Don't take away the pay phones!
By speakeasy
@speakeasy (4171)
United States
March 15, 2011 6:11pm CST
If you are like me, you rarely pay attention to whether or not there is a pay phone nearby when you go places.
But, over the past few years, I have noticed that there seem to be fewer and fewer of them and a couple of years ago, I did hear that the phone companies were removing them from many areas because they were not getting enough use. Too many people now have cell phones; so, fewer people needed to use a pay phone. There was even some talk of eliminating pay phones entirely.
With the current disaster going on on Japan, I read a section in an article that stated that cell phone service is out in most of the northern section of Japan and many people were finding the only way to try to contact loved ones was through pay phones because their cell phones no longer worked.
Pay phones are the only way these people have to try to contact loved ones and let them know they are safe or to see if their loved ones in that area are safe. Right now they have no idea how long it will take to reestablish cell phone service; because, of all the other emergencies that are going on.
Admittedly, this is an extreme case; but, there are many other natural disasters that can disrupt cell towers and cell phone service.
So, please, do not take away all of our pay phones. In a disaster, this may be our only way to contact loved ones.
1 person likes this
8 responses
@GardenGerty (160879)
• United States
16 Mar 11
I had not thought of this situation. I have noticed that there are no pay phones. Some of the rest areas have put in emergency call phones on posts, but they are still not the same as pay phones. There are still people who do not have cell phones. They should not have cell phones if it means another bill, so they need pay phones. Phones for taxi if they have no ride, phones for the police if they are in trouble. We need to keep as many options open as possible.
@GardenGerty (160879)
• United States
16 Mar 11
Yes, I have been at a filling station, pumped my gas then power went out, no registers, no credit or debit cards, etc. The grocery across the street lost light and cash registers and the doors had to be opened by the emergency method.
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
16 Mar 11
I have to admit, I have never seen one that was "horribly torn apart" except for one that was hit by a car and I hope their insurance paid for that damage.
As more and more people adopt new technology, some people just start to assume that "everyone is using it" and that it "will never fail"; so, they just try to get rid of the old tech.
Sometimes we need to keep the "old tech" as a back up. Have you ever been in a store and had the "computers go down" or a power outage happen? You cannot pay for anything until the problem is fixed.
In a disaster or any real emergency, being able to contact others is a lot more serious.
1 person likes this
@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
16 Mar 11
Gosh I never thought about the vandalism, but you are right I do recall many times finally finding one and they were so horribly torn apart. Sad how some think this type of activity is fun. 
@zoey7879 (3092)
• Quincy, Illinois
16 Mar 11
Thats happened where I live, and it's really a bad thing. In my town of 7,000 people there is not a single working payphone. To make it worse, only one establishment in town is open all through the night.. If there's some emergency, just crap outta luck.... The nearest working payphone is either 16 miles away or 30 (Im not sure if the next closest town has one or not because I never go there).
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
16 Mar 11
Actually, if you have never been to the next town; you don't know if they have a working pay phone either.
@zoey7879 (3092)
• Quincy, Illinois
16 Mar 11
Yes, I said that.
"The nearest working payphone is either 16 miles away or 30 (Im not sure if the next closest town has one or not because I never go there)."
@aprilsong (1884)
• China
16 Mar 11
You are right. There are less and less pay phones on the streets now. Because almost everyone of us take a cell phone with us. So pay phones' use is rare and rare. But as you mentioned. What if one day some disaster happen and there is no service of mobiles? It seems we often forget to take that into consideration. Or even we keep pay phones. But without use, and as time goes on, as nobody take care of them, maybe lots of them will got problems without our knowledge, i mean they become just furnishings. And when we need to use them, they are not useful any more.
So we need to learn lessons from every disasters. Maybe we should make some proposals to local governments.
@GardenGerty (160879)
• United States
16 Mar 11
Upper Peninsula of Michigan, New Hampshire, Vermont, to name a few places.
@sid556 (30959)
• United States
24 May 11
I agree with you on this one. While it's been a long while since I've had to use a pay phone, I am so glad that they are still around. Where I work, there is one outside the door and it gets used more than you can imagine. Cell phones don't work everywhere and not everyone has them. With the economy being what it is, there are some people that don't have either a cell phone or landline. I've seen just the pay phone outside the store get used for so many various reasons that I think it would be a huge mistake if they got rid of all of them.
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
24 May 11
Not only that; but, batteries die and people forget their charger (or don't have a place or the time to charge the phone). Also, a lot of people do not have unlimited calling and may have to worry about running out of minutes.
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
16 Mar 11
This is also important for those people who can't afford a cell phone! I remember when I was trying to get everything together so that I could get to my job in China. I had given up my apartment at the end of July last year because I thought I was going to fly to China then. I had gone to Chicago to get my China visa, but that night, my purse (along with my passport with the new visa) was stolen from my hotel room as I slept. I went back home with my brother and had to use pay phones the whole time because I didn't have a cell phone. Now the only phone I have is the hotel phone and if I am not there, I am dependent on either house phones (like at the hospitals and clinics) or pay phones. If they are taken away, then I will be stuck "up a creek without a paddle". I agree, please don't take the pay phones away! If they don't want to have them there due to lack of use then they should provide some other solution for the folks who can't afford a cell phone!
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
16 Mar 11
I am not sure that I can agree that some people cannot afford a cell phone. My first cell phone was a $19.95 tracphone (which I still have as a back up). These phones are often on sale for even less. You can buy minutes for less pennies and the last time I paid for time on my tracphone the total cost came to a little over $6 per month.
If all you need a phone for is voice, there are many "throw away" phones that are pay as you go available and they are very inexpensive.
That is why many third world countries have enormous numbers of cell phones even in places where they have to travel long distances to have them charged because they do not have electricity at home.
The only reason I got a 2nd cell phone is that I wanted a phone that could surf the web when I was away from home.
1 person likes this
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
16 Mar 11
I do find a cell phone to be convenient, but so far I have not got one since I got back to the states. I couldn't afford it before and I haven't had transportation since I got money. When I bought my last cell phone, I did go for one of the prepay ones, but I couldn't afford to buy minutes. I'm finding now that the motel house phone is a hassle so I may break down and get another one. I just hope that service doesn't go down if that is the only phone that is available.
@beamer88 (4259)
• Philippines
16 Mar 11
I totally agree with you. Even if technology enables us to make calls using mobile phones or through our computers, it's still being on the safe side to keep these low-tech stuff. It's our back-up if something goes haywire with cellular and internet connections.
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
16 Mar 11
That is one reason why a ;oy of people still keep a landline, even if they do use cell phones.
Technology is great and very useful; but, it does have it's limits and sometimes we need to keep our backups available.
@juicekodai (1121)
• Philippines
16 Mar 11
yeah, i hope they wont totally take away those payphones..
i never cared about payphones, and i used to think that those payphones i see in the mall arent really working, until one time i lost my cell phone, and i had to use a payphone.. payphones are really important for emergencies..
@DanaS2011 (351)
• United States
16 Mar 11
I don't want them to take the pay phone away either and lately I have been questioning why they are getting rid of them myself. I have been in a situation that required me to search for a pay phone or some one near with a cell phone. Terrible feeling.
