Willow Glen Resident

News

Why should San Jose add pay phones, if most people use cell phones?

By Eli Segall

Pay phones may appear to have become a neglected amenity since the introduction of the cell phone, but that isn't preventing San Jose from upgrading the coin-operated devices at public libraries, community centers and offices buildings citywide.

The San Jose City Council on March 13 updated the city's contract with Danville-based Pelican Communications to allow the purchase of pay phone equipment and services related to hearing-impaired customers.

There will always be a demand for public phones, said Jason Scherer, vice president of Pelican.

"Pay phones still work [if there's a power failure], in earthquakes and in emergencies. Rural areas without a cell phone signal need pay phones," Scherer said. "For a lower-income person, it's a lifeline to have a pay phone."

The average phone user's habits, however, say something different:

Nationwide last year, there were more than 100 times as many cell phone calls as there were pay phone calls, according to wireless and pay phone industry statistics.

In 1985, there were 200,000 cell phone subscribers; in 1995, there were 28 million; and in 2005, there were 195 million, according to CTIA, a wireless trade association. Today, 220 million Americans, or 72 percent of the country, own a cell phone. More than 8 percent of U.S. households use cell phones only, according to CTIA figures.

Scherer said the number of Pelican phones at San Francisco International Airport has dropped from 1,200 to its current level of 370. Pay phones offer a small profit margin, if any, Scherer said. In San Jose, phones at Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport earn Pelican the highest revenues; libraries, meanwhile, are a losing proposition.

At Leland High School, the pay phone sits unnoticed most days.

"I've used a pay phone once; it was not a pleasant experience," said Nick Pittman, a Leland senior,who makes calls from his cell phone several times a day. "You never know who's used it or why it's so sticky."

There used to be two pay phones on the campus, but one was removed in 2000 for lack of use

"Pac Bell wanted both out, but we said there had to be at least one," Leland principal Bob Setterlund said.

Scherer said there's not a lot of money left in the pay phone business, but if you have enough phones, you can make some money. Pelican, which also operates vending machines and video games, is the exclusive pay phone vendor for public city property.

The city has not yet chosen the sites that will be upgraded with the pay phone equipment.