to the young people born after 2000, these are called payphones. to make a call, you lift the receiver, put a quarter in the slot or swipe your credit card, you will hear a click then the dial tone comes on. dial tone? it's a sound or signal that tells you you can dial the numbers, or punch in the numbers from the keypad. then you will hear a ringing sound and then the party you called lifts up the receiver from the other end and you talk.
time was when you can talk for hours for just 25 cents. nowadays, there's a voice that commands you to put in money and when some minutes pass, it will put your call on hold and you put in more money. if you swipe your credit card, the charges just pile up. it's free to call 9-1-1 and there's a special code you punch to call a helpline. help line like for the missing kids, or battered women. sometimes it is used by unscrupulous people - you will hear a one-sided conversation like "dude, the eagle has landed". and of course, you can also call international, for an arm and a leg, yours, not mine.
the only thing these gadgets can't do is take a selfie. :-P
Well its OK as long as you know the number you want! No directory there! probably have to use your mobile to get the address files! But your mobile might be out of battery!
I haven't seen any of these in years. The walls of the airport used to be lined with them. Great history lesson for sure. It would be a good one for history class in schools today.
I wonder if those are all in working condition. I cant remember seeing any around here for a long while. Great observations on these soon to be museum pieces.
Yes - times have changed! once saw a Millennium try to figure out how to use a rotary phone ... remember them?
It was so funny to watch him turn the dial without lifting the receiver!
OMG, I haven't seen a battery of these guys for eons, great historical record Vikki. Back in my youth (the last Ice Age) we kids had to take tuppence (2 pennies) in case we had to use a public phone. You put the two pennies in a sloped thingo on top of the boxy bit and if the number answered you nudged them to drop in, then pushed Button A. If you made a boo-boo you pushed Button B to get your money back. Oh wow, was that an age ago, or what?
It was so funny to watch him turn the dial without lifting the receiver!