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Telus to remove Airdrie's last payphone this June

Do you remember the last time you used a payphone?
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Airdrie's last payphone will be removed on June 22. The phone is located at a Meadowbrook shopping plaza.

It's the end of an era for one of the most popular forms of telecommunication in decades past – Telus representatives will be in town on June 22 to remove Airdrie's last-standing pay phone. 

"As required by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC), Telus is providing notice of the planned removal of the pay phone located at East Airdrie Plaza 1861 Meadowbrook Drive SE," reads an advertisement in the April 28 Airdrie City View.

The shopping plaza where the pay phone is located is just off of East Lake Boulevard. The phone is situated next to the Hi Ho Convenience Store. Its current rate for making a local call is 50 cents, and a dial tone could still be heard April 27 when picking up the receiver.

Airdrie is not the first south-central Alberta community to see its final pay phone uninstalled and removed in recent. Other communities that have had the infrastructure removed in 2022 include Okotoks, Blackie, Nanton, and Athabasca. 

Telus spokesperson Chelsey Rajzer told Great West Media in a prior email that pay phone use has steadily declined over the last 20 years due to the popularity and availability of cellphones. The company started removing payphones about six years ago as a result. 

The nearest pay phones to Airdrie, according to Telus' ad in the City View, are located at the Mountain Aire Lodge in Cremona, and at the Cremona Shopping Centre.

Anyone with questions about the pay phone's removal are asked to contact WiMacTel Canada Inc. at 1-8440825-8481.

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