| Name | Telos AWS-1 |
| Date | 1970 |
| Manufacturer | Telos of Kraków |
| Credit | For information and images on Polish payphones, special thanks to our friends at https://telesfor.org/ |
Telos AWS-1 Polish Payphone
The Telos AWS-1 was a Polish coin-operated public telephone designed to handle both local and long-distance calls. Developed around 1970, it represented a significant advance over simpler local-call machines such as the Telos AW series. Its operating principle was documented in Polish patent application No. 80483, filed in 1970.
The AWS-1 connected to the telephone exchange through an ordinary two-wire subscriber line. Unlike many contemporary payphones, however, the telephone itself did not calculate the cost of the call. Billing was controlled by a special PSC device at the exchange. When instructed to pay, the caller inserted coins, and the AWS-1 signalled their insertion to the exchange by briefly increasing the electrical resistance of the line. The exchange equipment therefore determined when payment was required.
A mechanical/electrical interlock prevented coins from being inserted before the called subscriber answered, with answer supervision provided by reversal of line polarity. Although conceptually straightforward, surviving examples reveal a surprisingly substantial electronic system, with separate circuit boards and a dedicated coin mechanism.
AWS-1 telephones remained in Polish public service into the late 1980s and early 1990s, before being superseded by the more advanced Telos AWS-6. Today the AWS-1 is exceptionally rare, with only a handful of examples known in museums and private collections.
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