Readers are reminded to keep their mobile phones charged as news emerges that the cost of making a call from a BT pay phone will rise to a minimum of 40p.
From November users will pay 40p for a 20-minute call. They currently pay 30p for 15 minutes.
Increased mobile use has seen cash raised from pay phones drop by almost half since 2000. Only 23,000 of BT's 63,500 pay phones are profitable. BTsay the rise is needed to maintain them.
BT is also asking industry regulator Ofcom if it can increase the price of calls to numbers beginning with 0844, 070, 076, 090 and 091 to 14p a minute. They currently range from 2p to 14p a minute.