"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 10:14:51 on Sun, 3 Apr 2016,
bob remarked:

One thing that I did not understand was why they removed the payphones
on the platforms.

Too much maintenance compared to the takings, I expect. Their demise was
probably hastened by the project to give Rabbit coverage to all stations
(in much the same way 20yrs later Virgin wifi).

That Rabbit didn't last more than a couple of years is an unintended
outcome.

If it's a choice between using a payphone in the station and waiting till
you reach a landline at your destination, I can see the payphone being
used. If it's a case of just waiting until you get above ground and using
your mobile, I expect people would rather wait.

I got a Rabbit phone so that I could ring up people when I was in London
and let them know if I was going to be late for a meeting, and I would
invariably be travelling around by tube. Previously I'd had an analogue
mobile, but when it broke down I hadn't been using it enough to justify
replacing it.

When Rabbit was withdrawn, one of the compensation packages on offer was a
free Orange phone, although it was still on a contract at £30/month. The
networks weren't subsidising the phones from the monthly contract back
then.

Oh yes they were.

It was much more necessary then because the entry price for buying a phone
was beyond the "utility" value that a domestic customer would pay

tim