Where I am in the project

So far, I am still in the brainstorming stage, I plan to make an internet-capable payphone, having the phone use internet makes calls significantly cheaper – less than one cent per minute. The phone will have standard, cheap, off-the-shelf parts, and is easy to maintain and repair as needed. The purpose for a payphone in 2025 is to primarily provide phone access to those without a cell phone, or for when people’s cell phone breaks or runs out of battery charge. This can be linked with the i2 theme of the environment – with climate change, natural disasters are more likely to occur, and a when cell phone lines are down during or after a natural disaster, payphones can be used instead to contact loved ones, and emergency services. An example of which is in NYC where payphones were used to communicate during hurricane Sandy in 2012.

 

I have a good idea of how I will build a prototype – Buy parts, program the internal computer (an Raspberry PI or Arduino), connect the coin acceptor, coin trigger switch, coin hopper, 48v relay, dialpad and hookswitch, and the handset. These parts are the bare minimum for a somewhat functioning payphone, and I can later add the coin return chutes, and put everything into a standard housing for a fully functional and complete payphone.