-[Elcotels Grapevine Payphone]- 



-[By Magma]- 

        You may not have heard about the Grapevine telephone from
elcotel. Elcotel has just begun it's installation on a national scale
(approximately 7500 Grapevines in place across the country by the end of
2001), so except much more info on these phones in the future. When this
phone becomes more established there will be local news, sports, shock
quotes and weather reports. There is also a desktop verison of this
telephone it has the same features it's just a smaller design for higher
end hotel rooms and such. This isn't your regular run of the mill
millennium :-) this is an amazing telephone, very well done Elcotel.

If you are unsure what this payphone looks like go here:
http://internettrash.com/users/mtghu/grapevine.jpg 

-[Free Calls]- 

What make me rant and rave about this payphone you ask? Well, many
things; for one Elcotel has plans in the work to make this payphone so
draped in advertisements that local phone calls will be free in the near
future. So what this mean is that about 90% is just prompts how to use
the phone and a few ads. In a year or so those prompts will be much
shorter and the ads much longer but the bright side of this is that you
won't have to listen to any boring ads.

-[Buttons]- 

The Grapevine has speed-dial buttons that call a programmed number like
a taxi service free of charge this is a feature found on the Eclipse
model and some millenniums like the ones at most universities which have
the university police programmed in. Wait, more buttons; there are five
buttons located right below the display of the payphone these are called
Softouch Buttons and as of today do not have anything programmed in
them. These buttons will also be used for "surfing the web". If you are
looking for surfing the web without buying a laptop of Palm Pilot device
then look in the Public Internet Kiosk.

-[Data Transfer]- 

Just like the Eclipse model the Grapevine has a phone just for you to
hook your laptop to however you ISP must have a toll free number for you
to call thus defending just plugging in a phone and making free calls. A
feature the Eclipse doesn't have but the Grapevine does is Infrared Data
access or IrDA this means you can take your palm pilot (IR enabled) and
transfer data such as email.

-[Other Features]- 

- A 5-inch 1/4 VGA screen that displays information and advertising. 

- An insert-type card reader that accepts credit and smart cards,
extending the selection of payment options for the user. 

- A cashbox and coin slot calibrated to accept most North American coins. 

-[Downfalls]- 

There is just one thing that I do not like about this payphone in
comparison to the Nortel Millennium. The way the handset/cord are built.
The handset is very light (thin plastic) and not held together very
well. This means that the handset can be damaged or torn off without too
much effort. For now this isn't that large of a problem but as the
nation wide installation of this phone continuous and moves out of
hotels and higher class businesses the chase for vandalism will
increase.

-[Pricing]-

You may be wondering why these phones aren't popping up at your local
privatly own convience store, the reason is the list price for a single
Grapveine is $2500 CDN. As production increases the price will drop.

-[Grapevine Locations]- 

The following is where you can find Grapevine telephones in Canada, i am
aware that there are more locations such as Montreal, Vancouver,
Burnaby, Langley, Downsview, and Grandby so if you find one of these
please write down the payphone number and if possible the location. My
email is at the bottom of this page, thanks.

-[Cambridge, Ontario]- 
Holiday Inn - 200 holidayInn Dr. 
- 519.658.8992
- 519.658.9026
- 519.658.9374
- 519.658.9589

-[Kitchener, Ontario]- 
Holiday Inn - 30 Fairway
- 519.893.3660 
- 519.893.0237
- 519.893.4223
- 519.893.4470

-[Toronto, Ontario.]- 
The CN Tower - 301 Front Street West 
The Grand Hotel and Suites - 225 Jarvis Street 
AT&T Canada Head Office - 200 Wellington Street 
Holiday Inn, Yorkdale - 3450 Dufferin Street 
Stars on King - 266 - 68 King Street West 

-[Conclusion]- 

Well all in all this is great phone and will sure give Nortel a fun for
it's but don't expect this to happen over night, it will take some time.
I am for one am happy to see this phone being integrated into the
payphone world.

-[How To Reach Me]- 

Email - Magma@SunOS.com
ICQ - 5652209
URL - www.haxordogs.net/ghu 

"The GrassHopper Unit is Prowlin " 

						
						Updated: 08/24/00