Photo: Steve McLaughlin, Iffy Bookstore
Mike Dank has loved pay phones since he was a teenager. Now one he bought at a flea market 15 years ago can be found outside Iffy Books in Philadelphia, allowing people to make a free call anywhere in the US. After he learned that a group called Futel had installed about 10 free-to-use public pay phones around Portland, Oregon, Dank started PhilTel — a phone collective to convert old donated pay phones into free working phones - and is looking for donations of pay phones, phone booths, telephone cable, routers and pay phone parts. He hopes to place five more around town next year. Each will cost about $300 to install and retrofit for internet use. "Libraries, art spaces, soup kitchens, community centers — I can think of lots of public places that would benefit," he says.
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