Noun

Singular telephone box

Plural telephone boxes

telephone box (plural telephone boxes)

1. (British and Irish) A small enclosure housing a public telephone

Synonyms

• phone box
• telephone booth
• telephone kiosk

A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, or telephone box is a small structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience. Such a booth usually has a door to provide privacy and a window to let others know if the booth is in use. The booth may be furnished with a printed directory of local telephone numbers, and a booth in a formal setting such as a hotel may be furnished with paper and pen and even a seat. An outdoor booth may be made of metal and plastic to withstand the elements and heavy use, while an indoor booth (once known as a silence cabinet) may have more elaborate architecture and furnishings. Most outdoor booths feature the name and logo of the telephone service provider.

19th century long distance telephony suffered from high losses, so "silence cabinets" were built to allow hearing faint voices from distant places and shouting across a country without disturbing neighbors. Most were on telephone company premises, and luxuriously appointed, until the turn of the century when they began to appear in railway stations, hotels and other places where well-heeled customers were expected. [1]. They became commonplace, though less luxurious, in industrialized countries in the 1910s. In 1959 Phonebooth stuffing, in which dozens of college students crammed their bodies into a standard booth, was a notable fad on campuses in several countries.

Starting in the 1970s pay telephones were less and less commonly placed in booths in the United States. In many areas where they were once common, telephone booths have now been almost completely replaced by non-enclosed pay phones. In the United States, this replacement was caused, at least in part, by an attempt to make the pay telephones more accessible to the handicapped. However, in the United Kingdom phones remained in booths more often than the non-enclosed set up. Although still fairly common, the number of phone boxes has declined sharply in Britain since the late 1990s due to the boom of mobile phones.

Many locations that provide pay phones mount the phones on kiosks rather than in booths — this relative lack of privacy and comfort discourages lengthy calls in high-demand areas such as airports.

Special equipment installed in some telephone booths allows a caller to use a computer, a portable fax machine, or a telecommunications device for the deaf.