john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) (01/21/91)
Here is a look at coin phones in the REALLY big city -- Tokyo. No one
has as I recall mentioned these on the Digest lately.
The standard issue phone is green. Not pale green, but a bright
flourescent knock-out shade that seems to be popular in Japan. Pink
phones are "dumb" COCOTs that are found in small stores and eating
establishment. Yellow and blue phones are older, less capable units
that are increasingly difficult to find.
All green phones have one thing in common: a card reader that accepts
a stored value card that can be obtained in various denominations, up
to 500 "call units". A call unit is the equivalent of 10 yen, the
minimum required to "start" a call. A "local" call will exhaust a unit
within a few minutes, whereas an international call will require a
number of units per minute. Calls throughout Japan fall anywhere in
between. The cards are readily available, including at some vending
machines attached to green phones themselves.
In attition to cards, most (but not all) green phones will accept 10
and 100 yen coins. While it is much more convenient to place an
expensive call with a phone card, it is still possible to use coins.
Green phones with a gold faceplate will allow you to dial anywhere in
the world, depositing coins as you go or with the ultra convenience of
the stored value card.
Physically, the instruments come in many shapes and sizes, with the
largest comparable to a Las Vegas slot machine (other comparisons not
intended), down to the smallest which is not much larger than a
standard telephone. The smaller ones are usually incapable of
accepting coins. The handsets sport a noise-cancelling transmitter,
and as a result are wonderful to use in noisy locations such as street
corners. All green phones appear to use DTMF back to the CO.
One other small difference between the NTT coin phones and US utility
phones is that coin return is a local operation. If the coin was not
collected by the CO, it is returned instantly when the receiver is
replaced on an incomplete call. This is almost disconcerting when one
is used to the small delay on domestic phones which must wait for the
DC signal from the CO to return the coins.
With the exceptional convenience of Japanese coin phones, there is a
downside. As others have reported, calls do not go through in Japan
with the reliability of the US telephone network. The percentage of
failure (silence, reorder, wrong number) is significant enough to be
irritating to the US user. And this is true even on NTT's newest
digital exchanges. No one could offer any explanation of this and some
residents were even surprised that anyone would notice.
Ironically, one of the major deficiencies of NTT (lack of itemized
billing -- available now at extra cost) contributes to the convenience
of the coin telephones. From gold-faceplate phones, it matters not
where you call. The only thing that differentiates one call from
another is how fast the meter pulses tick away (one per "unit" of 10
yen). Hence, it is irrelavent how the call is paid for. A display on
the front of the phone shows how many units remain. If it gets low,
you deposit more yen. If it runs out, you get cut off. There is no
operator who comes on the line to ask for more money.
A small criticism of the card system would be concerning the lack of a
recall button. When making a series of calls, one must hang up after
each one and remove the card (serenaded by the most strident
"b'beep-b'beep" that goes on for several seconds), then re-insert it.
Socially, this may be more of a feature than a bug, since there is
usually some sort of line of folks waiting to use the phone and this
cacophony of beeping would alert those patiently waiting to someone
making an unacceptable number of calls or call attempts. My preferance
would be for a recall button.
I really liked the stored value card system. It is puzzling as to why
it was never introduced here. But then, more than card readers would
have to be installed; the rate structure would have to change
drastically. In Japan, calls cost virtually the same whether placed
from NTT coin phones or from standard business or residential phones.
This is certainly not true in the US.
John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395
john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !crw@icf.hrb.com (Craig R. Watkins) (01/24/91)
In article <16278@accuvax.nwu.edu>, 0003209613@mcimail.com (Sandy Kyrish) writes: > A souvenir shop in the Sydney, NSW airport sells time-cards for > Japanese payphones. At first I was puzzled, but my guess is that > returning Japanese tourists buy them when they realize they have no > Japanese money with which to make phone calls when they land in their > own country. I saw them being sold in a gift store on Oahu (in the Polynesian Cultural Center). I seem to remember a big display with interesting pictures on them, sort of like postcard pictures (although I don't recall the exact content of the pictures). I was certainly interested in them, but they cost in the $15-$20 range and that was a bit much for simple curiosity. Craig R. Watkins Internet: CRW@ICF.HRB.COM HRB Systems, Inc. Bitnet: CRW%HRB@PSUECL.Bitnet +1 814 238-4311 UUCP: ...!psuvax1!hrbicf!crw
wolfson@mot.com (Steve Wolfson) (01/24/91)
Craig R. Watkins writes: > Sandy Kyrish writes: >In article <16278@accuvax.nwu.edu>, 0003209613@mcimail.com (Sandy >Kyrish) writes: >> returning Japanese tourists buy them when they realize they have no >> Japanese money with which to make phone calls when they land in their >> own country. >I saw them being sold in a gift store on Oahu (in the Polynesian >Cultural Center). I seem to remember a big display with interesting >pictures on them, sort of like postcard pictures (although I don't >recall the exact content of the pictures). Actually they may be selling them as souveniers. There was a recent article in {Business Week} (I can't find the exact issue) about the Japanese use of calling cards. A collectors market has sprung up for these cards and NTT has managed to end with with a fairly hefty hunk of change from cards that are purchased but not used. The article also mentioned that these type of cards may become used for items other than payphones. Like everywhere else there is talk of standardization of these cards and concerns that this would create a new alternative "electronic" currency that doesn't fit within standard banking laws.
schultz@ai.mew.mei.co.jp (Bob Schultz) (01/25/91)
In article <16357@accuvax.nwu.edu> crw@icf.hrb.com (Craig R. Watkins) writes: > I saw them [phone cards] being sold in a gift store on Oahu (in the > Polynesian Cultural Center). I remember a big display with interesting > pictures on them, sort of like postcard pictures (although I don't > recall the exact content of the pictures). I was certainly interested > in them, but they cost in the $15-$20 range and that was a bit much > for simple curiosity. 1000 yen cards are popular here (~$7.50, Y132~$1), with hundreds of different pictures available. NTT's most popular card last year had a picture of a cat on the front. Usually a small bonus is given when purchasing the cards; 1000 yen will get you 105 units (1050 yen). 10 yen (7.5 cents) will get you a three minute local call, one of the last remaining bargains in Japan! Robert J. Schultz Artificial Intelligence Research Lab telephone: (81) 06-908-6835 Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd. facsimile: (81) 06-906-6052 1048, Kadoma, Kadoma-shi e-mail: schultz@mew.mei.co.jp Osaka 571, Japan
lars@spectrum.cmc.com (Lars Poulsen) (01/26/91)
In article <16384@accuvax.nwu.edu> wolfson@mot.com (Steve Wolfson) writes: >[An article in Business Week] mentioned that [prepaid telephone cards] >may become used for items other than payphones. Like everywhere else >there is talk of standardization of these cards and concerns that this >would create a new alternative "electronic" currency that doesn't fit >within standard banking laws. I just read that the Danish telephone companies have started a project together with the Visa/EuroCard clearinghouse to define a "smart" debit card to replace coins. This card would be prepaid with $50 to $100 and be used for things like telephones, bus fares, street hotdog vendors etc. Unlike existing debit cards, which may only be issued to persons age 18 and up, these would have no age restrictions. I suspect in a couple of years, every child will wear one around their neck. Lars Poulsen, SMTS Software Engineer CMC Rockwell lars@CMC.COM