I think about 12-15 years for me. I was out and forgot my phone - needed to call home and saw a random phone. Pretty gross.
I imagine some here have never used one.
I imagine some here have never used one.
When was the last time you used a pay phone?
- Thread starter Formerly Rockymtnole
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I think it was 2004 when we were in Cancun and had to use a calling card to call home to check on our kids.
Some airport maybe 10+ years ago. I saw one at Redwood National Park about 5 years ago. No idea if it actually worked, or was ornamental.
It had caked in earwax and other funk covering the handset
Good question. At 67 I have used a lot of pay phones in my day, but I honestly have no idea when was the last time. I have a vague recollection of perhaps using one on the Garden State Parkway maybe twenty years ago when I needed to get a message to Mrs Radley and my cell phone had no signal.
Not sure, probably twenty years or so, but I do know I called collect.
I can't even remember the last time I have seen a payphone other the red ones in UK
2005, ironically the wife and I saw one in the New Bo Market here in Cedar Rapids on Friday. No idea if it still works or if it's just there looks.
I'm not sure, but I'm certain the year started with a 19.
Probably like 2003. When we got home from sporting events the school had a pay phone. We would just call collect and when it got through and my parents picked up they declined and came and picked me up
Back in the high school pager days, we would always use the libary phone becaues it was free /csb
I actually have an old time wooden phone booth and old fashion pay phone in my basement. My mom and I dug the phone booth out of a garage from an old phone company when I was in high school. It was in pieces and painted green. We removed all the paint and refinished the wood and painted the decorative tin on the inside. Dad reassembled it, Mom found an old time pay phone that had been reworked to operate without inserting coins. It's pretty cool looking. Anyway even though I have a pay phone, I haven't called anyone from it probably since the 80's. Since I retired I don't think I've made a call from any landline for 6 years.
CSB:
Waaaaaay back when I was in middle school the 976 phone sex lines were invented. They hadn't fully figured out how to bill/prevent charges from payphones. There was a payphone near the locker rooms that we'd all use to call the numbers and take turns listening to the operators talk sexy to us. No impromptu circle jerks were formed - just good old-fashioned dumb kids. It took several months before the phone company began blocking the calls.
/csb
Waaaaaay back when I was in middle school the 976 phone sex lines were invented. They hadn't fully figured out how to bill/prevent charges from payphones. There was a payphone near the locker rooms that we'd all use to call the numbers and take turns listening to the operators talk sexy to us. No impromptu circle jerks were formed - just good old-fashioned dumb kids. It took several months before the phone company began blocking the calls.
/csb
Probably did. In Yosmite this summer and noticed a few Pacific Bell pay phones. Was told the land lines were more reliable service so they keep a few for emergencies.
I'm not even sure if I ever have.
I'm 47 almost 48.
I bet the majority of people my age haven't either.
Those in their 50's and up would be a different story.
I'm 47 almost 48.
I bet the majority of people my age haven't either.
Those in their 50's and up would be a different story.
Honestly I can't be totally sure but the last time I remember using one was in Paris in 2000. I had a card to charge off the card and use it just to call my parents and tell them I arrived safely in Paris.
I might have used one a couple times after that that I don't remember. But I went to college right after that Paris trip and got my first cell phone while I was in college.
Hold on I'm 42 and I used them when I was a teen. If I was going places with friends I would use one to call my parents to let them know where I was going and when I would be home.
Two things about pay phones back in the day.....
1) We had one in the lobby of our high school. You could make calls without inserting money by tapping out the number you wanted to call on the hookswitch ( thing that moves up and down and hangs up the phone) with a slight pause between digits.
2) You could also record the tone that the digits make for the number you want to call, play them into the microphone portion of the handpiece, and the call would complete.
1) We had one in the lobby of our high school. You could make calls without inserting money by tapping out the number you wanted to call on the hookswitch ( thing that moves up and down and hangs up the phone) with a slight pause between digits.
2) You could also record the tone that the digits make for the number you want to call, play them into the microphone portion of the handpiece, and the call would complete.
I worked in a mall in the late 70’s, and the store had a phone with no dial so we couldn’t make calls; but we used the “tap” trick all the time. Tough if you are trying a number with several 8’s and 9’s…
I grew up in a town of 20,000. Although I did drive with friends to Michigan City and New Buffalo Michigan a few times.
