Maine’s PIPs suddenly changed how they answer

Consolidated: “fully deactivated”

On Sept. 3, a Consolidated Communications (now Fidium) phone representative said the PTS account was “fully deactivated”; escalated within the same call, the commercial department said it was “fully disconnected.”

PTS: a billing dispute, “straightened out”

A PTS representative said by email the cause was an unpaid bill by PTS to Consolidated/Fidium (“state accounts are often 60 days late”), that Consolidated “restricted the lines,” and that it “was straightened out yesterday within 24 hours... everything should be back to normal.”

That email was addressed to someone else, likely a journalist at the Sun Journal, not this reporter, so it needs independent confirmation before being quoted as an answer to his own inquiry.

Reading of the results

The restoration is selective: 9 of the 10 formerly modem-answering lines are completing again, while the two long-busy-to-NLIS lines and the chronically dead sites did not come back. Freeport stopped completing in July for a different reason: it was converted to a TTY telephone that auto-dials dispatch (see below), not a failure of the August type.

“Completed” means the call completed in the automated sweep, not that a person answered. The metric matches the pre-collapse baseline, so it is directly comparable, but field checks are still needed to confirm the phones work as PIPs, not just that they answer.

Published coverage

Sun Journal: “Maine’s Public Interest Payphones Remain a Critical Safety Link,” Dec. 4, 2025 (updated Dec. 26, 2025).

A related but not identical Rumford defect: keypad locking during a calling-card test, versus the currently documented unpayable 35-cent/$1 coin demand on a coinless instrument.

Unverified December 2025 outages

Six PIPs already reported out of service as of Dec. 2025, not yet re-verified as still gone: Hosmer Field/Rumford, Searsmont General Store, Sidney’s, Stetson Town Office, Stockton Springs, Winn General Store.

Newry/Step Falls, the current “working” control phone, showed an “Error 48” fault and screeching modem tone on inbound as of Nov. 2025, not yet reconciled with its current clean state.

How the modem fits in

Weekly remote checks

PTS Providers is a national public communications company that installs, maintains, repairs and remotely monitors payphones and coinless public phones. PTS is the equipment provider responsible for Maine's PIP installations and service.

In a May 2026 email, a PTS installer explained that a host computer calls PIP phones once a week. When a smart board answers, it can report call counts and whether the phone appears healthy. A failed host call can generate a service ticket.

The installer also said incoming calls are generally not intended for public use and that smart boards can be programmed either way. That means loss of the audible modem response does not, by itself, prove a PIP is dead.

Jay Police Department · 207-897-3253

Aug. 27 field check: a physical check after the call-log change found a live dial tone, but an ordinary outbound telephone call produced a recording stating that outbound calls were not allowed and directing emergency callers to hang up and call 911. A call to 1-800-444-4444, a toll-free ANI readback number recommended by a PTS installer as a useful PIP test, also did not work.

Dialing 0 reached an operator-service path identifying itself as Fidium, formerly Consolidated Communications, but no operator answered: a looping “please wait one moment” recording repeated on an 8.42-second cycle. The reporter hung up before any further transfer.

Current state: Jay is back in the Sept. 4 fleet scan as completing again (COMPLETED). The Aug. 27 outbound restriction appears to have been lifted along with the other Consolidated-served lines, but no fresh field check has confirmed ordinary calling works again yet.

The recordings

Field audio from two sites documents a hold loop that transfers into an automated Medicare-adjacent marketing operation.

• Augusta: pip_augusta.m4a · transcript
• Cumberland: pip_cumberland.m4a · transcript

Transcripts below are machine-generated (Whisper small model) from the field recordings; telephony audio, so minor word errors are possible. Timestamps are in the recording.

[00:23-00:25] ...making outbound phone calls.
[00:25-00:29] If this is an emergency, please hang up and dial 911.
[00:29-00:32] To be connected to Consolidated Customer Service,
[00:32-00:33] please press one.
[00:33-00:36] To be connected to Consolidated Collection,
[00:36-01:07] please press two.
[01:07-01:19] Please wait one moment.
[01:19-01:27] Please wait one moment.
[01:27-01:38] Please wait one moment.
[01:38-01:47] Please wait one moment.
[01:47-01:58] Please wait one moment.
[01:58-02:07] Please wait one moment.
[02:07-02:23] Please wait one moment.
[02:23-02:26] This call may be recorded for quality assurance.
[02:26-02:29] We have a special promotion today for select callers.
[02:29-02:32] If you are over 50, please press one now.
[02:32-02:34] If not, press pause.
[02:34-02:37] If you are over 50, please press one now.
[02:37-02:44] If not, press pause.
[02:44-02:47] This call may be recorded for quality assurance.
[02:47-02:51] We have a special promotion today for select callers.
[02:51-02:54] If you are over 50, please press one now.
[02:54-02:57] If not, press pause.
[02:57-02:59] Hello and congratulations.
[02:59-03:01] Just for calling today, we're offering you
[03:01-03:03] a free medical alert device.
[03:03-03:05] You know, it's the little life-saving button
[03:05-03:08] you can wear around your neck in case of an emergency.
[03:08-03:11] These devices are often very expensive,
[03:11-03:15] so press one now to take advantage of this special offer.
[03:15-03:16] Hi, thanks for holding.
[03:16-03:18] This is Jessica on a recorded line.
[03:18-03:20] I see you've been selected for a free medical alert
[03:20-03:23] device, so congratulations.
[03:23-03:25] You know it's that little button you depress
[03:25-03:26] in case you have a bad fall.
[03:26-03:28] I just need to verify a few quick details
[03:28-03:36] so we can get your free device sent out OK.
[03:36-03:37] Sorry I didn't hear you.
[03:37-03:43] Can you repeat that?
[03:43-03:46] Sorry I didn't hear you repeat that.

[02:10-02:14] ...a special promotion today for select callers.
[02:14-02:17] You are currently enrolled in Medicare Part A and Part B
[02:17-02:20] and want to review your Medicare Advantage plan options,
[02:20-02:22] which may include additional plan benefits
[02:22-02:25] and check your eligibility for the enrollment period,
[02:25-02:27] please press one now.
[02:27-02:30] If you have Medicare Part A and Part B
[02:30-02:31] for your health insurance,
[02:31-02:34] or if you are new to Medicare, aging in, losing coverage,
[02:34-02:37] or on Medicare, but have recently moved
[02:37-02:39] and are interested in learning about the plan options,
[02:39-02:42] which may include additional plan benefits,
[02:42-02:45] press one now to speak with health care solutions
[02:45-02:48] and confirm coverage to review Medicare Advantage plans
[02:48-02:50] that may be available in your area
[02:50-02:52] or remain on the line for additional offers
[02:52-02:54] unrelated to Medicare plans.
[02:54-02:58] Again, press one now to speak to a licensed insurance agent
[02:58-03:01] who can check your eligibility for enrollment
[03:01-03:03] or please remain on the line for additional offers
[03:03-03:11] unrelated to Medicare plans.
[03:11-03:13] Congratulations.
[03:13-03:16] You've been selected for a special promotion today
[03:16-03:20] to receive a free medical alert device.
[03:20-03:22] You know, the life-saving button
[03:22-03:26] that gets you help instantly during an emergency.
[03:26-03:26] The... (recording ends)

How the path is reached

Dialing 0 at Jay produced no operator: a looping “please wait one moment” recording repeated on an 8.42-second cycle. At Augusta, dialing a specific ten-digit number reached the same hold on an 8.44-second cycle; a sliding audio comparison matched the two recordings at 0.584-0.659. Cumberland’s version scored lower (0.37-0.50): suggestive, but not confirmed as the identical recording.

Recorder and levels

Field audio is captured with a Zoom H5 Handy Recorder, recording WAV at 48 kHz/24-bit — not MP3 and not 96 kHz. Lossy compression distorts pure tones and DTMF, and 24-bit gives enough headroom that the gain never needs to be adjusted mid-session, which matters because absolute level comparisons across recordings depend on the gain staying fixed.

Peaks are set around -18 dBFS at the start of each site visit and the input knob is taped or marked so it can’t drift. The induction pickup coil is marked to the same position on the handset every time. Every session opens with 30 seconds of untouched dial tone at that same gain, which serves as an internal calibration reference and lets any two recordings be compared against each other rather than only against themselves.

The line pickup runs through a PM-1 piezo pickup preamplifier into Input 1 via a 3.5mm-to-1/4" adapter; the recorder’s own XY capsule stays active on L/R as a room mic, capturing the spoken slate, ambient conversation, and anything audible at the earpiece acoustically.

The PM-1 is a small JFET, high-input-impedance charge-type preamp intended for piezo/contact microphones. It buffers the very high-impedance piezo signal and raises it to a stronger, lower-impedance output the recorder can handle more effectively: input impedance greater than 10 MΩ, output impedance about 600 Ω, gain about 20 dB, with 1/4-inch TS mono in and out. It runs on its own rechargeable battery, so it does not draw phantom or plug-in power from the recorder. The chain is piezo/contact pickup → PM-1 preamp → Zoom H5. That is a better match than feeding the pickup straight into a recorder input, because a piezo loaded by too-low an input impedance sounds weak and loses low-frequency energy. Early induction/contact recordings without the PM-1 were noticeably low-level; with it, the signal is more usable and the impedance match is correct.

Setup photo

The rig as used in the field. Click for full size.

Rumford Information Booth · 207-364-2071

Before the late-August change, the Rumford PIP at Veterans Park, near the information center and Paul Bunyan statue, was already operating in a limited state rather than as a normal full-service PIP.

Local calls did not complete. The phone requested a 35-cent deposit, but the instrument has no coin slot, making those calls impossible to finish.

Toll-free calls did work. After dialing, however, the keypad and DTMF tones appeared to become disabled, limiting the usefulness of calling cards or other services that require additional digit entry.

Incoming behavior

The Rumford line could receive incoming calls, but the physical phone had no audible ringer. An incoming call would continue for roughly five rings before ending if the handset was not picked up.

Pre-change classification: partially functional.

This makes Rumford a useful comparison case because its limitations were directly observed before the broader late-August changes. It should not be grouped with phones that simply returned “No Answer” without a field inspection.

Freeport Public Safety Building · 207-865-3069

The Freeport PIP is physically present, unlike the two Raymond sites (confirmed physically removed by the town manager, Sept. 4) or St. Agatha’s. What changed is its function: the signage at the phone now identifies it as a TTY telephone, and it auto-dials dispatch the moment the handset is picked up, rather than functioning as an ordinary payphone a caller dials out from.

That was confirmed by testing: picking up the handset connects directly to dispatch. This explains why the weekly monitor stopped seeing a modem answer after July 26 — the line no longer answers as a programmable payphone, so the host call gets no modem response even though the phone is in service for its repurposed role.

Unlike the late-August restriction on the Consolidated-served lines, Freeport’s change happened earlier (July) and is a reconfiguration of the instrument itself, not a carrier-side block.

Photos

Field photos of the Freeport phone:

Click for full size (3.2 MB). freeport1.jpg is the second photo.

Step Falls Preserve in Newry, 207-824-2386, was the only number in the previously identified 10-phone ACTIVE MODEM group that kept completing through the late-August collapse; the Sept. 4 fleet scan shows the other nine completing again too.

The Step Falls line is served by FirstLight rather than Consolidated (now Fidium), and it remained the working control throughout. A field check can test the same ordinary local call, the same 1-800-444-4444 ANI readback number, operator access through 0, and the phone’s response to incoming calls.

With Jay also completing again in the Sept. 4 scan, the remaining question is whether the restored lines behave as ordinary PIPs in the field, not just at the network level. Step Falls remains the comparison case: a field check can test the same ordinary local call, ANI readback, operator access and inbound response across both.

Photo

The Step Falls PIP as of early September. Click for full size.