Pay phone call goes up to 50 cents

Associated Press

DENVER – The cost of Making a local call from a pay phone will now cost 50 cents, up from 35 cents, across the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountains.

The switch to the new rate begins Tuesday, but it will take up to four months before the change is made on all 96,000 pay phones operated by Qwest Communications in the company’s 14-state region.

Emergency 911 calls will still be free.

The company said maintenance costs have been increasing in the past five years, but the popularity of wireless phones, calling cards and toll-free numbers have cut local pay phone use by 50 percent.

The nation’s two biggest pay phone operators, Verizon Communications and SBC Communications, said Monday they have no immediate plans to boost their rates.

A spokeswoman for AT&T said its pay phone rate remains 35 cents nationwide except in New York, where it is 25 cents. “We don’t have the large numbers that Qwest has. They (AT&T pay phones) are mostly at hotels and airports,” said Suzanne Keough.

U S West, Qwest’s predecessor, last raised the rate from 25 cents to 35 cents during a rollout that began in 1987 in Iowa and was implemented across its territory through 1998, Qwest spokeswoman Kate Varden said.

Varden said company officials don’t think the increase will affect pay phone use significantly.

“Those of us who use and rely on pay phones for convenience will continue to use them,” she said.

“We’ve all been there, when you’re waiting for a ride or you’ve lost the signal on your cell and you need a pay phone. It’s there and it’s convenient.”