pay phones/ what happened to them?

[onethatcares]

even in this digital age it would seem to be a money making op to have pay phones on the street corners.

What do you think?

[Phentex]

1. the ones I've seen accept credit and debit cards...

haven't seen the old kind in forever.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. they got damaged a lot.

even the cheapest cell phones have free 911 calls.

[trof]

3. Redundant. No market.

5 year olds have cellphones.

[kairos12]

4. Maxwell Smart kept disappearing in them.

[elias49]

5. When I was a young teen - mid 60s - we had a pay phone in our house!

My Dad got PO'd with my Mom about 'running up the phone bill' so he somehow got the phone co. to actually mount a pay phone in out 'den'. Had to use quarters and dimes to call out. Funniest thing. My friends thought it was a riot.

[OakCliffDem]

6. They still have pay phone at the Navy Pier in Chicago

[Paulie]

7. Here's a place to see pics of them from around the world.

http://www.2600.com/phones/

[kentauros]

9. I was about to go looking for that.

I always liked that page

A phun-phone page: Phone Recording Archive

And, oh! Look at this: Pay Phone Directory

[Wolf Frankula]

8. Cell Phones Happened to Them

They also, along with the internet, killed telephone market research.

Wolf

[pinboy3niner]

10. Let's ask an expert...

One ringy dingy...two ringy dingies...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

12. Ernestine!!!

Yes, I'm that old.

[Special Prosciuto]

11. I remember having a hard time finding one not vandalized.

[OrwellwasRight]

13. Cell phones don't make them redundant.

Batteries die, people get robbed, people forget their phones at home, some senior citizens don't carry them ... I can think of any number of reasons that pay phones are still important and useful, especially in emergencies!

[Jamaal510]

16. +1

[LiberalEsto]

14. republican quantum universe

[mrmpa]

15. When I was in Italy...........

thank God they had them on the pier. The ferry I was to take to Greece was not working that day. I had to call my niece in Greece and tell her I would be a day late in getting over to see her.

She laughed that the ferry company had taken the day off. Even though I had contacted them and reserved a space for that day, they still took a holiday. Weather was good, they just didn't want to work.