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You'd think that with advances like this now becoming available that the job of fixing a few hundred payphones from a central point would be really simple right?

Well apparently not.

After years of faithful service, and having resisted the fearsome might of the Y2K bug, NZ's payphone network has been taken out by a force or forces unknown.

Now you might say "big deal, who uses payphones anyway?" as you clutch your shiny new mobile to your chest -- but payphones are still important to many people.

I have a cute little Motorola cellphone that goes for six days without being recharged, almost fits inside your ear, and was really cheap ($170) - but I also carry a payphone card with me.

Why?

Well you never know when your cellphone might die, get stolen/lost, or you might find yourself in an area without coverage yet in dire need of help.

Then there are those (and there are some) who simply don't have a cellphone and rely on payphones while they're out and about.

What about tourists from countries with incompatible cellphone networks like the USA? They must find payphones very important while they're travelling around the countryside.

But why, in this day of teleworking, telecommuting and virtual reality, is there the suggestion that someone will have to be physically flown out from France to fix Telecom's payphone network?

Go figure.

But while I'm on the subject -- have you ever bought a payphone card and stuck it in your wallet for "emergencies", then, much later, when you've tried to use it find out that the phone refuses it with the message "card expired"?

What's that about?

Why should a phone card expire at all? Especially given that many of us carry one solely for emergency purposes and might not use it for years (if ever). To suddenly find that Telecom have stolen your money and the card won't work just when you need it most ought to be a crime.

After all, the $5 note which I used to buy the phonecard in my wallet doesn't have an expiry date. The government don't turn around and say "sorry, you didn't spend that money quickly enough so we're just going to keep it and refuse to honour that note now" -- so why do Telecom?

This is the same complaint I have with prepay phones.

Even if your prepay phone has a $2,000 credit balance (meaning you've paid the phone company all that money IN ADVANCE), they have the right to simply seize that money if you forget about topping up every 12 months.

Boy, are we Kiwis mugs or what?

Why do we put up with this kind of robbery?

Imagine if you checked your bank balance one day only to find that the bank had grabbed all your savings because you hadn't made a deposit in 12 months. There'd be hell to pay. So why should payphone cards and prepay cellphones be any different?

Why can't Telecom and Vodafone simply debit your prepay balance by $20 if you haven't topped up in 12 months (or disable your phone if there was less than $20 credit remaining)? Surely the effect would be the same?

Are we a nation of mugs or what?

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