# Payphones



## tvdxer

Ten years ago, it was not unusual here to see public payphones scattered across the city in numerous locations.

Today, I hardly see any around anymore, thanks largely to the popularity of cell phones.  Most adults, teenagers, and many kids now have them, hence reducing the need for payphones.

Are payphones still seen around where you live?  Can they be called?

Many here have incoming calls disabled.


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## spielenschach

*payphone : telephone requiring coin or card payment: *a public telephone that operates only when coins or a card are used to pay for calls


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## ireney

I have no idea if they can be called but they are still around in numbers although today they are mostly used by immigrants calling "home" (meaning someone in their country of origin).


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## Outsider

There are still some around. Like Irene says, used mostly by immigrants calling home. I do not know if you can call a payphone. Never needed to do it.


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## wsitiplaju

Payphones have not only been on the wane because of the spread of cellphones.  In Chicago they were removed from the streets in an attempt to clean up the city--apparently drug dealers were relying on them a lot.  Now they can only be found inside businesses.  

In New Mexico some years ago the payphone system was privatized, by which I mean that individual businesses bought or rented them and could set the rates they wished to charge.  I don't know if this system is still in place.


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## rubbershoes

I live in a  rural area and many of the villages still have phoneboxes. I've never seen anyone using them though.

Telecommunications are heavily regulated .BT owns most of the telecoms infrastructure and I'm sure they would like to get rid of the phoneboxes but are not allowed to.


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## roxcyn

Tvdxer, there are still pay phones around--especially around public places such as libraries, gas (petrol) stations, convience stores, etc.  However in many other places such as in schools (universities and high schools) I have seen that they removed the pay phones because there are mobile phones to use.


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## .   1

Australia has a huge number of mobile telephone users but there are still public telephones all over the place.
Telstra owns the outdoor public telephones but private companies are allowed to operate similar telephones inside buildings.

.,,


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## mjscott

In Washington State, public phones are not often found in schools. If a high school or middle school has a public pay phone, they are obliged to let the public access the area where the phone is located.

Rather than let the phoneless community on to school property to use the phone service, they would rather not have public pay phones. They still can be seen at 7-11s and gas stations. Usually they are placed in well-lit areas (a 7-11 is a store that _used to_ be open from 7am to 11pm--but are now open 24-hours a day). If they are found at a gas station that has closing hours, they are placed away from the building, under a street light, where the traffic on the street will see someone if vandalism becomes a problem.

If vandalism becomes a problem (some ghetto thugs on drugs or out to destroy something get out-of-control--regardless of the lighting) phones are usually removed from that area.


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## maxiogee

Payphones are still all over Dublin.
They are such public pieces of street furniture that I doubt that would be removed without objections - but one rarely sees anyone in them.
When the phonecard payment system came out first they were cluttered with children (well, boys) who were searching them for discarded cards. There was a huge fad about collecting/swapping them.
Within a short time the mobile phone took off in Ireland - really took off. Ireland has one of the highest penetrations of mobile phones - we passed the theoretical 100% figure several years ago.
We have even seen an increase in the number of public phone boxes - with deregulation new companies into the system set up their own.
People have generally lost the habit of using these phones and someone who does is usually shocked at the costs involved - which seem to have risen dramatically in recent years.


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## Etcetera

tvdxer said:


> Are payphones still seen around where you live?  Can they be called?


They still exist in Russia. And they are called "taxophones" (таксофоны).
I attended one of the most prestigious schools in the area. Many pupils lived pretty far from it, they had to commute - by buses or by electrickas (the Russian informal for "suburban train"). Most of them used to carry cards for payphones, so they could call their parents if they were late. There were a lot of payphones all around then; now, when most people, at least in big cities, have purchased mobile phones, there are considerably fewer payphones. But you can still find them. There are usually payphones inside metro stations, and they're almost always working. You can even find a phonebook beside!
In the University of Moscow, payphones can be found inside its buildings. I've seen people using them.


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## invictaspirit

I heard on the radio last year that the UK now has only 20% of the payphones it had in the early 1980s.  You still see them here and there.  In London they can be used to surf the net and have large screens. I can't even remember the last time I used one! I've had a mobile phone since around 1995.


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## Etcetera

tvdxer said:


> Many here have incoming calls disabled.


And I forgot to comment on this.
In Russia, payphones aren't supposed to receive calls. You can use them only to call someone. 
Calls to police, ambulance, gas service and firefighters are free of charge.


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## Miguelillo 87

In Mexico you can see even three or four in each exit of the subway and 2 in each corner.

There're a lot of card-phones, and the one which need a coin, are lees seen.
In Mexico also the cell are taking the power, but as the cell nedds credit in order to call, sometimes oyu don't have money to but it, so oyu prefer to use the public phone, so you will spend less.
ABout to be called, Not you cannot call a public telephone, I have tried an nothing !!!!!!!


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## Random1

> Calls to police, ambulance, gas service and firefighters are free of charge.


They Are free here too.
I only see pay phones at gas stations.


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## Hakro

The payphones  in Finland are gone.

First they changed the system from coins to plastic cards. In a few moths they found that nobody used the payphones anymore, of course, because it wasn't easy to find a place where you could buy a phone card. So they took off all the payphones.

I still have a card paid for a couple of phone calls but there are no payphones for it anymore.


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## Victoria32

tvdxer said:


> Ten years ago, it was not unusual here to see public payphones scattered across the city in numerous locations.
> 
> Today, I hardly see any around anymore, thanks largely to the popularity of cell phones. Most adults, teenagers, and many kids now have them, hence reducing the need for payphones.
> 
> Are payphones still seen around where you live? Can they be called?
> 
> Many here have incoming calls disabled.


 
We still have payphones around - a few years back, after our Government privatised everything that moved, idiotically selling our telecoms system to an American company, the new owners put the the rate up from 2c (yes, really!) for any length of call, to 50c a minute and people just stopped using them, unless they were desperate. 

Then realising this, Telecom (Bell I think in reality) put the rate back down... I am not sure what they cost now.

Yes, they seem to be used mostly (but not only) by immigramts phoning home - or desperate people with no credit on their pre-pay mobiles. I can see myself using a public payphone in those circumstances.. 

Vicky


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## PhilFrEn

Hi,

Here in Germany, payphones are quite numerous, I see some very often. Far away to be 100% sure, they all belong to the Deutsche Telekom, the main provider.
These "pink" phones (because that pink is the marketing color od T-Com) are as well as in the street as in businesses building. For instance where I work, 3 or 4 of these phones are in the place!

And more, I always see persons in such phone.

It is not surprising me that these phones are still quite appreciate because like me, people don't always have a mobile, especially when telekom companies make there little war between themselves, and over-charged calls from one to each other! (company X to Y: 30% more than X to X for instance). In this way, better use a good old payphone or a call shop, also very very spread her!


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## deslenguada

Yes, they are still seen but only a few, they seem to be useless for most of the people. In Spain they have never been able to be called.


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## PhilFrEn

Oh I have forgotten this point. In France they can be called because they all have a personal telephon number.In Germany I don't have a clue sorry.


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## maxiogee

In Ireland they do both incoming and outgoing calls.


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

No South American here yet? Mmmmhh, OK.

Mobile phones are very popular down here in Venezuela. Everybody has one -I have 3, one of each telecommunications company.  All three of them offer somewhat expensive rates, though.

In Caracas, "public phones" can be found everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE! For example, when I walk out of the office building I work at, I can see at least 15 (!) of those in a 5 minutes walk, not counting those inside the subway station (maybe other 10 or 15 phones, I don't know why there are so many)

They operate with magnetic cards (quite similar to credit cards indeed), since all the old coin phones have been replaced; and they used to receive incoming calls in the past, but I am not sure if they can still be called now.

However, we must remember this country has a twist for everything and is also the official sponsor of "buhonería" (comercio informal), that is, whatever economic activity that is not regulated nor organized (nor legal, most times). So, we also have the state-of-the-art "teléfonos buhoneros"!!

What in the world is that, you must be wondering. 

Well, if you walk through virtually any boulevard, or stand in front of any subway station in the city, you can find a nice set of what looks like upgraded supermarket shelves (or kitchen tables) tied together, with 4 to 10 mobile phones chained to each of them, and often a funny-looking lady/gentleman watching over them. His/her job? Renting those phones to anyone with no phone card (or just lazy enough to prefer them instead of walking to the public phone), for a really low minute-based rate.

Welcome to Venezuela, you people!


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## ElaineG

> Well, if you walk to virtually any boulevard, or stand in front of any subway station in the city, you can find a nice set of what looks like upgraded kitchen tables tied together, with 4 to 10 mobile phones chained to each of them, and often a funny-looking lady/gentleman watching over them. His/her job? Renting those phones to anyone with no phone card (or just lazy enough to prefer them instead of walking to the public phone), for a really low minute-based rate.


 
Well, actually, Muhammed Yamus, who won the Nobel Peace Prize this year, for his work to eliminate poverty through micro-lending, has largely focused on setting up "cell phone ladies" throughout Bangladesh -- persons who do exactly as you describe.  Of course, most Bangladeshi villages didn't have a payphone before this, so the difference is that they have skipped the landline phase, and gone right to the cellphone phase.

Closer to home, here in NY, there are still some pay phones about, but they never work, and they always eat your money.  They did this in the old days too, so it's good they invented cell phones.  They are also disgustingly filthy, so if any visitor intends to make use of them, I suggest bringing a large supply of alcohol wipes.


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## invictaspirit

Something that really annoys me about payphones in the UK:

The main provider of payphone booths is BT.  In the last 15 years, BT have gone through about FOUR different logos/colour schemes.  Every time they change, they spend millions of £££ changing the look and design of the phone booths.

Pointless waste of money (that their residential customers end up paying for, no doubt).


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## Random1

> they spend millions of £££ changing the look and design of the phone booths.


Around me all the pay phones are more or less the same. They are outside and usually just have a sticker on the phone, and the logo on the sides of the phone; no booth at all.


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