When was the last time you used a pay phone?

[retromike22]

If some of you young folks don't know what I'm talking about, it looks like this:


The last time I used one was in 2005.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Funnily enough, I had to use one just last week. My cell phone died on the train and I needed to call my parents to get a ride back from the station. It was a bit of a surreal experience.

Before that, I'd say 2009.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Never

[Maxwell]

Speak english boy! what is a "pay phone"?

[Cranberry]

Never

[angus]

I looked for one in Saint Louis in the summer of 2005.  I looked pretty hard for one, asking lots of passing pedestrians who had no idea about where to find one.  Eventually I have up and borrowed the phone at a nearby shop.  That is the last time I can recall seeking a pay telephone.

I have noticed that the airport areas that formerly had payphone banks have evolved into internet hotspots with AC outlets.  Depending upon how much money the airport spent on redecorating, it is possible in many places to see where the phones were once mounted. 

I don't even know where to find one around here, so I googled it.  Should nostalgia get the better of you, and you really want to use one, this website might help you find one.

[Flake]

Never

[TDAS04]

Never

[Sopranos Republican]

I know for a fact I used one in the summer of 06 when I was with my mom, trying to call my dad. And I may have used one in the winter of 07. I believe that was the last time I used one.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I think I used one once at the Train Station in 2012 when I left my phone at home and an unusually strong storm was preventing me from walking to the office I interned in like I would normally do.

[Paul Kemp]

Is there anyone who actually doesn't know what a pay phone is though?

[Grumpier Than Thou]

I feel like I've used one at least once, but it was probably only for the "hipster" value.

[Kushahontas]

I've never even seen one in real life

[IceSpear]

Probably like a decade ago.

[7,052,770]

Maybe 2003 or 2004?

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

My phone battery died when I was in an airport in between flights and no time to go to the lounge and recharge. So, I did have to use it. I believe it was March 2013.

[Thomas D]

2005 or so.

[The Dowager Mod]

1987.

[LeBron]

Who the fudge still uses a pay phone?

I never have and (likely) never will use one btw.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

A long time ago, but I saw someone using one recently.

[dead0man]

I have no idea....but it's been a long time.

[Vega]

1987.

[Tender Branson]

2005, in Marseille (France) - while travelling through most of Europe by train.

I think I even have that French payphone card still around somewhere.

[Tender Branson]

2005, in Marseille (France) - while travelling through most of Europe by train.

I think I even have that French payphone card still around somewhere.

Ah yeah, here they are:

The French and the Dutch card. Roaming fees were quite high back in 2005 when you took your Austrian mobile phone with you and tried to call from abroad, something like 1€ per minute or so, so it was easier to just buy a pay-phone card. Besides, having no mobile phone with you, that was the good ol' times ...

[angus]

... just buy a pay-phone card  ... good ol' times

Indeed.  I hadn't thought about card-operated phones when I posted.  I was only thinking of coin-operated phones.  I may have used a card-operated phone since 2005, although I can't remember exactly.  I know I used quite a few of the TelMex phones in Mexico on my various trips there, and I've used them in Central and South America as well.  Can't quite remember when. 

Of course I still don't take a phone with me when I'm traveling.  We were in Aruba for ten days this summer and I didn't take my mobile phone with me.  Last year we spent a month in China and I didn't take my phone.  These days my wife and son are with me when I travel, so there's no need.  If it comes up that I need to call them, like I'm at the dive shop or whatever and we're running late and they should just have lunch without me, I just borrow their phone and leave a message at the hotel.