Verizon to increase payphone rates

Verizon Communications has announced it will increase the price of a local payphone call to 50 cents in most markets it serves but also will experiment with a 10-cent-per-minute price for local payphone calls in some locations.

The rate increase will take several months to complete, as each individual payphone the company operates--about 430,000 in 33 states--must be adjusted. Verizon said the widespread availability of payphones would be threatened without the increase. The company is following the lead of Qwest and SBC, both of whom announced increases to the 50-cent threshold earlier this year.

Calls costing 50 cents would have no limits on length. The experimental 10-cent-per-minute payphones would be placed in high-traffic areas such as commuter transportation hubs, schools, factory break rooms and on busy streets and neighborhoods.

--Glenn Bischoff, senior writer