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AE began making payphones with "standard" SQUARE touchtone buttons in the 1980s, rather than the older oblong rectangular flat buttons which were painful and difficult to "key" a number. The more standard square buttons that Bell had been using since the 1960s usually were also "concave" to that the rounded end of a finger-tip would more easily and comfortably tap out a number.
Obviously, not "all" AE-made payphones in GTE or other territory, or "COCOT" installations were "swapped out" (or at least had their touchtone keypad or front plate "swapped out") in favor of the more "standard" touchtone keypad, but I would assume that by 2000, when (remaining) GTE (including remaining Contel) was swallowed up by Bell Atlantic (including legacy NYNEX) to become Verizon, that "most" GTE "AE" payphones now had the more "standard" square touchtone buttons.
I would assume that AE-made payphones, prior to 2000, that had been installed in one-time GTE and one-time Contel exchanges, still has a "GTE" logo stamped into the metal housing. I've even seen OLD pre-1970s-style "Bell" logos on late-1960s installations of single- slot Western Electric payphones in "Bell" territory, until those payphones were eventually replaced or removed in more recent years.
BUT, I understand that in many GTE (including one-time Contel areas) which Verizon retained, at least within the *continental* USA, that VZ actually has *ADDED* the 1970s-era "Bell" logo to payphone signage and instruction cards, and possibly as well as other telco things such as trucks, hardhats, etc. As for the "Bell" logo added to payphone signage and instruction cards, and yes to AE-made payphones in VZ-owned-and-branded one-time GTE and Contel territory, its also possible that "Bell" (Western Electric) single-slot "fortress" payphones have also been introduced as replacements as well as new installations. But also remember that payphones, both telco-owned and COCOT, is a dwindling service feature. SBC's AT&T recently announced that they are exiting the payphone business. BellSouth, now part of SBC's AT&T, had already exited the payphone business completely by early 2004. I expect it to be only a matter of time before Qwest (legacy US West) and VZ (legacy Bell Atlantic/NYNEX and GTE/Contel), and other telcos, also exit the payphone business.
BTW, both GTE and Contel had a history of buying, *as well as* SELLING OFF service territory, back in the 1970s and 1980s. GTE bought out what remained of Contel in the early 1990s. Shortly after that, possibly to comply with FCC and FTC/DOJ requirements, the merged GTE/Contel entity sold off some service territory, both legacy Contel
*AND* legacy GTE! This practice continued throughout the 1990s. And it has continued under VZ, post-2000.VZ even wants to "dump" legacy New England Tel (Bell) territory, for the three northern-most states, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont! There are some recent posts about the recent state regulatory roadblocks which are now out there, at least for right now. VZ first made the announcement that it wants to exit ME, NH, VT, back in early 2006. In early 2007, just one year ago, VZ and the independent group-owner FairPoint Communications, issued a joint statement that VZ would sell off these three northern-most New England states to FP, pending regulatory approval. BTW, in the 1990s, FP bought out most of one time Contel areas in these three states that GTE chose not to retain.
Remember that back in 2004, VZ made it known that it wanted to completely EXIT the entire state of New York (NYNEX/New York Tel), with the exception of the New York City metro area (LATA #132), if it could find a willing buyer, and if state regulatory approved. Neither has yet taken place, so I tend to think that VZ exiting the state of NY (with the exception of NYC Metro) is now a "dead" issue.
VZ has also made it known that it wants to *completely* sell off legacy GTE (and Contel) areas it still operates in, in the "Ameritech" states of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio. As of now, NO potential buyer has yet stepped up to the plate yet. VZ first made the announcement in early 2006 as well. VZ (and GTE before that) has sold off SOME legacy GTE (and Contel) exchanges in these states, during the 1990s and early 2000s.
VZ has also sold off legacy GTE-operated territory in places outside of the continental US, as well:
GTE-Alaska was sold off in 2000. (Contel-owned telcos in Alaska were sold off in the 1980s).
VZ/GTE in Hawaii was sold off in 2005.
VZ/GTE in the Mariana Islands (Saipan, etc) was sold in 2005, to a Philippine-based telecom. (Interestingly, one-time GTE holdings of the dominant/incumbent Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company were sold off 40 years ago, in 1967)
VZ continued to hold a minority share of Telus in Canada, due to legacy GTE ownership of British Columbia Tel Co (BC Tel), and QuebecTel in eastern Quebec. In late 2004, Telus "bought out" those legacy VZ/GTE holdings. (Contel once owned some telcos in Ontario, Quebec, and even New Brunswick, but these were all sold off by 1980).
VZ/GTE in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic (legacy GTE/Codetel) was recently sold to an investment group which is associated with Telmex. (BTW, Contel withdrew from its (dating back to the late 1960s) part-ownership of (some) Caribbean telcos in the 1980s, although in two cases -- Grenada and Trinidad -- the hard-left Marxist governments "nationalized" all of Contel's interest and kicked them out, in the early 1970s). VZ/GTE also owned a small part of Venezuela-based CANTV, but Chavez recently nationalized those one-time VZ-holdings. VZ had hoped that the Telmex investors could have inherited that as well as the one-time VZ/GTE holdings in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic.
I don't think that VZ ever "introduced" the "Bell" logo into one-time GTE areas "outside" of the continental US.
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