Though pay phones are largely going the way of the dinosaur, some businesses still prefer to maintain them on the premises, using phone booths and enclosures for a variety of reasons. Pay phones can still generate money for a business, and, like vending machines, pay phones are a one-time investment that can pay off big in terms of traffic routed to your front door.

Both indoor and outdoor telephone booths are still popular for getting pay phone options on site. When looking for supplies and accessories for a phone booth or enclosure, busy managers can use the power of the web to get the stuff they need quickly and conveniently. Businesses using pay phones include:

1. Public facilities like camps and schools, where people who may not have cell phones need to be able to make calls in a convenient phone enclosure provided by phone booth manufacturers or contractors.

2. Businesses that evoke an "old-fashioned" atmosphere with classic telephone enclosure models, including diners, drug stores or department store shopping areas.

3. Any business that wants the traffic that will be routed to a pay phone in indoor or outdoor phone enclosures where no other are accessible nearby.

Action Steps
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Find state-of-the-art pay phone units for phone booths

If you're going for a pay phone in a public area, think about an upgrade: card-operated phones are the style in other countries, and with today's cashless systems, your pay phone should be accessible to people who aren't carrying rolls of quarters in their pocket. Evaluate cash vs. cashless to see what's right for your area.

I recommend: Get free shipping on coinless phones like the G-TEL 525 at Payphone.com. Find a wide variety of pay phone models including faux vintage styles at the PayPhoneOutlet.com, another online pay phone supplier.

Get phone booth covers for phone booths

Another great supply that you will need is a handy hard vinyl cover for a phone book. People using pay phones want to be able to rely on the phone book included in the telephone enclosure, and the cover helps to protect the book from the elements.

I recommend: You can find stylish hard vinyl phone book covers from Hapco Elmar online. Joe Menu is another site that will ship telephone directory covers to your shop in vinyl or pricier materials.

Get seating for phone booths

If you want to really provide comfort and convenience for guests and maximize profit from your on-site payphone booths, you'll want to set up a stool or seat inside your telephone enclosures. Look for great sturdy and comfortable models from professional online shops to outfit your phone booth space.

I recommend: Get sturdy leather topped stools with back, shipped Fedex, from Algrove Bar Furniture, an online shop offering seating for bars that can fit inside your phone booth. Find wholesale buys on more of these seating products for a telephone safety enclosure at RestaurantSeatingDirect.com.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  When outfitting phone booths, always have the precise measurements available: an accessory item doesn't need to just fit inside of the booth, it also needs to fit through the doors. Keep this salient detail in mind when ordering.

Phone booths originally provided a place where people could yell into a phone to maintain a connection without disturbing their neighbors. While the main function for a phone enclosure remains the same today, the booths have undergone a wide variety of changes over the years. Today’s options range from a sit down booth with an open roof and door to a fully enclosed structure to a multi-telephone kiosk with no walls.

While multi-telephone kiosks serve their purpose, many patrons prefer to have a quiet place to talk that allows for private conversation. This includes people who use cell phones. Many businesses look at a phone enclosure as a way to keep peace between cell phone users and other patrons. Others like the style it adds to the atmosphere and customize the phone booth to include leather or velvet seats.

Regardless of the style, a phone booth should:

1. Allow privacy
2. Have a clear door to prevent mischief
3. Blend in with the surroundings
4. Have a local phone book in the telephone enclosure
   

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Buy from phone booth manufacturers that offer a wide variety of phone booths

Varieties include sit-down telephone booths, multi-phone kiosks and fully enclosed payphone booths. A phone booth manufacturer that offers several varieties and custom designs provides its customers with a one stop shop to find the best look and style for their needs.

I recommend: View the showroom for REDY REF, which began manufacturing telephone booths in 1913 and is a leading telephone booth manufacturer that designs kiosks to fit your environment. For classic looking phone booths, browse the selection of Sherron Telebooths. Look at their client list for big name companies that trust them with their needs.

Get a telephone enclosure for cell phones

Many businesses such as bars, restaurants and movie theaters as well as locations like libraries now offer a phone enclosure without the phone. These provide a quiet place for people on cell phones to talk and are designed to fight talk pollution.

I recommend: Look at the package options available from Salemi Industries. Additional features of the Cell Zone include rubber mat flooring and shelving. Model SI200ST is available as an outdoor phone enclosure.

Purchase used phone booths

Classic phone booths enhance the atmosphere of venues trying to recreate a certain era. Often, refurbished phone booths cost less than new ones and provide character to the enclosure.

I recommend: Buy a refurbished telephone enclosure from EPS Custom Telephone Booths and Kiosks. The phone enclosure inventory constantly changes but typically offers British phone booths and wooden phone booths.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Many phone booth manufacturers do not include the cost of shipping in the list price.
• •  Find a manufacturer that provides national installation.
• •  Some companies ship telephone booths assembled where others expect assembly to occur on arrival.

Phone booths and enclosures education and training encompasses preparation for design, manufacture and installation. Because of the widespread use of cellular phones, most telephone booths are designed as custom installations and require extensive design and engineering, rather than just mass production.

Varying levels of training and certification are needed depending on the type of work you are doing with the phone booths. A higher education degree is necessary for a high-level or leadership position in manufacturing, but the design and installation of a phone enclosure may be done with little formal education and requires prior experience only.

When looking for phone booths and enclosures education and training, consider the following options:

1. For designing phone booths, learn drafting and graphic design software.
2. To work with phone booth manufacturers, obtain a degree in manufacturing technology.
3. Learn to install phone booths using online tutorials and instructions.
   

Action Steps
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Get the skills necessary to design and engineer phone booths

For all phone booth projects, but especially for custom telephone enclosures, drafting and graphic design skills are a must. By obtaining a grasp of programs like AutoCAD, VersaCAD, Photoshop and Quark, you can obtain the skills you need to do the design and engineering work for a telephone booth manufacturer.

I recommend: MyCADSite.com offers a wide range of free AutoCAD tutorials, useful for drafting a plan for a telephone enclosure. Mike's Sketchpad is a good site for tutorials in Quark and other graphic design programs ideal for the creative side of manufacturing phone booths.

Obtain a degree that qualifies you to manufacture phone booths

Manufacturing and industrial engineering skills are another main component of the telephone enclosure business, and training to do these jobs starts with an engineering degree. Most engineering degree programs also need to be supplemented with some level of industrial work or internship experience.

I recommend: East Carolina University offers a bachelor's degree in industrial technology, which can be completed online. Ferris State University in Michigan has a similar manufacturing engineering degree, useful for students interested in becoming phone booth manufacturers.

Learn the basic skills needed for installing telephone booths

Individuals who provide installation and maintenance for telephone enclosures may or may not be employed by a phone booth manufacturer. Some instructional materials are available online for people interested in doing basic installation, especially for other small businesses whose needs are narrow and specialized.

I recommend: EPS Custom Telephone Booths provides an installation guide online for people using one of their phone booth models, or a similar type of telephone enclosure. Popular Mechanics offers step-by-step instructions for installing a new phone line, which would apply to businesses who want to install a small phone carrel in their office for employees or clients.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Because historic phone booths are very popular for certain businesses, familiarize yourself with refurbished and used phone booths, especially if you are training for the installation and maintenance side of the businesses. Designers and manufacturers can also take some lessons from vintage phone booths to achieve a traditional style.

Though pay phones have largely gone the way of the dinosaur, phone booths and enclosures are still around. Phone booths used to house pay phones, but many of them are now either modernized kiosks and booths for a high-tech land line or spaces set aside for cell phone users. Knowing about the old and new types of phone booths and enclosures will help a business that wants to use these structures either for functional customer spaces or for a "retro" project for film or theater.

Action Steps
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Kiosk

Many people refer to modern phone booth enclosures as kiosks. A kiosk has several definitions, but in regard to phone use, it is simple a place set aside by walls where people can use either a built in phone or a cell phone. Phone kiosks today may or may contain a regular land line for use.

I recommend: Get some kiosk definitions from Webopedia.

Old fashioned phone booth

The traditional or old fashioned phone booth was often an elaborate wooden structure housing a land line telephone. With cell phones, old fashioned phone booth are either being destroyed or converted to more modern applications.

I recommend: See more on the idea of old fashioned phone booths at WiseGeek.

Glass phone booths

Some traditional phone booths were glass enclosures. The booth was often entirely glassed in, and the user was plainly visible. This made for a lot of use on television and on the silver screen, including Superman's famous use of a phone booth as a changing room.

I recommend: See more on glass phone booths in film and TV at TV Tropes.

Phone book covers

A phone book cover is a plastic or vinyl hardware that fits over the phone book in a phone booth or enclosure to protect it from the elements.

I recommend: See more on phone book covers at WestSky Promotions.

International phone booths

A business that is considering doing a theater, film or TV project with phone booths might want to take a look at a selection of international phone booths to become familiar with how these kinds of structures still provide talk time from almost anywhere on the globe.

I recommend: See a selection of international phone booths at the PayPhone Project.

Cell phone booths

A cell phone booth is one that does not include a land line phone. It is installed specifically to let cell phone users talk without annoying everyone around them. It also provides a quiet atmosphere for those whose cell phones do not have very loud speakers.

I recommend: See more on how cell phone booths are popping up all over at Fox News.