Most of us can’t remember the last time we used a payphone.
Payphones were a staple of our younger years—they popped up in action films and love songs (think The Matrix and that song by Maroon 5), and they were how we told our parents we’d be late coming home from the mall. Then, in the mid-2010s, everyone we knew bought a cellphone. We blinked, and one day, we realized all the public phones had disappeared. They became irrelevant.
More or less.
Until a few weeks ago, a payphone was located at a rest stop partway up Kananaskis’ Smith-Dorrien Highway. It was one of the few remaining in the province – Calgary’s last payphone was removed in 2022.
That Kananaskis payphone was a lifeline for people who ran into mishaps in Kananaskis country. Mountain ranges absorb the radio waves that allow us to have cell signals, creating cellular “dead zones.”
That wired lifeline has now been removed.
In the Line of Danger
Telus plans to install a community phone in the area.
In an email to the Rocky Mountain Outlook, the telecommunications company stated, “The payphone will remain operational until the community phone is installed.” However, they have yet to say where this phone will be.
Payphones have long been used for emergency communications.
Pincher Creek and High River’s emergency preparedness strategies from the 2010s encouraged people to put money for payphones in their emergency kit. During the 2016 Fort McMurray fire, Telus announced its payphones would be free. When disaster hits, cell service can be interrupted, making public phones a lifeline for many.
Rising Costs
In 2023, the Spray Lake Trail phone recorded 130 calls. As with the removal of Calgary’s payphones, operating costs were cited. Few companies make pay phone replacement parts, so fixing them is hard.
While it’s true that payphones make little money for companies like Telus, their disappearance is still something to consider.
Telus experienced record growth in the second quarter of 2024, adding more customers in one quarter than ever! Although its financial growth was not a record, the company did continue to grow its assets.
Meanwhile, the living wage needed to survive in Alberta continues to grow. While the minimum wage remains at $15 per hour, in 2023, the living wage rose to $23.70 per hour in Calgary. An astonishing number of families live month to month, and people earning minimum wage are closer to homelessness than ever before.
Yet Telus tells us that public safety should be on individual people’s dime, not theirs.
“Buy” Ourselves
If you’re travelling to regions without cell service and there are no public phones, Alberta Parks recommends taking a satellite phone. Satellite phones are yet another luxury that makes adventuring in the outdoors unaffordable, with the cheapest costing $350 plus tax, excluding monthly usage charges.
Kananaskis Improvement District councillors have called for installing public-use satellite phones in 2022. BC did this in Kootenay National Park, costing the government and Parks Canada a mere $80,000. The Alberta government and Parks Canada have not taken these safety measures in Kananaskis. So, the public is left on the hook to care for themselves.
