Phone cards and phone booths

In the era before the popularization of mobile phones, telephone booths with various shapes were indispensable facilities in cities and a beautiful scenery. Early public telephones were mostly located in shops and guarded by dedicated personnel. In the 1990s, unmanned public telephone booths began to spread throughout streets, factories, schools, stations, and docks. These telephone booths have evolved from coin operated phones to magnetic card phones, IC card phones, and even IP phone supermarkets. Telephone cards and booths greatly facilitated public communication and became important bridges for people to communicate during that era, carrying countless thoughts and stories.

The unit is designed for unsupervised public use: controls are recessed or shielded, moving parts are enclosed, and the interface is operable by a child of about six with no instruction. Where a screen is used, the language can be switched without changing the hardware, and the content can be replaced on site.

In 1932, the American Shanghai Telephone Company opened a public telephone booth in the concession. At that time, their phones were coin operated. To use it, you need to purchase a special copper coin from the telephone company. In 1984, Shenzhen was the first to introduce Swiss magnetic card telephones and issued the first telephone magnetic card "Red Microphone", marking a new milestone in China's communication technology. In 1994, it launched the "200" telephone business stored value card, which integrates functions such as calling, password, and automatic settlement. Users can make purchases by entering their card number and password. In December 1995, China Telecom issued the first set of IC telephone cards, namely the Yellow River IC card. The so-called IC card is actually an integrated circuit (IC) chip embedded on the card surface. When in use, insert the IC phone card into the phone card reader, and only if there is stored value in the card, can calls be made. Starting from 2003, "IP Talk" and "Public Talk Supermarket" suddenly became popular for a few months.