In our modern world of ubiquitous smart devices and 5G connection speeds, you may well have found yourself wondering, who the heck uses payphones anymore? And yet, these relics of yesteryear’s communication conveniences have remained a steadfast staple of most Aussie streets.
Telstra has now announced that it will drag Australia’s payphones into the 21st century by making them Wi-Fi hotspots, and what’s more, connecting will be free to access. While the majority of the nation’s 12,000 Telstra payphones will remain regular ol’ telephones for now, from today 3,000 will be offering Wi-Fi, with the aim of making the entire network Wi-Fi enabled within a year.
Telstra payphones have previously offered Wi-Fi to Telstra customers as a plan inclusion, but since offering unlimited data on its contracts, that perk has become redundant, leading the telco to think altruistically rather than retiring the feature altogether.
You can find the payphones that are now Wi-Fi enabled via the Telstra website.