Anyone ever maintain payphones?

[democracyindanger]

I'm doing some research for a bit of writing, and I'm wondering how much money collects in pay phones (specifically, before the advent of the cell phone) and how often they're collected from. Anyone?

[Gman]

1. They're collected on a periodical basis

it depends on the company and the amount in the phone. Its hard to say a pay phone collects $X amount because of various factors not the least of which is location. Larger companies such as SBC or Verizon know how often to go by a pay phone and collect. Some may need to be collected once a week, some once a month.

[ixion]

2. I maintained payphones for awhile

if you've got good locations, you can make a decent living. There pretty simple to maintain.

[democracyindanger]

3. What's the most

the change box could hold, theoretically? I'm assuming a couple hundred at most--am I guessing right?

[ixion]

4. yeah... maybe a hundred, depending... maybe a bit more

but I don't think it could hold two hundred. The coin box is about 6x6x6, but that will vary a bit depending on the model.

[Az]

5. Check out 2600

They are a hacker/phreaker site but they may have records of this sort of thing.

www.2600.com

phreaking is to phones what hacking is to computers. There were phreakers before there were hackers.

[democracyindanger]

6. Thanks much all! n/t