Vaping products, pawnbroking and any money lending business that profits from those who struggles with money charging them hundreds percents of interest…i feel very sorry for those people and do not wish anyone to be a victim of those lending sharks.
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Sorry. For me no. Beyond my earlier lyddite response I can’t see these making a positive contribution to our streetscape.
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Looks like an appropriate list, with so many abnegaters should be easy to log in and charge can’t wait.
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I think some people may be missing the potential; if they could give local businesses preference for the advert space and then had options to reinvest the revenue from the advertising back into the local community, then why would we want to give up this opportunity?
On the other side though, I also am not sure they would fit in with the style of the area but swings and roundabouts I suppose
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Be a great place for phone muggers to hang out.
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I’m not sure such an opportunity exists within the current scheme. The advertising seems to be a single brand across all the benches London-wide. If advertising is making the production and maintenance of the benches possible, rather than just ameliorating some of the costs, I can’t imagine local traders would be able to either afford the rates or commit to what are probably long-term contracts.
I’d be interested to see how the pilot went, with regard to collecting donations via the contactless reader. Seems a bit like cracking a walnut with a hammer to me, but maybe it is actually an effective fundraiser.
What happens to them if this company goes out of business. I assume they will diligently repair them and upgrade the tech as they become less smart, but if this new venture doesn’t work and they go bust what happens? Do we end up with another useless bit of technology (like the ‘call point’) that no one can afford to repair or remove?
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My god, why dont we just give up, doesnt fit the street scene? Muggers and firms going broke!! Perhaps a communal gallows is the answer so we can just end it all.
No body mentioned drug dealers using it for business or perhaps streetwalkers touting for business ! Come on must be some more negativity we can dispense in case we get dragged into the 21st Century.
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To be honest, this feels more like old tech to me. I think it will get outdated very quickly. Not all objections are because we’re still dragging our knuckles on the ground.
I’m far from a Luddite, and I also don’t think these are a great idea. They’re the sort of thing which quickly becomes obsolete and I fear they’ll be a magnet for vandalism. They would make sense in the middle of Lewisham, rather than the proposed quieter locations here.
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Why are people keen to jump on board the first technology bandwagon that comes there way? There are alternatives and will be other choices. BT announced last year their new plans for nextgen ICT solutions for public locations.
Even these I don’t get. If you have a phone you probably have a data plan. If you need to use data over an extended period are you likely to do this on a bench on the side of the road? Charging points are great but you can buy small chargers to shove in a pocket for next to nothing. And you can donate to almost every charity by text message these days.
What positive change would this add to our Forest Hill community?
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Okay I give up, can we have a horse trough then? Somewhere to hitch the wagon perhaps next to the stocks.
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Bet you bought Google glasses.
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Out of interest, what is the cost of a “smart” bench compared to a regular one?
My opinion on for or against for what it’s worth.
Against - My set in ways as an almost 50yr old probably won’t like the change to the streetscape.
For - Absolutely definitely, as I feel these would benefit our younger generation & I could probably guarantee that most would agree with this - though please take into account none of these School kids will have a say or voice on here - Only us fuddy duddies!
So I don’t think our suggestions are fair or accurate on here & suggest a survey is shared with local Schools for kids (Primary & Secondary) to respond & give opinions to make it fair 
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I saw this in Lewisham it has a solar panel right? I don’t think its a bad idea but about becoming outdated, possibly. Its a bit of fun. There is a lot of wifi already in fh tho, horniman museum and the cloud as well as fh library.
No went straight for bio engineered implants!
I think they look pretty pointless - the world is moving more and more towards all inclusive smartphone data so few people will need wifi urgently whilst on the street. And my bet is that very quickly these will become obsolete - as well as non functioning and an eyesore when they stop being maintained.
I’m not low tech at all by the way
I know from experience with local kids that these will be very beneficial to the llocal School kids. I think they should be asked their opinions aswell as us adults & should be taken into account.
Pauline - in what way would they be beneficial to local kids? If they are local would they need somewhere on the street to charge their phones? Would they use the wifi rather than their data? I have two older teenagers, I can’t imagine them using these at all. But that’s just my experience and I’d be interested to hear from you what we oldies here are missing!