Free Phone at Burning Man

Note: This was the page of instructions pointed to by a URL on the phone itself.

• Live Page with ability to hear voicemails left for the phone this year.
• The Playa Phone Booth
• Experience on the Playa
• Building It
• Descriptions and Maps of where people called
• The Instructions Page
• Gallery of Phone Users
• Voicemails left for the Playa

Feel free to use the phone to call (almost) anybody in the world. Dialing is like any other phone, but there are no local "7 digit" calls. (If you have a number to call in Gerlach or anywhere else in the USA or Canada, dial 1 + area code + number.)

Here are some rules we would appreciate you following:

• It costs us very little to call landlines in the industrialized nations. On the other hand, calling mobile phones outside the USA and Canada costs us a lot. So please keep any calls to these short, or ideally call a landline. Please don't call countries which typically cost high long-distance rates to call.
• Keep your calls short if other people are waiting. Under 5 minutes especially if 2 or more are waiting. You can go to the back of the line to continue.
• Your voice is flying through the air. This means it might break up sometimes, and there may also be a slight delay involved, so avoid interrupting people as they speak.
• If you say, "Guess where I'm calling from? Burning Man!" you must immediately relinquish to phone to the next person in line.
• Folks from Camp Save-the-Man can but in at any time.
• When the phone is located near a camp, keep loud voices down from 2 AM to 10 AM.
• Voice quality is hurt when people do very heavy internet activity. So when you're on your laptop, keep it to a minimum, especially large uploads. Instead of uploading photos, consider burning them to CD. The phone will probably work better at night.
• No need to use a calling card, except for long calls to overseas mobiles or the developing world. The calls are a gift.

Privacy

We will get a log of calls made, though we probably won't know who made them. The calls go over unencrypted radio, so in theory people sniffing the local network could listen.

Voice mails left will be put up on the web for all to hear.

Can it receive calls?

In theory the phone can be called at 1-415-692-8453. The phone is not in San Francisco, but the number is. Only call it between Monday, Aug. 30 and Sunday, Sept. 5th, please!

Of course, if people call this, nobody knows who will answer. We won't be answering it. People walking by might, and you can ask them to try to find somebody and leave a message. Or they can take a message to the Black Rock Post Office and those folks will try to deliver it -- if you meet their requirements!

How does this work?

Hidden in the phone is a Voice-over-internet box and a wireless Ethernet interface. This goes over the Black Rock wireless internet to a microwave link to Gerlach and through the Nevada mountains to the internet. In past years a satellite dish was used. Both the dish and microwave link are thanks to John Gilmore. The phone is a standard payphone.

You can also read our page on on the construction of the phone and the rest of its story.

Who did this?

Brad Templeton organized the project and put together the electronics and the graphics, as well as the software and these ewb pages. Brent Chapman provided the physical Pay Phone, testing, assembly and logistics. Brad Templeton provides the long distance service. In 2004-5 it was provided by Broadvoice. Brent and Brad are in Camp Save-the-Man at 8:45 and Esplanade (Camp I Am). You may also know Brad for his giant wall of panoramic photos, located in camp.

Why did the phone move?

We built it because we like the surreal image of an ordinary pay phone sitting in a totally out-of-the-ordinary remote place, exactly where you don't expect to find it, except it works and it's free. As such we like the idea of seeing reactions to it in different settings -- on streets, in open playa, etc.