The two "Wisdom Cloud Pavilions" on Zhongshan East Road are no longer available.
The unusable public telephone booth on the sidewalk of the Water Monument has cut off the blind lane.
The old and low public telephone booth at the intersection of Qinyuan Street and Liyuan North Road has been tilted.
Public telephone booths in the Cityplaza neighbourhood are dilapidated. (Photo by Fu Zhongnan)
With the development of the times, the public telephone booths that once filled the streets and alleys have fallen! Due to low usage and lack of maintenance, these phone booths have aged or even damaged, becoming a major pain point for the image of urban civilization.
On the mass message board of The People's Livelihood E-Point of the Ningbo Network in China, complaints about the public telephone booth occupying the road, damaged, and unusable problems occur from time to time.
Location 1: Yinzhou Mingyuan Community
Netizen "wangcongna84" reflected: a public telephone booth at the east gate of the Mingyuan community has fallen into disrepair and has become a 30° tilt, which has great security risks.
Ningbo Telecom Company replied: It has arranged for staff to conduct on-site investigations, and the telephone booth has been demolished.
Reporter return visit: The inclined public telephone booth at the east gate of the Mingyuan community has been demolished. But a public telephone booth at the nearby intersection of Min'an Road and Ningxu Road is also tilted, and there are also safety hazards.
Venue 2: Taigu City Community, Yinzhou
Netizens numbered "135289" reflected that the Yinzhou Taicheng Ancient City Community was recently renovated in the old residential area and found that a public telephone booth was very dilapidated. Is there any need to keep the phone booth?
Ningbo Telecom Company replied: It has notified the engineering team to complete the demolition of the phone booth within this month.
Reporter return visit: Netizens reported that the public telephone booth is dilapidated and rusty, one side of the roof has collapsed, and the telephone sets on both sides have been unusable.
Venue 3: Jiangbei Wanda Plaza
Netizen "Chu Tiankuo" reflected: There is a public telephone booth on Yunfei Road near Wanda in Jiangbei Province, where the advertising paper has fallen off significantly.
Ningbo Telecom Company replied: Staff has been arranged to repair.
Reporter return visit: Although the advertisement has been updated, the phone booth has been tilted, and the telephone set cannot be used normally. In addition, another public telephone booth on the south side of the nearby Jiangbei Wanda Plaza has been blocked by a guardrail, and the telephones in the pavilion are also unusable.
Venue 4: Jiangbei Tianshui Square
In 2019, this newspaper once exposed that there are three public telephone booths in Tianshui Square built in the green belt, if you want to use public telephones, you must first step through the lawn, and then "drill" into the narrow green belt.
After the report was published, the relevant departments adjusted the orientation of the three public telephone booths.
Reporter return visit: Only one of the three public telephone booths in Tianshui Square can be used normally, one has been demolished, and the other telephone can no longer be connected.
Venue 5: Tianyi Pavilion Moon Lake Scenic Area
In October last year, Ningbo Civilization Creation Citizen Inspector "Ziyin Mountain 1960" reflected: Tianyi Pavilion , Yue Lake Scenic Area Water Monument next to the sidewalk there is a public telephone booth blocking the passage of pedestrians, can the relevant departments consider relocating?
Ningbo Telecom Company replied: At present, the phone booth can be used normally, our company has communicated with the relevant administrative departments, recently arranged renovation, and next year to arrange replacement of new equipment.
Reporter return visit: The telephone in the public telephone booth is no longer available, and the blind lane has been cut off.
Venue 6: Haishu Qinyuan Street
In April last year, netizen "Sunshine Oriental" reported that the telephone booth at the intersection of Qinyuan Street and Liyuan North Road in Haishu District was shortened due to the elevation of the municipal sidewalk.
Ningbo Telecom Company replied: Considering that the phone booth is relatively old, it has been reported to the company for procurement, and it will be replaced immediately after the purchase arrives.
Reporter return visit: This old and low public telephone booth is still standing in place, and it is still tilted.
In the interview, the reporter found that most of the public telephone booths in the urban area have been full of dust, and the equipment and facilities are rusty and damaged. Almost all of the many citizens interviewed on the street said they would no longer use public telephones, and some young people did not know how to use public telephones, or even about public telephone booths.
"Everyone has a cell phone, who do you say will use a public phone?" Mr. Fang, a citizen, also said that he didn't even know where to buy the phone card now.
On the people's livelihood e-point message board, netizens have basically the same opinions on the public telephone booth. It was felt that dilapidated and obsolete public telephone booths were unused and affected the image of the city and should be used for other purposes or simply withdrawn from the stage of history.
It is understood that most of the public telephone booths on the streets of Ningbo are owned by telecommunications, with a total of more than 500. In the first half of this year (January to June), only 365 public telephone booths generated traffic, and the average number of times each phone was used was only 4 times per month. However, as an infrastructure, the current annual maintenance and operation costs still need millions of yuan.
"When the public telephone booth was built in the early stage, these points and roads have been paved with relevant network cables, and if they are modified, the telephone booth can be added to more functions." The relevant person in charge of Ningbo Telecom said that when Zhongshan Road was transformed a few years ago, the telephone booth on the street was transformed into a "smart cloud pavilion" as a pilot, but the unified upgrading of the city's public telephone booths still needs government support.
The reporter learned that in 2017, Zhongshan West Road and Zhongshan East Road set up a total of 31 independent and combined with public bicycles "smart cloud pavilions", the main functions of which include free Wi-Fi, free local calls, free terminal fast charging and related convenient information query services. Unfortunately, however, this good thing of convenience has not been sustained. The 4 "wisdom cloud pavilions" found by the reporter on Zhongshan East Road are currently unusable, and dust has accumulated on the screens and buttons. The cleaning staff told reporters that these "wisdom cloud pavilions" near the Tianyi business circle have long been unusable.
The reporter learned that regarding the whereabouts and stays of public telephone booths, many places across the country are actively exploring.
Yangzhou: Choose to demolish the public telephone booth. Because the telephone booths have fallen into disrepair, affecting the appearance of the city, and have also become a concentration of small advertisements for "psoriasis", as early as the end of 2017, all 359 public telephone booths in the city were demolished.
Shanghai: While ensuring the emergency communication function, the street public telephone booths have been transformed into Wi-Fi pavilions, reading pavilions, art pavilions, art pavilions, etc., and public telephone booths have returned to the public's field of vision. Since April last year, Shanghai Telecom has also installed 5G small and micro base stations on top of some telephone booths in downtown areas to bring users a better 5G Internet experience. This year, Shanghai Telecom also tried to transform the public telephone booth into a "red culture pavilion", making it a new carrier for inheriting red culture, attracting many citizens to punch in and take photos.
Xi'an: Added a scan code payment function for public telephone booths, and you can make calls without an IC card. In addition, the city has also piloted the transformation of telephone booths into convenience information kiosks, in addition to scanning the code to pay, these phone booths can also call for free for 3 minutes, and can touch the screen to query maps, food, government affairs and other functions.
"Where are the public telephone booths on the streets of Ningbo going?" Netizens strongly hope that the relevant departments can seriously investigate, adapt to local conditions, and give a "Ningbo solution"?
Reporter Fu Zhongnan Yimin