What began as a somewhat esoteric fixation for photographer and Rochester Institute of Technology assistant professor Eric Kunsman has become a mission of goodwill.
The subject? Payphones.
It was 2017, and Kunsman dubbed his payphone photo series Felicific Calculus -- referring to the math Frontier used to continue operating pay phones at a profit loss, but for a net community good. That Rochester project turned into a nationwide effort to capture photos of these monuments to a bygone era of technology.
Time went on and more and more payphones were removed. Frontier stopped answering Kunsman’s calls. By 2024, the last Frontier payphone in Rochester had been taken out. But Kunsman knew people were still using those phones, and he thought it was about time to do something about it.
“I teach at a geek school, I'm sure there's some way we can figure out what to do,” Kunsman recalled thinking. “And that's where the Good Phone Project was born, just out of the fact of knowing that people were still paying 50 cents for a phone call. Is there something we could do to make sure the communication gap doesn't widen even more by Frontier ripping out their phones?”
The Good Phone Project has set out to install free phones in payphone booths around the city, particularly in low-income neighborhoods. The first was installed in fall 2024 at the Father Tracy Advocacy Center on North Clinton Avenue. Kunsman said that phone, operational from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, saw 650 calls in its first month.
The project is all volunteer run, and supported with modest grant funding, including $7,100 from the Genesee Valley Council on the Arts.
There are now six Good Phones set up around the city, able to make calls across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. The most recent was installed last week at the Flower City Arts Center on Monroe Avenue.
Painted pistachio green and with its coin slots plastered over, the Good Phones are powered by a small computer connected to the host building’s electricity and Wi-Fi.
Markus Essien is photography program director for the Flower City Arts Center. The Good Phone is a collaboration with Blessed Sacrament Church across the street, is solar powered, and uses the church's Wi-Fi network.
“When I was first told about (the project), to be honest, I kind of had an emotional response, like someone doing good for good’s sake,” Essien said. “Because here's an opportunity, here's an unused thing that's kind of, in some ways, an eyesore. It's just a piece of metal sprouting out of the ground. And with a grant and a lot of hard work later, we have this great asset in our neighborhood.”
Users can not only make calls but set up a voicemail box to receive messages.
“So, if you're applying for a job, you don't have to leave Father Tracy Advocacy Center on your resume, because they have 80 people using their phone number,” Kunsman said.
Kunsman’s studio on Walnut Street is now a shrine of both vintage Kodak relics and payphones. Hundreds of payphone stands, boxes, headsets, and electronic components fill the space — inside and out. Metal payphone booths are piled underneath snow-covered tarps surrounding the perimeter of the building. The front door is flanked on both sides by glass-walled phone booths.
Around the corner from Kunsman’s studio, the Lyell Avenue branch library is another of the Good Phone locations funded by the Genesee Valley Council on the Arts grant. Dennis Williams is branch manager at the library. He said the phone is in constant use and fills a critical need.
“What used to happen is we'd get a fairly steady stream of people coming up to us, asking us to use our phones for the library,” Williams said. “And it would frustrate staff, because it would interfere with operations. We need to take calls on our phones. If somebody is always on the phone, we don't have that service available. So, when Eric proposed the idea of a Good Phone, we jumped on it.”
The Good Phone Project is still in its infancy and actively seeking more grant funding. An art installation phone Kunsman created plays anonymous interviews of payphone users, and their stories.
All show a need for a communication gap to be filled. Kunsman has no shortage of payphones to work with. What’s needed is the funding, and a bit more manpower.
“We're not looking to replace where Frontier put them, because there were so many phones,” Kunsman said. “We're really looking at each location is really a partnership, because they're supplying the power and the internet. It’s five of us, five Rochesterians right now trying to do this.”
