<p>With the advent of cellphones, there are not many takers for telephone booths.Typewriters have given way to computers; DVDs and CDs have given way to IPods. <br /><br /></p>.<p>In a similar fashion, there has been a revolution in the telecommunication field — public telephone booths seem to have given way to cellphones, which have made communication convenient, easier and quicker. <br /><br />These days, cellphones have become so affordable that literally everyone has one — thus making telephone booths fairly redundant.<br /><br />The fact of the matter is that booths aren’t a failed technology in any circumstances. <br /> But with the popularity of cellphones, they are now considered obsolete. <br /><br />Metrolife interacts with some youngsters to find out whether they still use phone booths, or prefer to carry their own cellphones instead.<br /><br />“We do use these booths sometimes, if we don’t have balance in our cellphones and have to make urgent calls. But that rarely happens,” says Ankit Parmar, a student of Shri Venkateshwara College of Engineering, Vidhyanagar.<br /><br />Radhika, who works at an IT company, agrees that she no longer uses these booths to make calls. <br />“After all, cellphones are easy to use and have facilities like texting; having a Blackberry makes life that much easier.<br /><br /> Besides this, most booths charge a rupee per minute of talking but with a variety of plans, service providers often charge a much lower late. The last time I used a telephone booth was when I was in school,” says Radhika.<br /><br />It isn’t surprising that so many people are steering clear of these booths .In Tavarekere alone, there are around 11 telephone booths. <br /><br />But none of them are functional.Sripathi, a shopkeeper from Tavarekere, who has a public telephone in his shop, says that he bought it to earn extra money. But now, nobody uses the machine. <br /><br />“It’s been six years since I have installed this telephone. Earlier, I used to earn Rs 1,000 every month; now I earn less. There was an STD option in this box but since nobody was using it, I have removed the connection,” says Sivaprakash, another shopkeeper of a general store in Koramangala.<br />Telecommunication companies too have started to shy away from manufacturing these telephone booths. <br /><br />Officials from BSNL say that although they still provide connections to these booths, they have completely stopped manufacturing them, since there is no demand for them.<br /><br /></p>
<p>With the advent of cellphones, there are not many takers for telephone booths.Typewriters have given way to computers; DVDs and CDs have given way to IPods. <br /><br /></p>.<p>In a similar fashion, there has been a revolution in the telecommunication field — public telephone booths seem to have given way to cellphones, which have made communication convenient, easier and quicker. <br /><br />These days, cellphones have become so affordable that literally everyone has one — thus making telephone booths fairly redundant.<br /><br />The fact of the matter is that booths aren’t a failed technology in any circumstances. <br /> But with the popularity of cellphones, they are now considered obsolete. <br /><br />Metrolife interacts with some youngsters to find out whether they still use phone booths, or prefer to carry their own cellphones instead.<br /><br />“We do use these booths sometimes, if we don’t have balance in our cellphones and have to make urgent calls. But that rarely happens,” says Ankit Parmar, a student of Shri Venkateshwara College of Engineering, Vidhyanagar.<br /><br />Radhika, who works at an IT company, agrees that she no longer uses these booths to make calls. <br />“After all, cellphones are easy to use and have facilities like texting; having a Blackberry makes life that much easier.<br /><br /> Besides this, most booths charge a rupee per minute of talking but with a variety of plans, service providers often charge a much lower late. The last time I used a telephone booth was when I was in school,” says Radhika.<br /><br />It isn’t surprising that so many people are steering clear of these booths .In Tavarekere alone, there are around 11 telephone booths. <br /><br />But none of them are functional.Sripathi, a shopkeeper from Tavarekere, who has a public telephone in his shop, says that he bought it to earn extra money. But now, nobody uses the machine. <br /><br />“It’s been six years since I have installed this telephone. Earlier, I used to earn Rs 1,000 every month; now I earn less. There was an STD option in this box but since nobody was using it, I have removed the connection,” says Sivaprakash, another shopkeeper of a general store in Koramangala.<br />Telecommunication companies too have started to shy away from manufacturing these telephone booths. <br /><br />Officials from BSNL say that although they still provide connections to these booths, they have completely stopped manufacturing them, since there is no demand for them.<br /><br /></p>
