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AT&T's Internet Pay Phone
temuchin writes: "Looks like AT&T officially announced their version of the Internet Payphone - the PP2000i. Slashdot ran a story about BT introducing a version of their own back in the summer of '99 (as reported by the BBC), but this seems to be a bit more ambitious to me, as many of them are already installed and in use. You can find more stats on the phones themselves here. I guess we'll see how it goes."
..like bandwidth, etc. Since it is connected to the Internet through a ethernet port I guess it's ok. I've noticed it has a Infrared port. I wonder what protocol it's used: IrCOMM, IrLAN, IrNET. Well, perhaps it's just easier to unplug the phone from the ethernet port and plug your notebook directly. :)
I can't understand why this product isn't tied into their Worldnet service. What even bothers me more is the fact that their screenshot has a little AOL.com button down on the bottom buttonbar. What are the head-honchos thinking?
Think about it. Sell your Worldnet service for $9.95 month or whatever the going rate is for generic dialup Internet service and give a special membership card with it. If you swipe this card in any AT&T Pay Phone 2000-i (aren't they a year late?) and you've immediately got access to Worldnet service, probably for a reduced rate or even for free. You've got your pay phones everywhere, so it's like free advertising. You have the opportunity to expand your userbase immensely, and maybe further take on the corporate megamonster AOL.
I think AT&T's missing a golden opportunity to turn a public service into a cash cow.
Fancy public phones with display, card reader, keyboard & such are common fare in US airports, big hotels, convention facilities, etc. Often you'll see a bank of a dozen or so standard public phones with one or two fancy ones at the end, invariably one extra-low for folks in mobile chairs.
The fancy phones seem more of a decorating thing then a regularly used amenity. Indeed aside from using their card-reader to charge calls (which could be done by keypad as well so not a real-big win there) I can't recall ever having used their extra features nor seen anyone else ever use them. Perhaps they'll be more popular with the web-browser since kiosks for this are also quite common in the same environments, including browser-kiosks from AT&T.
However back to vandalism no, these phones don't sem to suffer unduly. Of course they're usually in fairly secure places where vandals would be quickly noticed & apprehended. Like I said: Airports, hotels, convention centers - not out on some dark stretch of rural highway or even a suburban bus-stop. Furthermore they're fairly rugged already, I can't imagine any casual attempts to damage them would succeed (perhaps chewing gum in the data-port.)
Just to keep on informing-the-folks theme many Canadian phones already have built in card-readers and 20-character/2-line displays; here's a link to Bell Canada's standard payphone.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
Indeed the only thing I see new/different about the "2000i is the LCD instead of CRT & opening up it's browsing capability. While that's nice I don't see it being particularly different from the already ubiquitious web-browser kiosks already out there, including the ones from AT&T.
Frankly the most interesting thing about this might be it's IR port. While the "Infra-Red Port" is listed in phone diagram it's not in the specs. If the phone is able to look like a standard device to cellphones/laptops/palmtops then it might be very interesting indeed.
As to the folks whining about potential durabilty issues & such - have you really never seen one of these, never walked by the phone-bank at an airport, convention center, hotel, etc. where there's usually 1 or 2 of this phone's kin at the end of the bank? Take a look the phone's spec-page where it notes it's previous 2000-sans-i incarnation. These aren't new phones & AT&T knows a bit about building rugged hardware - trust me these will hold up to most general abuse & aren't stuck out by the side of the road anyway.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
Hundreds of the Payphone 2000 model, with a CRT and what was supposed to be text and videotext access to data services, have been in airports and such for years now. As far as I know, AT+T never got around to activating any of the data services involving the screen. It ended up just being an expensive way of presenting a menu for choosing payment method.
Thete's already stiff competition for web terminals in airports, especially from those startups with BSD-based kiosks, for what is surely a short-lived market. With wireless-capable PDAs, wireless modems, 802.11b access points and web phones already out there, and 3G phones a year or so away, the business travelers who would pay $15 or so an hour for access to email have less need for these every month.
Unless they can get serious ad revenue from video interstitials--and that would be tough to foist on business travelers--the price per minute needs to remain high to justify paying for the airport real estate.
I'm surprised these were designed for such early obsolescence. Usually a payphone is meant to last a good decade. Since I think it's fair to say most travelers who would pay $15/hour for airport net access will have their own portable means of access in 2-3 years, why didn't AT+T rig these for the kinds of things that will still be out of most people's reach by then, like video conferencing and enabling high-speed large file transfers? I guess the IrDA port could be programmed for the latter, but it's still a narrow market regardless.
Are they betting that concerns about terrorism will lead airports to jam personal wireless devices and force people onto these?
Forget the Internet phones and the rental office space. If you have a laptop with you, head for the nearest "pay-fax." Have a look underneath the table it sets on and you'll see the fax is plugged into a normal RJ-11 jack. Plug in your laptop, dial into a convenient 800# (I use AT&T Worldnet while on the road) and you're set.
:-)
Having done this at several US airports, I know it works. (anwhere else in the world just plug the damn thing into your GSM phone [I use Nokia 6150] and forget payphones.)
Of course the above hints are for email. If you just have to synch your a.b.p.e.slashgeeks, you might need the bandwidth these services offer.
This device will really appeal to the AOL crowd - nothing to think about except how to claim it on the expense report.
I myself would not use anything like this. I'm not thrilled about leaving pages I've visited lying around in the cache on some AT&T administered computers harddisk. In an airport no less - nice way for someone to read my e-mail if they can hack the thing. With this cool little gadget in my laptop and proper airport facilities, I can use my VPN connection to have secure access. This article explains even more of what I'd be willing to pay for - bandwidth, nothing more.
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
Sounds like it doubles as a pay toilet.
(Why do i get the feeling i'm going to regret not clicking the "Anonymous" checkbox?)
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Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again
Holy Moses...do you see how many ads are in that screen shot?
Ok, fine, call me a socialist, please government, fund public internet access. Give out "internet access stamps" or something.
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
They need an ethernet jack on it, and a plug for a laptop PS. Just think, pay 25 cents a minute at the airport to check your email, etc... Cheaper than using the Cell or ricochet, and faster too.
-Adam
Honk if you've never seen an Uzi fired out a car window.
This sig 80% recycled bits, 20% post user.
I think I saw one of these at JFK. It was crashed, and asking "OK?" and registered something like 5 hours of use at the top of the screen.
I doubt that it is "OK" to the person who was using it.
I don't need large brains to have a good time.
If you could pay for this pay phone call with your WAP phone! Just like the soda machines that are already in europe.
Think about the convenience, no more fishing for change!
- Todd
P.S. 8-)
- "When you want something with all your heart, the entire universe conspires to give it to you" -Paulo Coelho
France Telecom has chosen a simpler solution. Last time I've been to the Gare de Lyon railroad station, I noticed that most payphones had an RJ45 socket on them.
:-)
While I've never actually seen anyone plugging his/her computer in these, I found the idea rather cool
Thomas Miconi
the BT phones are already in place, actually. There's a couple along Kensington High Street, for example. They offer web access and, v.usefully, SMS, for about 10p (14cents) a minute or so. The keyboard is small, and made of aluminium, so it's not exactly going to take over from the local branch of EasyEverything, but they are kind of useful if you need movie times or something.
Having said that, there is such an outbreak of cybercafes and proper, full sized, internet kiosks everywhere here that they really have no reason to exist. Pretty much anywhere where there are tourists, or backpackers, there is internet access going very cheaply.
Prefab DDoS Hosts
Devices like these phones, web-appliances of moderate power, are going to make terrific hosts for script kiddies and info-terrorists.
Also, I can imagine a group of rascally troublemakers that traceroute the phones and sniffs/decrypts packets, grabbing conversations for perhaps public amusement purposes. Much like a police scanner picking up cell-phone conversations.
It seems like the US is playing catch up with Europe. Not only has BT got Internet phones, but ESAT has here in Irelands. What's more they are starting to crop up all over the place including pubs.
Isn't the Denver airport installing free 802.11 transmitters? I hope this cash cow won't impede that movement. Also, they want me to pay a minimum of a dollar to look at (I counted) 10 ads surrounding web content? Uh, what's that word... oh yeah, it's NO.
"The fee to use all of the capabilities is 25 cents per minute, with a four-minute minimum. The unit accepts credit cards or cash - $1, $5, $10 and $20 bills - for payment."
Lesse, $15 an hour? I only want to rent it, not buy it. A mortgage on a house doesn't cost that much!
Somehow I think I'll just stick to using my RIM Pager for websurfing away from home.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
That's 15 usian dollars and hour. Pricey for checking quicky email. but I'm sure some sales geek will bill it to the company.
The unit accepts credit cards or cash
Time for the company credit card.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
On the fun geek side, they seem to crash regularly and you get to watch the OS (looked like a linux variation) boot up along with the processor and memory info.
Not at all! It's just been remodelled to allow for new levels of mayhem. In the new internet era, cracking a payphone just seemed so boring. Now, ATT is poised to change all that with the introduction of the Internet Payphone! All your cracking AND phreaking needs in one machine! What more could a script kiddy want?
It just so happens that BT's initial attempt at the web / email / phone combo was too expensive for most people. So right now, all BT's netphones are FREE for internet, email and text messaging. Which, predictably, makes them very popular. Presumably, BT wants to encourage use before re-applying the charge.
Does my bum look big in this?
OK, so who can't wait to get the IP address of one of these suckers.
Maybe get the IP address of the one across the road from you and periodicaly flash pro-cannabis information up on the screen. ;-)
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M0571y H@rml355.
It strikes me that something with an LCD panel is begging someone to smash it in, and keyboards are a lot more fragile than your average payphone number pad. I realise that AT&T are intending to position these devices in airports etc, but even in locations such as these with a lot of supervision, surely there would be a lot more maintenance involved than with a normal public phone. The article doesn't seem to specifically mention vandalism, but if AT&T intend to market the 2000-i more widely at some stage, it could become a problem. I am, of course, speaking from a somewhat uninformed viewpoint, since I live in New Zealand and not America.
A word can paint a thousand pictures