Hello, Stranger

November 8, 2005 6:36 PM

Once a week, Phoneswarm targets a random US payphone, then tells the world to call it.
posted by superfem (28 comments total)

Somewhat inspired by The Payphone Project (discussed on MeFi here).
posted by superfem at 6:37 PM on November 8, 2005

Can I call collect?
posted by stirfry at 6:43 PM on November 8, 2005

Very creative idea! Thanks for the post!
posted by notmydesk at 6:44 PM on November 8, 2005

I thought most payphones didn't accept calls anymore.
posted by birdherder at 6:45 PM on November 8, 2005

Too many, you know, Drug Dealers using them..
Wasn't that the thing with pagers, and then cell phones in the early years?
posted by Balisong at 6:54 PM on November 8, 2005

I'm getting no answer right now, it just kept ringing until a high pitched sound came on.

Don't mind me, I have no life.
posted by daninnj at 6:58 PM on November 8, 2005

I'm getting no answer right now, it just kept ringing until a high pitched sound came on.

Thats when you send the fax.
posted by stirfry at 7:00 PM on November 8, 2005

Actually someone picked up when I did it before but hung up on me when I said hello. Oh well, I think I'll step away from the phone now.
posted by daninnj at 7:06 PM on November 8, 2005

Reminds me of that payphone in the Mojave desert from the late '90s. We called one night and talked to the guys out there (in the middle of the desert partying and waiting for the phone to ring!). At a time when email/IM was all the rage and chatting with a random person on the internet didn't seem like a big deal, reaching out and talking to someone completely random (Gottfried) felt far more significant.

Amusingly, the Mojave Payphone site has the phoneswarm code displayed on the main page.

Oh, and a book is coming out about the Mojave Pay Phone.
posted by shoepal at 7:31 PM on November 8, 2005

my friends and i used to call payphones when we were like 10. birdherder is right: most payphones don't take incoming calls these days.
posted by smartypanties at 8:13 PM on November 8, 2005

In my experience, most payphones just don't have ringers--they still accept calls, but you don't hear anything. Thus, you have to time your incoming phone calls reaaaally carefully.
posted by stray at 8:20 PM on November 8, 2005

calling again at 8:20, which should be when the ferry has just arrived. got a busy signal at first, then just ringing till the fax noise. btw, what the hell is that about??
posted by Parannoyed at 8:25 PM on November 8, 2005

Heh, I still have the Mojave Payphone number somewhere. I kept meaning to go visit it, as I was out that way fairly often going camping and whatnot.
posted by loquacious at 9:03 PM on November 8, 2005

Thanks shoepal for the Mojave linkage-- fanfuckingtastic!!
posted by HyperBlue at 9:09 PM on November 8, 2005

This is obviously just a slick campaign designed by long distance providers to milk more profits from the working class.
posted by davelog at 9:54 PM on November 8, 2005

shoepal writes "Oh, and a book is coming out about the Mojave Pay Phone."

And a film with... Oh, Steve Guttenberg.
posted by benzo8 at 10:04 PM on November 8, 2005

WORST FPP EVAH.

Though I love the link and bookmarked, figured it wasn't MeFi unless someone said that within the first 20.

okthxbye.
posted by Jesse H Christ at 10:56 PM on November 8, 2005

Y'know, that's not really a requirement or anything.
posted by loquacious at 12:26 AM on November 9, 2005

Why only US phones?
posted by salmacis at 12:49 AM on November 9, 2005

You know its times like this that unlimited North American long distance calling is a wonderfull thing.
posted by Pink Fuzzy Bunny at 1:41 AM on November 9, 2005

WORST FPP EVAH.

Though I love the link and bookmarked, figured it wasn't MeFi unless someone said that within the first 20.

If you are going to criticize the FPP in true mefi fashion you have to give your reasons. The best bet is to provide your own personal recipe with ingredients like - more links, no editorials, no newsfilter, more description, NSFW warning, proper [via] chaining so alisters can get more hits, use of [more inside], too long or too short, etc...

The icing of course is a your own guess at a [via]. BoingBoing is the preferred flav. It is also best if the person making the critique has less than 10 FPPs themselves. Zero is best.

That is my recipe for a good FPP critique.
posted by srboisvert at 2:26 AM on November 9, 2005

Worst FPP critique evah
posted by ElvisJesus at 5:05 AM on November 9, 2005

"Crewmember, what is your name?"
posted by wells at 6:32 AM on November 9, 2005

Thanks for the movie tip, benzo8. That is truly insane!
posted by shoepal at 6:37 AM on November 9, 2005

that mojave phone booth story (well, until it spread to others) was way more interesting thatn the FPP. Which is also fine, I'm not criticizing (sheesh).
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:15 AM on November 9, 2005

This is really funny, thank you.
posted by Peter H at 7:46 AM on November 9, 2005

The Mojave phone booth is mentioned in Phoneswarm's FAQ, hence why I thought you'd get to it without me linking to it.
posted by superfem at 8:13 AM on November 9, 2005

Shame that the Mojave phone booth is no more :(
posted by starscream at 4:08 PM on November 9, 2005