Engineer Fixes and Re-Installs Old Payphones, Provides Free Calls to the Public

Payphones “were the only things that were built to last for decades and be out in the elements,” says electrical engineer Patrick Schlott. He should know; as a hobby, he buys secondhand payphones, rewires them, then asks local businesses in rural Vermont if they’d let him install them. His goal is to offer, for free, public telephone service. (Schlott foots the bill himself.)

“It’s assumed most folks own cell phones,” writes Schlott. “Well, not everyone does, sometimes they don’t work out on dirt roads, sometimes you forget your charger, and sometimes you just really need to make a phone call. We aim to provide a valuable public service to the community while teaching people about the US telephone system that has over a century of history behind it.”

Schlott’s company, RandTel, currently operates three phones in his neck of Vermont: One at the North Tunbridge General Store in Tunbridge, one at the Latham Library and a third—a rotary model from the 1950s–at the town of Randolph’s information booth. He’s particularly proud of that last one, as “This installation is 100% solar-powered, provided graciously by Catamount Solar,” he writes. “Many thanks to the White River Valley Chamber of Commerce for hosting!”

Here’s a look at what Schlott does:

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