In Rochester, pay phones are working again-and they're free

"Called the GoodPhone Project, the effort is aimed at people who still don't have reliable access to a mobile phone, including those experiencing homelessness. As pay phones have disappeared, alternatives have been hard to come by. "A lot of community centers, and especially the Monroe County libraries, were being inundated with people asking to use their front desk phones," says Eric Kunsman, one of the volunteers behind the project."

"There's a clear need: The handful of phones that the GoodPhone Project has installed each get hundreds of uses per month. Around 20% of the calls go to social services. (Calls have a 20-minute limit unless they're made to social service organizations, since that often involves a long wait on hold.) The upcycled phones use voice over internet protocol (VoIP) technology and allow users to set up their own voicemail extensions, so it's possible to use the number when they apply for a job."

"When the Frontier phone company removed the last phones, the group decided to do something. They found a Los Angeles-based company that still installs pay phones, called Littlejohn Communications, and converted old phones to add VoIP and make it clear that they're free to use. Six have been installed so far, all in neighborhoods that had the most need. One of the phones is solar-powered, since it's in a location that didn't have access to electri"

Two years ago the last pay phones were disconnected in Rochester, New York. Volunteers launched the GoodPhone Project to restore a handful of free public phones for people without reliable mobile access, including those experiencing homelessness. Each installed phone receives hundreds of uses per month, with roughly 20% of calls going to social services. Calls have a 20-minute limit unless placed to social service organizations. The upcycled phones use VoIP and allow users to create voicemail extensions for job applications. Six phones were converted and installed in the most-impacted neighborhoods, including one solar-powered unit.

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