[OPLINTECH] Pay Phones

[Joe]

I agree with Bob's solution, and I know that is what we do here if the 
public needs to make a phone call.  The other nice thing is that we have 
switched over to an internet based phone system, so we can allow them to 
make long distance calls as well for no additional cost.

One thing that came to mind, if you did want to keep the public courtesy 
phone type option, is to sign up for a VOIP service and just have an 
ordinary phone sitting out.  The secret would be finding a service where 
by the user (ie the library) has the ability to place limitations on who 
you can call (such as the US & Canada only, or whatever their service 
can call for free).  Then you could use a cheap analog phone, cheap 
analog adapter and a relatively inexpensive service..

For instance, a magicjack plus would cost about $70, the service costs 
$30 per year, and it looks like you have to pre-pay on the account to 
make international calls (so I'd imagine it won't let you just do it), 
and any internet connection you have is more than fast enough to support 
it.

I don't know if having a free courtesy phone would be an issue anywhere, 
(do pay phones cut you off after a while?  I've never used one for more 
than a minute or 2..) but $30 per year I imagine is more affordable than 
any pay phone solution..

Just a thought.

Best of luck.

Joe

Joseph Knueven
Director
Germantown Public Library
51 N. Plum St.
Germantown, OH 45327
937-696-9998x10
knuevejo at oplin.org


On 2/29/2012 8:03 AM, Bob Neeper wrote:
> I think this is the scenario for us.
>
> We had a pay phone for years but with cell phones the usage kept dropping.
> Finally, the telephone company said is wasn't enough revenue to justify them
> keeping it in place.
>
> It wasn't cheap,but we bought for the patron's to use.
> Our cost kept rising us as the use dropped even more so finally we removed it.
>
> Now, if a patron absolutely needs to call someone, we will dial the number on a
> staff line for them to use.
> That insures it is just a local call.
>
> As cell phones are so prevalent, this has worked quite well.
> We might get 1 request a week as an average.
>
> Bob
>
> R. W. (Bob) Neeper
> Community Library
> 44 Burrer Dr.
> Sunbury, Oh 43074
> Tel:  (740)-965-3901
>
>
> On 2/28/2012 4:42 PM, Becky Schultz wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> We are thinking of replacing our payphones (provided by the phone
>> company currently) to something more cost-effective such as purchasing
>> our own.  I was hoping for some suggested equipment, or perhaps a
>> different solution, that would work well in a public setting . . .  Thanks!
>>
>>
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