Talk's the buzzword. Talk, talk and talk so that the world could be a better place. But a once-popular mode of talking is taking the brunt in all this celebration of talk: the public telephone booth.

There's a public telephone booth at every other step in the City, giving an impression that they have managed to survive the technological strides in telephony and tariff war.

Public telephone booth owners across the City do admit that their equipment is not much in use nowadays. Most of them even say they are still in business because of the investment that has already gone into it.

Moreover, these booths now face threat from another quarters: unscrupulous elements using fake coins and washers instead of the one-rupee coins for making calls and robbers who break into them for the paltry money they hold.

Fake coins made of steel, cut to the shape, size and diameter of a one rupee coin, are dropped into public booths that accept them. Tied to a thread, the coin is dropped into the phone and then pulled out once the call gets connected.

In fact, there are several places in Shivajinagar, Kalasipalyam and Godown Street near K R Market where these coins are made to order. "We get orders for coins to suit the shape of a one rupee coin to be made on a regular basis. People don't really mind paying Rs 5 or even Rs 10 a piece because these coins can be recycled and reused," says a Ustad Pasha, a coin maker on Godown Street.

Pushpa, a resident of Chamarajpet, who put up a booth just a month ago, now wants to surrender it. "The number of fake coins and washers are causing me a lot of worry. I recover at least 100 fake coins a month," she says.

Theft is the other menace dogging these booths. B N Mani, secretary of Supraja Federation of Association in Basavanagudi, says he has lost at least Rs 3,000 from the box. "I got a grill cut to suit the phone box and fixed it. With this the thefts have stopped but the fake coins still flood the instrument. It's impossible to keep a tab on who uses them. I incur loss every month," he says.

The booth manufacturers say they are aware of the problem but haven’t taken any action because they don’t consider the circulation of fake coins a problem.

“For many, coin booths are only a supplementary income they don’t depend on it for a livelihood. So they refuse to invest an exorbitant amount in buying an high end system which instantly rejects fake coins,” explains N Srinivasan, owner of Shritel Electronics.