SMS Arrives at the Nearest Payphone
For those people who leave the office in a tail wind and more
than likely forget to grab their text-based device, British Telecom
has come to their rescue. The U.K. company has installed payphones
in high-street locations that will enable any one to send an e-mail
or SMS message to mobile phones or, if they prefer, make a simple
telephone call.
After the success of a trial in Brighton last summer, the British
telecom decided to install the textphones nationwide. At present
there are 2,700 textphones installed around the country: 598 in
London, 48 in Manchester, and 32 in Birmingham.
In addition, the telecom is planning to expand the service to
include offering textphone functionality for hearing impaired
customers.
BT believes that its new text-based payphones will compliment its
existing line of payphones from the traditional red boxes to the
multi-phone, with e-mail, Internet and telephony services.
Features of the text and e-mail phone
- E-mail messages are limited to 2,000 characters, a typical 350
word message
- Text message is limited to 160 characters
- Telephony service is standard
- Back lit display screen is a ¼ VGA monochrome LCD unit able
to handle text and basic graphics
- Qwerty keyboard has metal raised keys, which is sealed against
the ingress of fluids
With more and more people relying on e-mail and text messaging to
communicate, BT’s text-based payphones makes it easy and
convenient for Brits to do so, especially when they forget their
mobile phone.
For more information: http://www.payphones.bt.com/
Mobileinfo Comments and Advisory: Converting payphone
booths into textphones for e-mail and text messaging is an
attractive idea because you are not relying on the called party or
his/her answering machine to be there at the other end. Moreover,
the called party can pick up the message from anywhere. It can be
synchronous or asynchronous communication. We see more uses of
textphone kiosks. Potentially, you can use them for downloading
electronic tours around the city. It may not replace the smart phone
but it is has a place in scheme of toos for communication while on
the go.. .
