FreeFone
interactive public freephone

Freefone? designed and manufactured by dve)

Is offering free pay phone calls not your idea of a lucrative venture? Patrick Palmer thinks it is--and he's built a successful business to prove it.
Palmer, founder and president of Houston-based Freefone Development Corp., hit on the idea that you don't have to charge for pay phone calls -- if you find advertisers to buy ads in the booths. When customers make calls from a Freefone booth, they're surrounded by up to nine such advertisements.
Freefone is flexible for franchisees -- you can set up a phone in your area as a sideline to a traditional business or secure advertising with a national company and operate phones nationwide. "The franchisees can pick their level of involvement," says Palmer, 39.