Pay Phone Extinction Imminent:

[S0Noma]

Pay Phone Extinction Imminent: AT&T Cutting the Cord Next Year

Cellphones' genocide of pay phones just leveled up: AT&T will be totally out of the pay phone business by the end of next year. It's a hard blow to a long languishing subset of communication hardware that was eulogized way back in '03 by schmucky Joel Schumacher's Phone Booth. There are about a million pay phones left, down from a peak 2.6 million in 1998.

What's weird is that even though Japan's even more cellphone-oriented than we are, I still saw about a bajillion pay phones on the street, in train stations, pretty much everywhere. Some of 'em were inside some pretty nice booths too. On the other hand, I have to think about places to spot a pay phone back at home, a feat's that probably only going to get rarer over time. Another "back in my day" story for the kids.

web page (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/imminent-nostalgia/pay-phone-extinction-imminent-att-cutting-the-cord-next-year-329210.php)

[sack316]

yes, the pay phone will be extinct. But my bet is that the guys around asking for change so they can make a call will still live on even when the pay phone is no more. I mean, it's not as if you can use the old "need a few dollars for gas to get home" line anymore--- that would be asking way too much /ccboard/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Sack

[pooltchr]

One more phrase that will soon be gone...."Here's a quarter...call someone who cares!"

On a related note, I thought one of the funniest scenes in the first Superman movie was when Clark Kent was looking for a spot to change outfits, and paused at the new style phone booth giving it a quick glance.
Steve