you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 30 points 2 days ago (19 children)

I mean, when was the last time you saw a payphone out in the wild? I can tell you it's been at least a decade for me.

  • source
  • hideshow 19 child comments
  • [–] 9 points 1 day ago

    There's a regional chain of gas stations around me that has a payphone and a road map posted on the wall just inside the door of every location, just in case someone is having a really bad day.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 9 points 2 days ago (2 children)

    I still see them at some airports, and sometimes by bus stations. So several times a year. But besides those places, yeah they’re pretty rare

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    did they work though? understandably you weren't carrying sanitary wipes every single time. surely you had your paper copies of 2600

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • I mean I didn’t try them, but I’ve seen modern ones with tap-to-pay. Makes some sense in international airports, a lot of people don’t get a sim or e-sim sorted ahead of time. Might need to call a hotel or taxi service, as I’ve seen those that don’t seem to have a way to contact them besides phone.

  • source
  • parent
  • There was one that worked up until a few years ago that was in the middle of the Mojave somewhere. Decades ago someone posted the phone number somewhere online, and people started calling it all the time just to see if anyone answered. They finally decommissioned it not too long ago

    https://open.spotify.com/episode/5OoK9OTZ35SGJi18RSeR1i

    E: this episode is from 10 years ago so I guess its been longer than I thought

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

    There's a lot still standing in Brazil, none that I've seen look like they've worked in years though. Seems like they shut them off but never bothered to remove them. They have cool looking egg-like covers on them.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

    They're everywhere in Australia. Technically not payphones anymore though, they're free.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments