They're still quite common over here in the UK, even though we've got more or less universal cellphone coverage. There's even an old red phone box a few minutes away from me (BT likes to replace them with the newer glass ones, but being Brits we like to put preservation orders on the old ones :).
Ahead of you there - random wiki browsing shows that there's one outside Earl's Court tube station. I'll have to pass through there next time I'm in London.
Walking home from the office on Thursday, I saw an aluminum post sticking out of the sidewalk, leaning slightly off perpendicular. I was a good ten or fifteen feet past it before I realised it was the support for a (now absent) payphone.
Not 20 min ago, I was boggling at a pay phone in an actual phone booth (like the kind Clark Kent always looked for to change into Superman) with sliding doors and everything.
It's over in Vasona Park in the South Bay (I don't recall if that's Campbell or Los Gatos over there) by the ranger's office.
There are a couple of fancy phone booths in Rincon Center, and for a long time they had no phones in them and a sign that declared them "privacy booths" or some such nonsense. But now they're bolted shut, and I find that kind of sad.
they had no phones in them and a sign that declared them "privacy booths"
Jesus hell! I wish they would actually make and place more of those. There's nothing worse than trying to hunt down a quiet place that gets signal so you can make a decent sounding phone call.
I was about to skip this thread of fake ironic-nostaligia, but this comment makes up for it. I mean, c'mon people, I saw three payphones outside the caltrain terminal today and I actually walked by one on the main street in Menlo Park as I was reading this on my iPhone.
And no, I didn't find that ironic, they fill a need, especially around transportation. All the phones around bars got trashed and were thus uneconomical, but travelers and commuters still need them from time to time. There's a ton at airports still, and I've used them when forgetting my charger on trips, etc.
Less ubiquitous but perhaps more sorely missed are the lack of internet terminals. Again, you still find them a airports and I have used them since I travel sans laptop, but everywhere else, they went away as fast as they popped up. Kinko's (copy centers) have them if you're ever in need.
My landline stopped working the other week. Not wanting to run up a huge bill ringing the free number from my mobile (which is just stupid - it costs more to ring a "free" number than it does a number which belongs to another mobile operator!), I decided to find a payphone.
And hour later, after having walked most roads within a mile of my house I eventually found one. It had a sticker on it saying the box would be removed soon due to lack of use.
I was boggled when I saw a teenaged girl talking on something very much like that the other day.
In Shibuya.
I thought that Japanese girls were issued mandatory cell phones by the government at the age of 6 so that they can attain enough skill to text at the legal minimum speed of 150wpm by the time they hit the Age Of Maximum Gossip (14, that is).
And only $.50! Amazing. I remember in high school how big a deal it was when they raised the price to $.75. Mostly because kids kept bugging the front office for change so they could call mom for pickup.
Things the next generation will never even *think* of...
atleast once week at DNA I get asked "where is a payphone near here". Ironic is seeing homeless people on 11th st. Using prepaid or metro pcs cell phones. They do get $250 a week from the city for being homeless.
I think there's actually been a slight resurgence of the things here in Seattle, after their nadir a few years ago. Maybe the Invisible Hand just overshot a little.
It's in a bart station. They made a big whoopie a year or so ago about getting cell coverage in one or two downtown stations, but out there in the burbs? There's probably some homeland security theatre requirement to have one there so dutiful citizens, in their role as the eyes and ears of peace officers, can report all suspicious activity immediately.
I was stunned when I realized that there's no cell coverage in the subways in NY. Positively uncouth. BART has coverage Embarcadero through Civic Center (and whenever above ground of course), so actually I never have to go more than a few stops without coverage for most of my regular commutes.
FTW were you doing in Berkeley? To my horror, I recognized the floor molding first (then noticed the sign). That's my commute destination, and I spend too much time there, staring at the floor.
But yeah, several bart stations still have pay phones, and not just the wall mounted ones near the entrances and exits.
Dear god! Was it functional?
They're still quite common over here in the UK, even though we've got more or less universal cellphone coverage. There's even an old red phone box a few minutes away from me (BT likes to replace them with the newer glass ones, but being Brits we like to put preservation orders on the old ones :).
If you ever, ever, see a blue one, call me. Especially if it says "Police Public Call Box" on it.
Ahead of you there - random wiki browsing shows that there's one outside Earl's Court tube station. I'll have to pass through there next time I'm in London.
Buyin' plane tickets now.
now i'm curious.
i'll have to look if i need to hit that station for any reason
All over Scotland:
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/~trekker/policeboxes/scottishboxes.html
Did it work? What you saw may have been a fossil.
Actually quite often when I see a payphone it's in use. I think it's because the supply of them has fallen far faster than the demand for them.
Grandpa, what's that?
Was this sitting in a pile of word-processors and checkbooks?
I hear if you bring one a phone book, it will grant a wish.
50¢? Seriously? I would have thought they had raised it to $1 by now.
Walking home from the office on Thursday, I saw an aluminum post sticking out of the sidewalk, leaning slightly off perpendicular. I was a good ten or fifteen feet past it before I realised it was the support for a (now absent) payphone.
It has a label on it, are you sure it's not part of some open-air museum?
I'm frightened! What is it!? Will it hurt us?
Just be glad it wasn't seen in Boston. One shudders to think of the reaction of that city's local constabulary.
Because there are certainly zero other instances of sad anachronism to be found in Berkeley.
Not 20 min ago, I was boggling at a pay phone in an actual phone booth (like the kind Clark Kent always looked for to change into Superman) with sliding doors and everything.
It's over in Vasona Park in the South Bay (I don't recall if that's Campbell or Los Gatos over there) by the ranger's office.
There are a couple of fancy phone booths in Rincon Center, and for a long time they had no phones in them and a sign that declared them "privacy booths" or some such nonsense. But now they're bolted shut, and I find that kind of sad.
A sad commentary on our times, etc.
they had no phones in them and a sign that declared them "privacy booths"
Jesus hell! I wish they would actually make and place more of those. There's nothing worse than trying to hunt down a quiet place that gets signal so you can make a decent sounding phone call.
WTF are you doing in Berkeley?
Photo taken with a camera phone.
Kind of like playing Super Mario Bros. on a Wii.
I tried to take a picture of my cell phone with the pay phone, but I didn't have enough quarters.
I was about to skip this thread of fake ironic-nostaligia, but this comment makes up for it. I mean, c'mon people, I saw three payphones outside the caltrain terminal today and I actually walked by one on the main street in Menlo Park as I was reading this on my iPhone.
And no, I didn't find that ironic, they fill a need, especially around transportation. All the phones around bars got trashed and were thus uneconomical, but travelers and commuters still need them from time to time. There's a ton at airports still, and I've used them when forgetting my charger on trips, etc.
Less ubiquitous but perhaps more sorely missed are the lack of internet terminals. Again, you still find them a airports and I have used them since I travel sans laptop, but everywhere else, they went away as fast as they popped up. Kinko's (copy centers) have them if you're ever in need.
I have actually used this phone.
booths are where it's at.
My landline stopped working the other week. Not wanting to run up a huge bill ringing the free number from my mobile (which is just stupid - it costs more to ring a "free" number than it does a number which belongs to another mobile operator!), I decided to find a payphone.
And hour later, after having walked most roads within a mile of my house I eventually found one. It had a sticker on it saying the box would be removed soon due to lack of use.
Cow? Cow. Yip yip yip yip yip, cow.
Moooooooooooooooo!
Moooooooooooooooooooooo!
Nope nope nope, not cow.
I was boggled when I saw a teenaged girl talking on something very much like that the other day.
In Shibuya.
I thought that Japanese girls were issued mandatory cell phones by the government at the age of 6 so that they can attain enough skill to text at the legal minimum speed of 150wpm by the time they hit the Age Of Maximum Gossip (14, that is).
Wow, and it's still $.50, which is the same amount it was the last time I used a pay phone in.... maybe 2000?
Pay phones are probably now only used for crime, by criminals who can't find prepaid mobiles.
And only $.50! Amazing. I remember in high school how big a deal it was when they raised the price to $.75. Mostly because kids kept bugging the front office for change so they could call mom for pickup.
Things the next generation will never even *think* of...
Until 6 months ago, it was still $.25 up here, but we're always behind the times...
Oh, and it reminds me of this:
http://daviswiki.org/Payphone_Project
atleast once week at DNA I get asked "where is a payphone near here". Ironic is seeing homeless people on 11th st. Using prepaid or metro pcs cell phones. They do get $250 a week from the city for being homeless.
$250 a week? Good thing for you guys the homeless here in Toronto ON don't know about that. They only get $25/wk from the province.
I think there's actually been a slight resurgence of the things here in Seattle, after their nadir a few years ago. Maybe the Invisible Hand just overshot a little.
It's in a bart station. They made a big whoopie a year or so ago about getting cell coverage in one or two downtown stations, but out there in the burbs? There's probably some homeland security theatre requirement to have one there so dutiful citizens, in their role as the eyes and ears of peace officers, can report all suspicious activity immediately.
I was stunned when I realized that there's no cell coverage in the subways in NY. Positively uncouth. BART has coverage Embarcadero through Civic Center (and whenever above ground of course), so actually I never have to go more than a few stops without coverage for most of my regular commutes.
FTW were you doing in Berkeley? To my horror, I recognized the floor molding first (then noticed the sign). That's my commute destination, and I spend too much time there, staring at the floor.
But yeah, several bart stations still have pay phones, and not just the wall mounted ones near the entrances and exits.
Oh come on, she's not that fat.