An electrical engineer by trade, Patrick Schlott has spent countless hours tinkering with new and old technology. However, it wasn’t until he found himself living in rural Vermont that he realized that his penchant for repairing old pay phones could provide a public service. Becoming aware that there’s no cell service for 10 miles in either direction, he realized that the community could really benefit from a pay phone. He decided to approach Mike and Lois Gross, owners of North Tunbridge General Store, with the idea of installing old pay phones around town and making them free for public use. After he explained that there would be no cost to them, the Grosses allowed Schlott to install the first pay phone outside their store. Schlott buys the old pay phones for between $100 and $500 at flea markets, auctions and from Internet listings. Then he fixes them up in his basement workshop. All that’s needed to install one of the pay phones is an Internet connection — no coins necessary. “Basically, there’s a small piece of equipment that converts an Internet telephone line to an analog line that these phones can operate off of,” explained Schlott. Along with covering the costs — which are about $2-$3 a month for each phone line and less than $5 a month for calls — Schlott acts as the operator for each phone and can field or transfer calls, helping users when needed. If a user dials zero, Schlott’s personal cellphone will ring. He says he is seeing increased interest in the service, with another free phone install in the works at the Brownell Library in Essex. For now, he plans to continue covering the costs associated with each phone, but noted that may change as the project scales.
