Calling bullshit on this. I never received a telegraph, but I never assumed they were made up for the movies. This kid is either a troll or a moron.
I don’t disagree but in his defence pay phones used to be everywhere and are practically gone today vs relatively few telegraph offices.
Great, now I’m reminded of a project I abandoned and the pile of weird business cards I have in my junk drawer…
I set up a toll-free number a year or so back with the idea of finding (eventually) all remaining payphones in public spaces in my city, white listing the numbers and leaving a card inviting folks to call. I stopped after about a week and like 10 phones, meaning to get back to it and never did.
Did run into people legitimately using them while doing so though, which was slightly unexpected.
Somebody should describe the insane hack to these youngins where you can make a collect call to your parents from a pay phone and tell them your name is “HEY COME PICK ME UP!”
It’s like you can send information to somebody across town without having coins in your pocket!
The real phone “hacks” were called phreaking back in the day.
In Australia the receiving phone would “ring” even if you didnt put any money in.
You’d dial and let it ring a few times and then hang up.
Oh, Kiddy…
Ive seen a couple in New York and several when I visted Palestine
Matt Damon aging meme.
I worked for a company back in the '00s that made most of their money off of pay phones. Even 20 years ago pay phones were obsolete so I was somewhat mystified by this during my job interview. Turns out they managed pay phones in prison - which are still a thing.
Ahhhhh that makes sense
I saw horses in Western movies, surely they could have just driven to the gunfight?
I saw a cool movie that had guys literally riding on the backs of the horses. It was a clever spin on the worm scene from Dune, even if it wasn’t a completely original idea.
Like, without a steering wheel!?
I remember in NYC, I think once my dad’s phone either ran out of battery or forgot to bring it… so he used the payphones, and the conversation had to be quick because otherwise you gotta put in more quarters. I think it was just to know where to meet up or something, cuz we lived in Brooklyn and some of our relatives were in Manhattan, and so we’d just meet like every so often especially like holidays. I remember being in that Chinese Restaunt near Canal St… like often.
Pay phones were cool. As teens, we used to go spend the summer camping with my friends in a super remote place and the only thing available connecting us with our parents was the pay phone. We’d go there twice a week to tell them we’re still alive and will eventually come back home if we run out of food.
Living the dream
Oh my god, this is wild! You know who would like this meme? My friend, Tony
Operator, connect me to Tony, please
I lived on a farm so it was out in the middle of nowhere, and apparently our first phone number was 3
Apparently the numbersused to just be sequential
Tony who?
- The Operator
Now, Sarah, I reckon you know plum well which Tony, seein’ as there ain’t but one in all of Mayberry…
You carry payphones in your pockets nowadays
About 10 years ago my kids went to a summer camp with a pay phone. The thing is they weren’t allowed to use cellphones in any public area plus reception was horrible, so they had to learn
in australia they’re still everywhere because when i government sold our state telco they mandated that they maintain the pay phone network at reasonable prices
that doesn’t sound particularly comment-worthy on its own so here’s the cool part: turns out collecting coins is more expensive than the money they got from it so they just stopped charging and now all our pay phones are not only still everywhere, but entirely free and have free wifi embedded in them
I have seen payphones around… like, at all. I’ve seen the iconic bright pink lit up tops and wifi symbol so I can attest that they are indeed still around, but it’s very uncommon to see them. There’s not a whole lot left and to say they’re “everywhere”, I mean… I haven’t been interstate for a while but, what part of Australia are you in that these are a common fixture for you?
in melbourne CBD is guess there’s at least 1 per corner
My first thought was “wait it doesn’tl exist everywhere?” guess not
I’m surprised that they didn’t just embed a card reader in the phones.
Where I am, a few payphones exist here and there, and they use specialized cards that are (iirc) tied to the person. This was probably done just so the police can spy on who makes calls.
Still not really feasible. The card charges on a $0.20 call would be “unreasonable”.
Depends on how you define unreasonable….
We still have some really cheap parking meters. For example to keep people from using the library parking lot all day, there is a meter and 2 hour limit. It’s only a quarter for half an hour or maybe even an hour.
But who carries quarters anymore? There’s an app for that. You can pay by app. Each quarter has a quarter surcharge. I think that’s unreasonable and refuse but a lot of people are ok with it. I say “100% fee is unreasonable” but they say “25¢ fee is cheap and convenient ”.
Nope that was comment worthy without the other half.
However the second part is super rad in a way only people who grew up with the word “rad” can really understand. Or whatever the Aussie equivalent of 90s slang for “cool” would be.
rad works :p you could go with BONZA MATE if you’re really putting it on ahah
That’s amazing to me. So far apart but so lame together 🫶🏻
Bonza mate sounds pretty awesome by comparison, but maybe because I wasn’t bathed in it throughout my life…?
Nah, it’s awesome anyway.
I’d be shit out of luck using a payphone in today’s world.
I don’t remember anyone’s phonenumbers except my teenage girlfriend’s family, because while she has changed her phone number, the mother and brother were just 1 number off so I remember them, especially because the first 7 numbers are same as mine.
But aside from that, idk, maybe my own mother and brother.
But I haven’t learned a phone number in fucking decades.
Pretty cool though as you know they’re there, so either you can use the WiFi with your own device or just remember a few numbers in case you run out of charge.
You haven’t learned new numbers in decades but you have a teenage girlfriend?
The girlfriend I had when I was a teenager — decades ago.
I’m sure that was clear from the context but I’m not gonna leave that hanging no matter how much of a joke, lol.
I think the joke involved Epstein, or maybe “Bubba”
I have the most important numbers stored in a note on my smartwatch (and my bike’s head unit) so I can still call people in an emergency even if my phone is dead. I should probably put them on a note in my wallet too.
I used to have a note in my wallet, but maintaining it was unwieldy and I eventually gave it up.
Probably a bad idea but nowadays I rely on my phones emergency calling. I have my contacts set up and my phone and watch are supposed to call if I get hit by a car. I think there’s a way for calling my emergency contacts even when my phone is locked but I don’t know if anyone knows how to do that.
I’m not sure emergency contacts are actually helpful anymore though. I still have family but they’re scattered. You can call my Mom but it’s a 14 hour drive that she’s too old to make do what’s the point. My ex is local but she’s my ex. My kids should know if I die but I don’t see how they’d help
I have no important people or anyone who would care about me, so needless for me, but a fair idea for those who do.
I don’t even have an emergency contact anymore.
yeah - i mostly see them as a public good for low income or homeless people… it allows them a lot of different places they can place free phone calls… perhaps not ideally as private as you’d like to deal with medical or social security things, but services exist for that too - just pay phones are everywhere
also i guess for calling 000 (our 911)
Ironically, for homeless people a smartphone is a great investment, since the web allows finding support services and such stuff. But free wifi from the booths is probably great. Idk where they’re charging the phones, though — perhaps at sympathetic businesses.
absolutely correct! i used to work for a not for profit that built a big service search engine (largely used for crisis helplines, medical referrals etc) and released a phone app specifically for help finding homeless support services
there are power points in maccas, food courts, libraries, and even randomly dotted around cities outside for maintenance
The only number I can remember of hand is my own childhood house line. Like I literally just had to look up my own mobile number!
Everywhere is a bit of an exaggeration they are definitely still around but nowhere nearly as prolific as they where in the 90s. Also anything that wasn’t owned by Telecom/Telstra is long gone.
Fuck me, that’s actually good and I’d make good use of that
Best solution that could have happened.
Hang on, I’m getting a page.
Why is there text on your page mine is only a callback no.
It was really just a pretty elaborate number code.
Signitures, locations, times
We should go back
I used to give out a payphone number as my own back before i had a cell. It was close to where I hung out with friends, so there was a decent chance I would be there if you called.
