Telstra payphones are helping people connect, stay safe and access services – and they’re going to get better

Finding a pay phone these days can be a challenge, however they’re still around and being used – and used a lot according to the latest data from Telstra.

Over the last few years, Telstra has made a number of changes to their more than 14,000 public payphones around Australia. First they made  making calls free, before they also opened the Wifi Hotspot at almost 4,000 payphones to anyone.

Since making calls and data free, Telstra has seen a distinct jump in usage at their payphones. Telstra has reported a 67% jump year-over-year, with users have downloading a massive 133.4 terrabytes of data in June, and making 25.8 million calls.

The amount of data is staggering, with Telstra equating the number to being the same as ‘streaming 5 years of 4k video, over 100 years of TikTok streaming or 125 years of music!’ It’s not just downloading videos and streaming music, there’s tangible benefits for communitites, with Telstra sharing use cases including

Remote Indigenous communities, for example, use free Wi-Fi to stay connected to vital health and government services.

Communities affected by natural disasters who may have disrupted service at home gather around payphones with free Wi-Fi to let their loved ones know they’re OK or to help them rebuild and reconnect.

People in vulnerable circumstances, such as those experiencing homelessness or fleeing domestic violence, can use our free Wi-Fi services to access safety and support services.

The ability to make free calls from Telstra payphones has also been a boon, with 301,000 of the calls made to lifesaving services including ‘000’, Lifeline and 1800Respect.

It’s safe to say that Telstra’s payphones have become essential to some customers, and Telstra is set to make them even better with improvements planned to 1,000 payphones around the country. Telstra says that the ‘1,000 upgraded payphones will allow anyone to not only make free calls but also charge their devices with built-in USB charging facilities and stay active for longer thanks to better power backups.’

To check where the nearest payphone is to you, you can head to the Telstra payphone locator tool here.