Telephone booths in Germany: An era comes to an end

A few days ago, coin payments in telephone booths were deactivated nationwide. This marks the end of a piece of German history. For many, they were an important part of everyday life before the age of smartphones – whether urban or suburban. Everything you need to know about the era of the phone booth and how it became superfluous in the recent past.

The shutdown of German telephone booths

There are still 12,000 phone booths in Germany. Since November 21, 2022, however, coin payment no longer works: it has been deactivated nationwide. The telephone card function will be deactivated from the end of January 2023. This means that it will no longer be possible to use public telephone boxes or pillars. According to Telekom, the dismantling of the telephone boxes is expected to take until 2025.

This marks the end of an era after 142 years. There used to be 160,000 public telephones in Germany. The public payphones shaped the image of German cities for decades. For a long time, they were massive yellow boxes, which then gave way to small silver pillars with the Telekom logo. In places with high public traffic, such as airports, train stations and shopping streets, there is still a demand for telephone boxes today.

The shutdown of German telephone booths is not a big surprise. Their number has already fallen significantly in the last three years: in 2019, around 17,000 phone booths were still connected to the network, while in January 2022 there were only 14,200, almost 16% fewer. Deutsche Telekom cited the increasing use of cell phones as the reason for the end of the phone booths. The clear end nevertheless came as a surprise, as it had previously been a gradual end.

The last classic yellow telephone box was installed back in April 2019. At the time, Deutsche Telekom project manager Günter Nerlinger explained that the removal would affect phone booths with a permanent turnover of less than 50 euros per month. This is because the maintenance costs are significantly higher. Cleaning and electricity costs would also be added.

After the introduction of the euro in 2002, the use of telephone booths in Germany increased once again. The monetary union made it easier to use public telephones, especially for travelers. But with the abolition of roaming charges in the EU at the latest, it could no longer be denied that the phone booths were hardly being used any more.

At the beginning of 2022, Deutsche Telekom had indicated that at least some phone booths would remain. However, the company has now decided against this. According to Telekom, the public phone booths are simply no longer economically viable. They are also unattractive for customers because the call prices are significantly higher than those of mobile phone contracts.

The end of the telephone box era brings with it a lot of nostalgia. Although most phone booths did not smell good, had a tattered phone book and were expensive, a lot happened in the 1.80 meter high box. It could be found both in the city and in the countryside, in pedestrian zones as well as in hotels, at the edge of the forest or next to the church.

Payment by bill was not possible, so coins were always needed for telephone boxes. The system always wanted to be fed and the sign warned you to keep it short. The information desk was often busy, the phone book was missing the page you wanted, or the connection wasn’t good. But when everything worked, the public telephone provided a much-needed connection to the world.

The telephone box has also always played a major role in pop culture. Whether as a vehicle for time travel in the movie “Bill & Ted’s Crazy Journey Through Time” (1989), as the main location in the movie “Don’t Hang Up!” (2002), which was set almost exclusively in the telephone box, or as the entrance to the British Ministry of Magic in the Harry Potter films, the public telephone stimulates the imagination and brings with it a touch of nostalgia and magic.

The German telephone box has changed significantly over the years. From 1953 onwards, more and more telephone booths could be found on the streets. They were yellow and unadorned. Their shape was angular, the windows and doors were made of large glass, and the design of the FeH53 type was above all practical.

From the late 1970s, the famous TelH78 model followed, which was also yellow. It had rounded edges and smaller windows, allowing a little more privacy. This form of telephone box is still legendary today, although there are no longer any functioning yellow telephone boxes in Germany. Some of them have been converted, for example into a public exchange library.

A major change in the design of telephone booths came in 1990: The newly founded Deutsche Telekom had modern telephone booths installed in a combination of gray, white and magenta. The shape was angular and the window front was larger again. At the turn of the millennium, many telephone booths became open stations in the Telekom colors, some of which consisted of just one pillar. They accepted both D-Mark and Euro coins. Payment by phone card, which could be purchased and topped up in certain stores, was also common.

A case of age discrimination?

The end of phone booths in Germany was expected, but despite the good reasons, it has also led to difficulties. Older people without cell phones no longer have the opportunity to make calls in public places. There are no concrete figures on the use of cell phones by people over 70, but a smartphone study found that more and more senior citizens feel overwhelmed by smartphones.

With the end of the phone booth, people without a cell phone will have little choice but to ask strangers on the street for help if they need it urgently or to call from a pub again – just like in the old days. For some people, the end of the phone booth therefore also raises the question of the extent to which the end of the phone booth is a case of age discrimination.

Despite the shutdown of the telephone booths , the iconic public telephones will continue to be seen in public spaces, whether as art installations, public exchange stations or relics. They are still not completely superfluous.

By the way: today, smartphones are not only used for communication and navigation, but also for urban planning. Read more about Munich’s new city planning app here.