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I was attemping to make a call from a pay phone (actually I tried several different ones) to a cell phone of a friend of mine. Unfortunatly, I found out later from that friend that pay phones can't call cell phones and was curious why this is? Went looking but couldn't find anything on it, so I thought I'd post and ask if anyone knew the reason why. Please be as specific as you can because I'm curious to learn why pay phones can't call cell phones. Thanks!
I wish I could help but honestly my son has called my cell phone from a pay phone hundreds of times. Also while on vacation in the US I called from a pay phone to my dad's cell phone a couple of times. Sorry I couldn't be more help.
cha_chi , you're not alone. This always happens to me when I try and reach someone that's on a cell through a payphone. Perhaps this problem is exclusive to the U.S., or just certain parts of it. I'm not too clear about why this occurs, but I'll try to look into it.
Take care
::Chelle::
This is actually a preventative for drug dealing. They do this is poor neighborhoods or known drug neighborhoods so that you can't call your dealer from a street corner. It started with not being able to page a beeper, but I guess it has gone into cell phones as well. I don't remember where I heard this, it was a long time ago. I think CNN or something.
Quote:
Originally posted here by xmaddness
This is actually a preventative for drug dealing. They do this is poor neighborhoods
Wow....talk about discrimination. Does anyone else see anything wrong with this?
"We better stop people in poorer neighbourhoods from calling cell phones....they're trying to buy drugs..."
Pathetic....
*shrugs*
I live in the US, and in Florida...and have received lots of calls on my cell phone from pay phones, from all different people in all parts of the state. I've never had anyone tell me they couldn't reach me on it before.
Deb
Well im from the UK and although im currently in the states and have been for a few months now, however i ws told that in the UK payphones can only call cell phones (mobile phones) if the payphone is on a digital exchange as there are still a few analogue switches in the UK, and cerrtainly i have used some that wont allow but also some that will. As for the states i constantly call home to the UK via a payphone and call cell phone numbers and get through fine although there is one down the street that wont allow me to call cell phones, are all the switches in the states digital ?
I would be interested to find a definitive nswer on this issue however ! Please dont take what i have supplied as information as definitive as it was just told to me and certainly is not 100% accurate and is certainly open to conjecture, i would be interested in any informed information on this matter !
"We better stop those poorer neighbourhoods from getting electricity.....I hear they use it to manufacture narcotics...." :D
Seriously though, Geepods answer makes a lot of sense..
Xmadness- thanks for getting the overly paranoid, conspiracy fuelled part of my brain ticking over! ;)
I wouldn't call that discrimination...if it's a known problem in an area, then the authorities have the right to do what they see fit as a solution. In Tampa, I've never had any problems receiving phone calls from pay phones.Quote:
Originally posted here by Conf1rm3d_K1ll
Wow....talk about discrimination. Does anyone else see anything wrong with this?
"We better stop people in poorer neighbourhoods from calling cell phones....they're trying to buy drugs..."
Pathetic....
On a side note that I just remembered, you have the option from the phone company to buy into a package that looks for CID numbers and if the number is from a PBX or is otherwise not listed, it shows up a 'Call Intercept', making the person on the other end state who they are. Your phone rings and you get a 'You are being called by '<name of person here>', to accept this call, press 1...'. Would that be considered discrimination? Hardly, as you're just trying to avoid computer-generated telemarketing calls or whatnot. Same goes for drug dealers getting cell phone calls from people on street corners looking for a fix.
But then again, that's just my opinion. :D
EDIT: to whoever left neg AP's, (I could pm you with my opinions but you didn't sign your name, hehe..) I disagree with your statement. When you don't pay your phone bill on either a cell phone or a land line, you can still call 911 or the operator but you can't operate it outside of that. How 'redlining' applies to this is lost to me only because cell phones not receiving PAY PHONE calls isn't a prevention of service, nor is it forcing higher services. Cell phones used by drug dealers were brought about to avoid tracing as well as mobility and working around being tacked onto on account.
If it were land-lines not being able to take cell phone calls, now there's a problem, especially if it's because "you only have basic service". Once again, I have no problems with the negative APs (outside of the fact that I stated that these were my opinions and you posted neg aps on an opinion but didn't sign your name), but understand that your comment didn't hold much weight.
My OPINION is in favor of confirmed_kills statements of discrimination. Plotting out neighborhoods because of economic status can be defined no other way. It's choosing a special course of action based upon social status. Of course, then again, I consider BET, Lifetime, and Oxygen to be discriminatory as well.
I wish I had a good answer to that. I'v noticed myself that it definately is not consist. Im American and sometimes I could get a call on my cell, When I lived in the Uk I could never get one (I was on a pay as you go contract then) and now I live in S. Korea and I can always get a call to my cell phone. Maybe - to be less technical- it depends on whether to cell phone and pay phone are both on compatible networks or from competing ones.
In S. Korea a call can be made from or to a cell anywhere in the country regardless of networks for the same charges/fees. Where as in the states theres is all the network competition and regional roaming charges.
A very basic and non-technical answer, I know - but plausible.
To get into specifics, I was trying to call an Ericson mobile phone with AT&T service, from a non-At&T based pay phone. Actually, I tried several of them up and down the street I was on. I'm thinking it's some what along ICsilk's answer of the competition between carriers. It just didn't make sense because I used a fairly new pay phone. I think it could be AT&T's service? Any ideas on that? The drug prevention idea seems a bit far fetched now that cell phones are in main stream use. Another friend of mine had mentioned that he could call his friends cell phone with no problem while I was writing the first post. Strange indeed. Can anyone solve this mystery? lol :cool:
It could be based on carrier, that's for sure, because they buy out blocks of numbers which are easily identifiable as either landline or cell phone. If it IS the carrier, then that's definitely discrimination of some sort because that makes you go to a next level. At that point, whoever left me neg points is right with the 'redlining' comment. However, we don't know if it's the phone company (which could've had some kind of deal with the police dept., who knows) or if it's the carrier.
In fact, lemme go down to a pay phone nearby and see if I can call my Nokia 5160 w/ AT&T One-Rate plan. I know in Tampa I can, but I'm in St. Petersburg and right down the street from a detox center, etc etc...the neighborhood is not very good, hehe...
Answer to the above is yes, I can call my cell phone (which is one area code away from the one I'm in) from the pay phone at work. It could be area code restrictions, it could be blocks of numbers, etc etc. The only way it would not be discrimination (in my opinion) is if a certain number of phone numbers in a cell-phone group were doing provable drug trafficking and the police profiled them and got with the phone company. That's all I can think of...
You can always call the operator on a pay phone and tell them to put you through to a cell phone.
If it stops people from selling drugs you can take the extra minute to ask the operator to put you through, what's the big deal?
Im not so sure how this is actually supposed to stop people from buying and selling drugs.
people who want to buy or sell drugs will do so regardless.
Though its true that the government compiles some useless safeguards against such things to justify their failings to the public.
I'm still prone to stick with the network competition theory.