An engineer restores pay phones for free public use via NPR [Shared]

An engineer restores pay phones for free public use via NPR

Patrick Schlott often finds himself in a cellular dead zone during his drive to work.

“You go down the road, you turn the corner and you’re behind a mountain and you’ll lose cell coverage pretty fast,” he says.

The 31-year-old electrical engineer says poor reception is a common frustration for residents of Vermont’s Orange County. To address this issue, he’s providing his community with a new way to stay connected.

Schlott has taken old pay phones, modified them to make free calls, and set them up in three different towns across the county. He buys the phones secondhand from sites like eBay and Craigslist and restores them in his home workshop.

Read and Listen to this entire article – An engineer restores pay phones for free public use via NPR