Remember "pay phones"?

[Sahamamama]

I was trying to explain to my girls the other day that we used to make calls from a pay phone -- put in the dime, dial the number, talk for a minute or two.... :001_huh: Yes, I remember when there were pay phones, and I remember when the call cost a dime.

 

:svengo:I am that old.

 

My mom told them about the "old-fashioned" kind of phone... that was mounted on the wall, with one of those little black mouth pieces and little black ear pieces. She said that phone calls were connected through the operator, and the phone numbers were about 4 digits long. :001_huh: :lol:

[bettyandbob]

There are pay phones in a few public places. You might point them out and tell your girls that a 911 call can be made without money. They are a novelty though.

[fairytalemama]

I remember at my grandmother's vacation cottage when I was a kid they had a "party line". When you picked up the phone, someone else who lived on the beach may already have been using the line and you had to wait your turn :tongue_smilie:

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

That's why I finally broke down and bought a cell phone several years ago- I was desperately searching around for a pay phone one day when I was away from home and could not find one anywhere!

[LisaKinVA]

Yes... I do remember pay phones. My dh and I were just talking about this the other night in light of the ages of our children. We are approaching ages where we should be able to drop our oldest off at a movie with his friends (or roller rink, or gym, etc.) and pick him up later. However, there are no pay phones for him to use to call us!

 

So, when our current contract is up, we are going to add a 3rd family line (not for his personal use, but for us to loan him instead of MY phone when we need to drop him off for a scouting activity, or something else that he should have a phone with him, for safety reasons).

 

I am still firmly in the camp that my son doesn't need his own phone until he can pay for it... but the utter lack of pay phones will limit his ability to grow into a young adult through social situations that should be perfectly normal (and safe).

[ourjourneys]

I remember at my grandmother's vacation cottage when I was a kid they had a "party line". When you picked up the phone, someone else who lived on the beach may already have been using the line and you had to wait your turn :tongue_smilie:

I wonder if everyone's home phone was like this: We only had to dial the last 5 digits of someone's number. My home # was xxx.xx3.3135 so all I had to dial to call my mom was 33135 as long as we were in the same area. It was in the late 80's when they started making us dial the 7 digits and I remember us all talking about how horrible this was because the community was growing so much that they had to make us dial the complete number! :) Now, to think there are not even home phones and/or pay phones much anymore is just amazing!

[Giraffe]

I remember pay phones and party lines! My grandma had a party line. I also remember being able to call her house from my aunt's by just dialing the last four digits of her number - as recently as the late 1980s. In that small town we didn't need to dial the whole number. I imagine it was like when you called the operator and asked to be connected to "Pennsylvania 4539", or some such thing. I'm not old enough to remember THAT, though! :tongue_smilie:

[Laura Corin]

We have a pay phone in our village. It doesn't take coins - just cards - so it's low maintenance for the phone company. I don't know how often it gets used, but perhaps more than you might think: mobile phone reception is not great around here.

 

Laura

[Sahamamama]

That's why I finally broke down and bought a cell phone several years ago- I was desperately searching around for a pay phone one day when I was away from home and could not find one anywhere!

 

:iagree:Yes, when I realized how long it's been since I've seen a pay phone, it made me want to get a Tracphone or something similar.

[Heather in Neverland]

Oh yes, except it was 20 cents for me. I also remember "calling collect". Can you even DO that any more???? :tongue_smilie:

[Giraffe]

Oh yes, except it was 20 cents for me. I also remember "calling collect". Can you even DO that any more???? :tongue_smilie:

 

Apparently it still works from jail - I used to get wrong numbers - collect - from the county jail. Don't know who they were trying to call, but it certainly wasn't me!

[Rhonda in TX]

There's a pay phone at a gas station near our house and I do see people using it occasionally. I wonder if that's because it's near a bus stop. And yes, I've pointed it out to the kids. :)

[Sahamamama]

Oh yes, except it was 20 cents for me. I also remember "calling collect". Can you even DO that any more???? :tongue_smilie:

 

I don't know, Heather. What's your number there in Malaysia? I'll give it a try. ;)

[Mom0012]

Yes, and I remember the day I went to use my dime to make a call and the price had gone up to 25 cents.

 

Lisa

[LidiyaDawn]

I wonder if everyone's home phone was like this: We only had to dial the last 5 digits of someone's number. My home # was xxx.xx3.3135 so all I had to dial to call my mom was 33135 as long as we were in the same area. It was in the late 80's when they started making us dial the 7 digits and I remember us all talking about how horrible this was because the community was growing so much that they had to make us dial the complete number! :) Now, to think there are not even home phones and/or pay phones much anymore is just amazing!

 

I remember being able to do that - and it was in '89/90, because I know where we were living at the time...

 

I don't remember payphones costing a dime, but I do remember them costing a quarter...and always checking them for any change! ;)

 

There's still a couple of them in our town, but only in one spot - it's a mini shopping center that's right in the downtown core. That area is frequented by homeless folk (the shelter & soup kitchen are right near by) and I think that's why they left them up - those are the only folk that you ever see using them. I'm glad they thought about them and keep the phones working.

[elegantlion]

I remember pay phones. We have one just down the street. It stood out enough that I pointed it out to ds when we moved here.

[Wheres Toto]

We actually have 10 digit dialing here in Northern NJ. We have to dial the area code and the entire number even if I'm calling my next door neighbor.

 

I remember pay phones costing a dime but they were a quarter by the time I was in high school. I also remember when bagels were 6 for $1 and a slice of pizza was 50 cents, candy was a quarter, you could actually get a gumball for a penny....

 

I can't remember the last time I've seen a payphone, at least one that wasn't broken.

[Dana]

We're watching Mad Men. I saw a cigarette machine on it the other night. I remember those! (Old vending machines where you get cigarettes.)

 

It is strange to be at the age where you're now saying, "I remember when..."

 

Why, I remember when ketchup and soda bottles were glass! :lol:

[Amy in NH]

We have a pay phone in our village. I don't know how often it gets used, but perhaps more than you might think: mobile phone reception is not great around here.

 

 

:iagree:

[Starr]

I saw one from the car window the other day and quickly pointed it out to the dc. lol I remember a Leno monologue where he caught himself miming dialing a phone and not pushing the buttons. It was pretty funny.

[sassenach]

Oh yes, except it was 20 cents for me. I also remember "calling collect". Can you even DO that any more???? :tongue_smilie:

 

Did anyone else do this? We used to call collect from the pay phones when we were ready to be picked up. We had a pre arranged pick up point, and when we called, my mom knew we were ready. So we would call collect, but she wouldn't accept the call.

[Garga]

There's a pay phone in my town! The boys were fascinated with it when they went through their Superman phase, and now they're fascinated with it during their Doctor Who phase (they like to pretend it's a Tardis.)

 

I think you only see them in big cities or small towns. (Small towns like to cling to the past as much as possible.)

[gardening momma]

I am still firmly in the camp that my son doesn't need his own phone until he can pay for it... but the utter lack of pay phones will limit his ability to grow into a young adult through social situations that should be perfectly normal (and safe).

I don't know about that. Growing up, I rarely used a pay phone. Either you could use the phone at the business you were at, or you just didn't use the phone. Maybe it's from growing up in an frugal household?

[Maeintx]

Did anyone else do this? We used to call collect from the pay phones when we were ready to be picked up. We had a pre arranged pick up point, and when we called, my mom knew we were ready. So we would call collect, but she wouldn't accept the call.

 

This! And we had a party line until I was a teen in rural MT. We'd click to let the neighbor know their turn was up. (neighbor had teens too)

[ELaurie]

had a party line :tongue_smilie:

[Dobela]

My grandparents had a party line until the moved in the early 1980s. I remember listening to the ring to see if it was for their phone or someone else.

 

I was watching Charlie's Angels the other night. I loved it as a kid... Anyway, they had car phones - house phones somehow mounted in the car! I laughed out loud because I had thought those were too cool as a kid. Yep, I was gonna grow up and have the yellow princess phone my uncle gave me installed in my car!:lol:

 

That same uncle also worked for a phone company. I remember when the phone was leased from the phone companies. It was a big deal, and a big change in his job, when you could actually buy a phone in the store some where. Before that part of his job was to replace phones in homes and deliver the specialty phones someone ordered from the phone company.

[Jean in Newcastle]

There are a couple of pay phones around here. Two that I know of are in the mall. I remember party lines too.

[LizzyBee]

I was trying to explain to my girls the other day that we used to make calls from a pay phone -- put in the dime, dial the number, talk for a minute or two.... :001_huh: Yes, I remember when there were pay phones, and I remember when the call cost a dime.

 

:svengo:I am that old.

 

My mom told them about the "old-fashioned" kind of phone... that was mounted on the wall, with one of those little black mouth pieces and little black ear pieces. She said that phone calls were connected through the operator, and the phone numbers were about 4 digits long. :001_huh: :lol:

 

When I was a kid, we could dial the last 5 digits of any phone number if the first 3 digits were the same as ours.

 

I vaguely remember party lines, too. You'd pick up the phone and hear one of the neighbors talking, so you had to wait to make your call.

[LizzyBee]

Did anyone else do this? We used to call collect from the pay phones when we were ready to be picked up. We had a pre arranged pick up point, and when we called, my mom knew we were ready. So we would call collect, but she wouldn't accept the call.

 

My older sisters used to do that. Also, when they got back to college on Sunday night, they would call and let the phone ring twice, then hang up.

[1GirlTwinBoys]

I remember pay phones only costing .10 when I was little.

[Spy Car]

I remember that "long distance" phone calls were a big deal. One needed an operator and one had the option of making "station-to-station" phone calls (which meant you got charged if anyone on the other end answered the phone even if it wasn't the person you hoped to speak with) or "person-to-person" calls (where you paid only if you reached the person you intend to speak with).

 

The "person-to-person" calls were really expensive, so people often called back once they knew the person was home.

 

Times have changed.

 

Bill

[Puma Mom]

Did anyone else do this? We used to call collect from the pay phones when we were ready to be picked up. We had a pre arranged pick up point, and when we called, my mom knew we were ready. So we would call collect, but she wouldn't accept the call.

Dh's college roommate did that with his back-home gf. He'd call and she'd call him back if she was home. Or vice versa. Neither wanted to waste the call to find out the other wasn't home/in the room.

 

I am guessing that most college kids these days don't even hook up their dorm room phone. Ds20 just uses his cell.

[Ellie]

I was trying to explain to my girls the other day that we used to make calls from a pay phone -- put in the dime, dial the number, talk for a minute or two.... :001_huh: Yes, I remember when there were pay phones, and I remember when the call cost a dime.

 

:svengo:I am that old.

Hey...I used to be the operator who had to connect you if you wanted to make a long distance call, and tell you how much to pay, and counted the coins as you dropped them in, and then actuall dialed the number for you. I am that old. :D

[JennyD]

There is a bank of pay phones in a nearby building that we walk through often. I have yet to see anyone using them.

 

I was just telling my DS5 about how I used to carry a quarter in my shoe in case I had to make a phone call.