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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:05:36 PM EST
[#1]
Every other day after HS for a year to to call my now wife at college.
Quoted: I've used one in the past year. Where? I haven’t seen one for almost a decade. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:06:20 PM EST
[#2]
In 5th grade I found out that 911 didn't cost money. I got in trouble that day.
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:06:38 PM EST
[#3]
I'm 41, and I want to say they were just about done for by the time I was 21.
I could see someone under the age of 30 never using one. Even for me, I didn't really use them all that often. I had a pager when I was about 17 - that's the primary reason I used one as often as I did. Beyond that, my HS had a payphone by the office. And once in a blue moon I'd use one as a kid. Even there, I usually wasn't quite far enough away from home (10 miles or so) to make spending the quarter worth it. Cheaper to just ride my bike home if I needed to talk to Mom or Dad.  I had a company issued cell phone by the time I was 19. 
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:07:05 PM EST
[#4]
I clearly remember stopping to use a pay phone to call a girl I was thinking about. It was a shot in the dark, you know. If people you called weren’t home you just had to wait and try again later.
Many of us had CB’s in our trucks so we could use that option when looking for friends if they didn’t answer the phone and we couldn’t find them by driving around and looking. It was really hard to keep in touch and find each other at times. It was the “no news is good news” days |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:07:07 PM EST
[#5]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Remember the fake car phones? Jackasses would make up fake conversations about being a big shot and making HUGE business deals. Cocaine is a helluva drug. I remember people wearing things like these as status symbols in the mid 2000s. I think they made them with bright blinking lights just to draw attention. 
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:07:29 PM EST
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Truman was President when I was born. Made plenty of calls on a pay phone also used to be on a party line at home, that was a never ending pain in the ass. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:07:43 PM EST
[#7]
Used them ? I used to work on them Installed them-repaired them. Kennedy Airport in NYC had at one time hundreds if not thousands of pay sets. At its height N.Y. Telephone had 20 or more techs who worked full time at the airport fixing maintaining and replacing pay telephones alone. If there's 20 phones now I'd be surprised. There used to be one at every thruway/turnpike entrances and exits as well as banks of them at rest stops. I saw the last ones come out nearly a decade ago.
There were so many around NYC and the tri-state area That Sammy "the Bull" Gravanno and his "crew" got keys and were able to break into them stealthily and made a pretty good score moving one to the next and cleaning them out all weekend. They took enough that NYTel redesigned payphones and split the locks manufacture between 3 different contractors for security. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:08:22 PM EST
[#8]
I used pay phones for a few years after cell phones were popular. I really couldn't see the need, at the time, to have a monthly bill when a pay phone was sufficient for my needs.
I actually hated them at first. I used to go to the gym with my cousin in the late 90s-early 2000's. We'd be there every day, and he was always on his phone texting people. It drove me nuts. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:08:31 PM EST
[#9]
I’ve used them a few times, the last time I remember using one was in 2011.
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:08:50 PM EST
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted: i use to even have an ATT calling card too  We had a 1-800 number so dad could call home without always carrying a pocket full of change or calling cards around. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:09:14 PM EST
[#11]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Yeah, had a party line when we lived in a little village in PA until '68 then we moved to the big shitty. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Truman was President when I was born. Made plenty of calls on a pay phone also used to be on a party line at home, that was a never ending pain in the ass.  Failed To Load Title |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:09:17 PM EST
[#12]
when I was a kid it was not uncommon for my father to kick me out of the tow truck with change to run over to a payphone in the most diverse neighborhoods to call back to the shop and try to locate the stranded motorist. Usually they would turn up hiding in a store waiting for us as they were getting harassed by their broken down car.
I've been called every name in the book and that was by the friendly's fortunately I speak jive. I miss payphones, a sign of more freedom. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:10:03 PM EST
[#13]
I'm old AF
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:10:07 PM EST
[#14]
I may have
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:11:17 PM EST
[#15]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Eisenhower was President when I was born, so... |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:11:44 PM EST
[#16]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Bob Wehadababyitsaboy Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Saw one at a gas station in jersey a while back... blew my mind. I haven't used one in close to 20 years wtf. On a related note, you guys remember those ads for a number clusterfuck you dial before the phone number? I think they were supposed to save on long distance calls... but its been so long I can't remember. All I recall were ads that told you to dial 8787878787878797 too saaaaaave biiiiiig or some such nonsense. They were everywhere Bob Wehadababyitsaboy HA! |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:11:53 PM EST
[#17]
Of course I used them. My beeper would go off and I’d head to the pay phone. Getting there took too long so the number just rang and rang. However since the number given to me had *77 after it, I knew it was this chick Gina. So I’d call Ginas pager and leave my number and then wait 22 minutes for her to call back.
Then we could figure out where to meet up. Hope it wasn’t far or I’d have to bust the fold up map out of the glove box to make sure where I was going. I’d trade this world in a heartbeat for that much more inconvenient place.... |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:12:29 PM EST
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted: i use to even have an ATT calling card too I still remember my number. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:12:43 PM EST
[#19]
Quoted: So I was just over at my SIL's house and was having fun giving some hell to my niece while she had friends over. She is 19 bless her heart and at one point she started to complain so I gave her a quarter and said "call someone who cares" The dumbfounded look on their faces turned into a whole family conversation about how things "use" to be. My niece and her friends thought we were lying about having to pay for long distance service back in the days of MCI and "pin drop" AT&T This got me thinking.. How many here are too young to remember what it was like to have to use a payphone. Or if some of you have even seen one before. Hell, Sonny...a quarter? I remember when they were a nickel and had wooden privacy booths.   Hah cha! |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:13:49 PM EST
[#20]
Payphone? LOL
Ever used a party line OP? |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:15:14 PM EST
[#21]
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:15:26 PM EST
[#22]
Quote History
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:15:40 PM EST
[#23]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Wow, where was that? It's been years since I've seen a functioning payphone. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I've used one in the past year. Wow, where was that? It's been years since I've seen a functioning payphone. I still see them in a lot of Walmart's. A local grocery store has one out front that still worked when I picked up the receiver out of curiosity a few months ago. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:16:28 PM EST
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Remember the fake car phones? Jackasses would make up fake conversations about being a big shot and making HUGE business deals. Cocaine is a helluva drug. I remember the fake car phone antennas tools would stick on their rear window to look important. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:16:41 PM EST
[#25]
Last one I used was in 2009 at BCT.
My and one of my cousins would may collect prank calls from a bank of them on the local college campus back in the mid 90's. We were dicks, what can I say
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:16:43 PM EST
[#26]
I just asked my daughter (18) if she knew the origin of the phrase "...to drop a dime on someone". Kinda like that whole thing with the save icon being a 3.5" floppy (even that's going away).
She informed me she's never heard the phrase, until just now. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:16:48 PM EST
[#27]
Use to hit the coin return and sometimes money would drop out. One time I got almost $3....good times, good times...
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:16:50 PM EST
[#28]
I'm pretty sure GD's average age is well north of 40, so, yeah.
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:17:17 PM EST
[#29]
Guilty
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:17:37 PM EST
[#30]
I know where at least one working one is right now and maybe two if they didn’t take it out when they remodeled the gas station it was attached to:
Used them a few times. Tried to limit it though, shit was expensive. Used 10-10-220 to get that sweet dime a minute collect call rate. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:18:15 PM EST
[#31]
After we were done with sportsing practice we would go to the pay phone and ask the operator to make a collect call.
After three rings we hung up. That let my parents know it was time to come and get us. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:18:31 PM EST
[#32]
Used 'em lots of times. I'm also old enough to remember when mom and dad got all the kids together in one spot so we could make that weekly call to grandma ("Talk fast kids the mortgage is due next week!")
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:19:26 PM EST
[#33]
That's how I answered the numbers that would page me back before cellphones.
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:19:34 PM EST
[#34]
In CA we used to call popcorn for the time.
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:19:50 PM EST
[#35]
I used one in 2005. Houston area. It actually worked.
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:20:04 PM EST
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I used to have a code to get my folks to come pick me up when i was a kid. 3 clicks was the gym We used to do that when we were in school but it was from the office phone but they wouldn’t let us make long distance calls so you would be like “Momimreadytogetpckedup” when they asked for the callers name. Then mom would get the call from “momImreadytobepickedup” do you accept the charges? Lol. Good times. And yeah back then long distance was anything not in your prefix. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:20:04 PM EST
[#37]
I still remember what they SMELL like.
Weird combination of phenolic plastic and stale cigarette smoke. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:21:16 PM EST
[#38]
Used them a couple of times to prank call people when I was a kid.
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:21:37 PM EST
[#39]
Quote HistoryQuoted: In CA we used to call popcorn for the time. Wow, I'd almost forgotten about that. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:22:29 PM EST
[#40]
Quote HistoryQuoted: My parents would drop me off at the movie theater when I was in middle school. When the movie was over I would drop a dime in the lobby pay phone, call my house, let it ring twice and then hang up. Rotary dial, not the new fangeled touch-tone phones. That was the signal that I was ready to get picked up. We saved a lot of dimes that way. Your story made me think of this old commercial.  Bob Wehadababyitsaboy |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:24:26 PM EST
[#41]
Quoted: My niece and her friends thought we were lying about having to pay for long distance service back in the days of MCI and "pin drop" AT&T A lot of "educators" won't teach all that much past 1990 or so, claiming it's "too recent" and "everybody should know all about it anyways"  It's left a large but politically convenient gap in a number of subjects. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:26:29 PM EST
[#42]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Yeah, had a party line when we lived in a little village in PA until '68 then we moved to the big shitty. We had a party line until the mid 90s at least. Cant quite remember how if I was still in middle school or high school when it finally went away. To call the neighbor kid across the road or the neighbor up the road or to our milk barn you dialed just a 3 digit number and then hung up. It would ring on your end and the other end. When yours stopped ringing you picked up because that meant the other person had picked up their end. Also when we called long distance back then an operator would come on and ask what number you were calling from before they rang it through so the right person got charged. I realized I could call friends in town and give them random numbers that started with our prefix and not get charged. Feel kind of bad about that now.
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:26:52 PM EST
[#43]
I think I was about 12 or 13 when I went to use one after some bum guy finished his call. I picked up the handset, dropped a quarter in the slot, and began dialing when I glanced at the phone before putting it to my ear.
Then I remembered cootie bum guy had that thing on his head. Then I walked home instead. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:27:04 PM EST
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted: i use to even have an ATT calling card too I still remember the numbers on mine. Haven’t used that since ‘93. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:27:39 PM EST
[#45]
Quote HistoryQuoted: A lot of "educators" won't teach all that much past 1990 or so, claiming it's "too recent" and "everybody should know all about it anyways" It's left a large but politically convenient gap in a number of subjects. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: My niece and her friends thought we were lying about having to pay for long distance service back in the days of MCI and "pin drop" AT&T A lot of "educators" won't teach all that much past 1990 or so, claiming it's "too recent" and "everybody should know all about it anyways" It's left a large but politically convenient gap in a number of subjects. |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:28:40 PM EST
[#46]
I remember certain phones where set up for long distance.
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:29:36 PM EST
[#47]
102880 + area code + number, wait for the tone, enter ATT calling card number. Got that card from my employer for my first traveling sales job in '89. I had my favorite gas station phone booths throughout the Southeast. Worked on planes and in Europe. Would always amaze my current GF or friends when I'd call from far away places. It was also the only way to talk to work when on vacation. The good 'Ole days.
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:30:15 PM EST
[#48]
 Hilarious video show 17 year old teenagers baffled by rotary phone |
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:31:01 PM EST
[#49]
Quote HistoryQuoted: We had a 1-800 number so dad could call home without always carrying a pocket full of change or calling cards around. You'd dial zero and when the operator answered you'd say "Credit card 443-245-7457-321H, I'd like 812-477-3662" and they ring you through. It was just added to your phone bill. If I remember right it was a fixed cost for the first 3 minutes depending on the distance, then a standard rate for every subsequent minute. You could also call 'collect' (and the recipient picked up the charges), 'person to person' where the operator asked for who you wanted so you didn't pay for some little kid to go get his Grandpa in the north 40, and 'Station to Station'. I had a radio-telephone in my company truck back in the mid-70's...that motherfucker was spendy but it sure was cool to pull up at a chicks house, tell her you're on your way, then knock on the door 10 seconds later. Bishes thunk you was James Bond.  Now you guys are old timey telephone savvy. 
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Posted: 4/27/2021 7:31:46 PM EST
[#50]
I came of age in the late seventies, so yes, a lot.
I used to drive 20 miles to a store mid-day when I was out hunting to call my girlfriend. Walked miles to a pay phone many times when the jeep was stuck in a hole. Sucked when you wasted your quarter to find out your buddy with a winch on his truck wasn’t home. Or you ran out of change talking to a girl. |
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