Phoneboxes
wheras telephone boxes - die Telefonzelle - used to be yellow in colour (see graphic on the previous page), the new Telekom models are grey, white and magenta in colour. These rather unobtrusive colours have given rise to criticism that the new phone boxes are harder to locate in an emergency than the much brighter yellow versions. It's not only the unobtrusiveness of the new phone boxes which has led to a sense that phone boxes have started to disappear from the German landscape. The rise in the usage of mobile phones has led to a reduction in the number of Telefonzellen on German high streets. And owing to an increase in the vandalism of public phone boxes, Deutsche Telekom has introduced open-air "Telestationen". While they don't suffer from broken glass and sundry unhygienic practices, their major drawback is that they don't offer any protection from the wind and rain.
Whilst the older models were coin-operated, approximately half of Germany's 110,000 telephone boxes now require you to use a telephone card (die Telefonkarte). These can be obtained from post offices, kiosks, telephone stores (der Telefonladen) and some stationery outlets. The introduction of the euro has however led to an increase in the usage of coins in phone boxes, and in 2005 Deutsche Telekom started to introduce 10,000 new phones wher payment could be made using either coins or phone cards.
From 2003 onwards, Deutsche Telekom has started to replac unprofitable telephone boxes with new telephones that neither accept coins nor phone cards, but instead require Calling Cards as payment. Stripped back to the basics to prevent vandalism, these phones are known as Basistelefone. Compared to traditional phone boxes, which in 2007 cost an average of 7500 euros each, these "basic phones" cost a mere €500. In most public telephone boxes it is possible to be rung back; there should be a sign with the number.
Emergency telephone numbers
The emergency - Notruf - telephone number throughout the European unio (with the exception of Bulgaria) is 112. This is the number that you should call both in Germany and Austria, as well as the non-EU German-speaking countries of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. A EU-wide survey conducted in 2008 concluded however that only 22% of EU citizens could spontaneously identify 112 as the number to call for emergency services anywher in the EU and called on Member States to boost awareness of 112.
Part of the problem is that each EU country also possesses its own emergency number which its citizens are used to calling in case of emergency. In Germany, the traditional number for calling the police was 110, and this number is still in use alongside 112. There is even a popular East German detective series entitled Polizeiruf 110, which has been broadcast since 1971. In the other German-speaking countries, the following emergency numbers can still be dialled:
Austria:: 133 to call the police, 122 to call the fire brigade and 144 to call for an ambulance
Switzerland and Liechtenstein:: 117 to call the police, 118 to call the fire brigade and 144 to call for an ambulance
The information that you should give when reporting an emergency is based around the following questions:
wher did the incident occur?
What happened?
How many people are affected?
What sort of injury/sickness has taken place?
