot and card reader slot as well as the return flap of the coin return cup for unused coins. Inside: card reader, coin validator, coin storage, BlueFace (a box that enables actual telephoning and communication with the background system) with various interfaces and connection sockets to which all components, the handset and the telephone line leading to the NTBA are connected.
The cassette attachments and safes from the payphone 23 as well as the cash cassettes are compatible and are also used in the devices.
Future of the pay phone
The trend that began in the 1990s to replace payphones with card phones or to completely dismantle them has reversed again from the mid-2000s. More and more coin telephones are being used or set up again (such as the Allpayment device BluePhone compact), as sales of card devices are declining.
Web links
- Pictures from German payphones
- PayPhoneBox International list with pictures and phone numbers.
- Pay phone of the Museum Foundation Post and Telecommunication
- Picture collection of payphones
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cashier stations. In: Telephonica Foundation. Accessed December 12, 2018 (German).
- ^ District payphone M60
- ↑ SWFV coin-operated telephone Mü 69