Internet Pay-phones.

[phatman]

That's the idea behind 25 outdoor, Internet-equipped pay phones that were unveiled Sunday in locations ranging from Soho to East 86th Street.

The phones -- reportedly the first of their kind in the country -- were first tested last year, when a model was given a one-month trial in midtown. TCC Teleplex, which owns and operates the phones, said it plans to install more phones in Manhattan and the outer boroughs in coming months.

A minute of high-speed Internet access costs 25 cents; e-mailing a digital photograph costs 50 cents. The terminals have been programmed to block pornography sites.

Users can also make traditional pay-phone calls at the usual rate of 25 cents for every three minutes.

Officials with the city's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications said they hope the terminals help lure cell phone-loving New Yorkers back to pay phones.

"This is a natural evolution for public phones, but there will always be a need for traditional phones. They are still the most reliable service," DITT Commissioner Gino Menchini told the New York Post for the paper's Monday editions.

__________________________________________

You can now post from outside your home/office.....YAY!!!!