If you have someone you’re dying to call and don’t want to pay for it, you’re about to get your chance. Superman may need a new place to change.
The mobile phone may have taken over, but that doesn’t mean the payphone has completely died. A fixture from before telecommunications went truly portable, payphones can still be found across Australian streets, as Telstra has effectively turned these into hotspots for its Telstra Air WiFi network.
And what of the phones inside them? They’re still connected to the landline network Telstra operates, it’s just that few people still actually use them, thanks in part to how dependent we are on a properly portable solution that is the mobile phone.
But from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day, those phones could suddenly become popular once more as Telstra restarts its three days of free phone calls, turning off the call costs on the over 16,000 payphones across the country, as well as for folks with Telstra landline phones at home.
That’s just like what Telstra did this time last year, which thousands of people took advantage of, so much that 271,000 free phone calls were made over the three day period, a number Telstra expects to grow.
The deal is essentially a Telstra present, offering free calls from the payphones and Telstra home phones provided they’re standard local, national, or mobile calls, letting you get in to with friends and family provided they’re inside the country at the time, all for free.
International calls and services using the “13” code aren’t included, so if you were thinking of having a long chat with your great Aunt in England, think again, as that cost will be on you.
However, it’s not just phone calls that Telstra is offering for free over the three days, with access to Telstra Air’s WiFi network also provided to everyone free, even if you’re not a Telstra customer.
That potentially means anyone can call or connect with someone over from December 24 to December 26, provided there’s a phone box nearby. Seriously, Superman (and Deadpool) will just need some other way to change into costume; these boxes will be busy.
