Since mobiles became nearly universal, a lot of Australians might not give them much thought. Until there’s a natural disaster. Until you’re in vulnerable circumstances, homeless or fleeing domestic violence.
Two years ago, Telstra made all local and national calls to standard fixed line numbers and calls to standard Australian mobiles on their public payphones free and followed this with free Wi-Fi across select enabled payphones.
There are three payphone locations in Lilydale, three in Mount Evelyn, two in Mooroolbark, one in Chirnside Park and one in Coldstream.
Fast forward 24 months, and Australia’s payphones have become an essential lifeline for those in need.
Since the introduction of free calls, there have been a staggering over 40 million calls made, seeing demand more than double.
Across critical helplines is where we’ve seen some of the sharpest rises in calls, with key increases over the past 12-months including:
12,000 plus calls made to Lifeline, up by more than 30 per cent from the previous year.
12,000 plus calls made to Headspace, up by over 28 per cent on the previous year.
85,000 plus calls to Centrelink’s reporting line, up by over 30 per cent on previous year.
250,000 plus calls directed to emergency services, up by 15 per cent on previous year.
Payphones are more than just a way to make a call. For Australians experiencing vulnerable circumstances, they are a lifeline. They provide a link to critical services, as well as essential connections with family and friends. Telstra is seeing the importance of payphones grow more and more each year, and are glad they can provide this important lifeline during times when it is needed most.
“Payphones becoming free has given people access to services that they’re in desperate need of, with a lot of people able to connect with housing and support services. It’s fantastic that they can just go straight to a payphone and they know they don’t need coins, they don’t need money, they can just jump on the phone and get support,” Salvation Army Commanding Officer Brendan Nottle said.
“Payphones are also a wonderful way of people connecting and a lot of people we work with right across the nation are suffering not just from poverty but also social poverty. They don’t have access to family and friends so payphones are a great way of connecting them with people who care.
“There’s been a 15 per cent increase in the number of people accessing the Salvo helplines through payphones so this initiative is really important because it says to people that help is there, but more than that help the ability to connect with that help is also there.”
In addition to free payphone calls and texts, 3,300 payphones are equipped with free Wi-Fi access and are in works to make this service available across even more of our payphones.
“We’re committed to helping keep one million Australians in vulnerable circumstances stay connected every year. For anyone seeking support, we offer a range of assistance options like our Top Up program in partnership with Infoxchange, flexible payment terms and long-term account holds to provide help when it’s needed most,” a spokesperson said.
To find the closest payphone to you, you can head to www.telstra.com.au/find-us?search=payphone and enter your location to see a list and map of your closest options. It will also be able to tell you which phones support our free Wi-Fi if it’s internet connectivity you need, rather than to make a call.
Making calls on our payphones is as simple as dialling the number you’d like to reach, but if you need a hand connecting to Wi-Fi, here are the basics:
Turn on your device’s Wi-Fi if it isn’t already on
Select the “free Telstra Wi-Fi” in your Wi-Fi settings
The Telstra Wi-Fi portal will launch automatically where you’ll just need to agree to the terms and conditions.
That’s it! You’re online.
