With working payphones pretty much gone what do you do if you are out and about and your mobile phone dies and you really need to make a phone call? For several years my answer to this was to just find a payphone but it has dawned on me that this may not be a realistic option going forward.

Here are the only options I can think of.

1. Check into a hotel and user the phone in your room.
2. If there is a life or death emergency, go to a police station.
3. Go to Walmart/Target and get a pre-paid flip phone.
   

Am I missing something? Countless people rely on their mobile phones for Uber and for communication. What do people do when their phone dies and they are away from home? This must happen to some people I would think.

I've found someone who looked easy going and asked to borrow their phone for just a second. It's worked for me.

I don't use cell phones, myself. It's never been an issue for me. They're a convenience, but humanity has gotten along just fine for millions of years without them.

Always carry a sample size social mone with you so that if you have to ask for someone's cell phone they don't freak out.

I would love go to back to a time before everyone walked around with their heads hunched over staring into their mini computers all day.

Unfortunately things like payphones and landlines are being phased out. I have a cell phone and it does come in handy. I'm not glued to it all day though. Most days I never pull it out and even forget it's on me. I can't imagine being on it texting/messaging/whatever all day. But the world is at a point where you need a smartphone on hand for more and more things. And it's not exactly trending back to simpler times anytime soon.

I don't remember the last time I saw a payphone. They're all gone, ime.

There's a local franchise fast-food chain that has a outlet down the street from one of my offices and the pay phone has been there for years ... and it's still there. I've never picked it up to see if there'a any dial tone, though.

(10-04-2021 6:37 PM)Johnny Fever Wrote:  There's a local franchise fast-food chain that has a outlet down the street from one of my offices and the pay phone has been there for years ... and it's still there. I've never picked it up to see if there'a any dial tone, though.

I'm sure that there isn't. Many moons ago I was a payphone locator, which means that I drove around looking for places that would be good to put payphones at, then try to contract with the owners to put a phone in. I would then sell those contracts to private payphone companies, and made pretty good money doing it.

When payphones didn't generate the revenues expected by the payphone owners would usually just shut the service off and abandon the phone, because it cost them more to remove the phone than what the phone was worth.