Last phone booth in a Museum

Typically, telecommunications company invite the media, if you want to market a technological innovation. In the case of the phone cabin in Baden it is just the reverse: It is the story of a public icon.

in Front of the cameras, a crane lifted the last of Swisscom powered Publifon at the Baden Bruggerstrasse 164 in the state of Baden in the air. Originally 1962-mounted telephone box is situated in the Museum for communication in Berne – as a silent witness of a bygone time.

the good old telephone box has been coming for a long time. The loss of importance began with the advent of the mobile phones in the late 1990s. Almost 25 years ago, more than 58'000 private and public Publifone were operating in Switzerland.

In practically every municipality of a telephone box, so wrote the Swiss Confederation Swisscom, respectively, the previous state prior to the operation "of the Swiss Post, Telegraph and telephony (PTT)". In the cabins, which often have the smell of cold cigarette smoke hung, were always a series of phone books mounted.

phone cards, as a collector's item

Who was on the phone short or long, paid for the calls with coins or a phone card. These colored cards with a magnetic strip developed for collectors to objects of desire. Swisscom is still valid "Taxcards" by the way, until the end of February.

In the years 2004 to 2016, the number of calls according to the Swisscom declined by 95 percent. In the case of the Publifonen of the basic service, the number of 2016 fell by a third. More than 1000 equipment remained for days unused. The cost for operation and maintenance would no longer coincide with the call revenues.

Swisscom is not obliged to since last year, "public payphones with pre-payment (coins or phone to run cards". In the last two years, Swisscom has built around 3000 Publifone.

In swing, the company maintains, however, still Publifone on behalf of hospitals, Restaurants, schools, or Private. 150 round glass cabins ("Telecabs 2000"): The advertising company, APG/SGA Fixed-financed as the operator of the booths for free calls to the Swiss and mobile networks. The costs for maintenance, cleaning and talks are co-financed among other things by posters.

cab as a greenhouse

The phone booth from Bruggerstrasse in Baden, now comes to the Museum for communication in Berne. The last phone booth to represent for the Museum is a "kind of fixed network telephony,-the Fossil," says Museum curator Juri Jaquemet. It was not just a technical artifact, but also cultural techniques, and processes are connected.

About 650 other phone cabins purpose have been alienated or nice words converted. They now serve as a beverage or snack vending machines, as locations for defibrillators, bookcases or Bars. The Swisscom organized in the past year, even a competition with the ten best ideas for a second life in the cabins.

It won the ideas for a vertical garden, a house, a tomato house, for a "Do-it-yourself"-gallery, a Mini-Disco, or the smallest art of the stage. The times are changing. (fal/sda)

Created: 28.11.2019, 16:20 PM