And if the “telephone of the future” was… the telephone booth ?

© Telecoop

It was 140 years ago that the first telephone boxes arrived in France. Installed in a public space, the telephone booth allowed those who telephoned or received a call (a telephone number was assigned to each booth), to isolate themselves from ambient noise, to ;hold a private conversation there, while being sheltered from bad weather. At the dawn of the 2000s, almost 250,000 telephone booths were installed in France, but the then emerging mobile telephony would quickly get the better of this good old booth.

The telephone booth back in 2025?

And if, in the era of precious smartphones, the telephone box has ceased to exist for several years now, two companies, TeleCoop and Commown, are considering resurrecting it. The project aims above all to serve the general interest, and to contradict the current telecoms model that encourages overconsumption.

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“Our ambition is to reuse the still functional motherboards of mobile phones used by Commown. Access to the cabin will be free as will communications. Ultimately, these cabins could be equipped with a tablet and an Internet connection” Telecoop recently indicated. And the first “new generation” was recently installed near Strasbourg.

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Installed in front of the Shadock, as part of the European Responsible Digital Week which runs until June 22, the cabin has a cabin made of recycled wood, with on board a Socotel telephone, and a touchscreen tablet. At a time when we spend on average no less than 4 hours a day on our smartphone, this new phone booth aims to overcome this addiction.

Furthermore, in the event of a battery failure or forgetting your telephone, this good old telephone box can offer a solution to certain hassles. If the phone allows you to make calls, the small tablet allows you to send messages, but also to use (in a moderate manner) the Internet network.

Young people in the crosshairs?

Contrary to what one might believe, this 2025 telephone booth is not necessarily aimed at rural areas and aging populations (boomers). On the contrary, the founders of the project aim to install these in front of middle and high schools. “For this population, the use of smartphones is very harmful”estimates Adrien Montagut, in charge of Commown. Remember that some manufacturers are playing the 'anti-smartphone' card, like Light and its astonishing Light Phone 3.

Note that this first cabin installed near Strasbourg is a prototype, but that the first “real” cabins could flourish as early as next year. The project also aims to fight against digital insecurity, by allowing everyone to access certain sites for free and communicate with their loved ones.

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