Disappearing Pay Phones

have a cell phone through work

if i was working somewhere were i didn't, i'd definetly get one, but a pay as you go plan not something fixed

At one point I was still hoping I could die of old age without ever having touched a cell phone, but it never happened. I was getting into trouble from not being able to find pay phones and broke down and made the changeover about four years ago. Last winter I finally got rid of the landline phone, it had been over a year since I'd had a meaningful call on it.

A while back, my wife and I were toying with the idea of getting a couple, but after looking at the monthly cost of the sodden things, I laughed that idea away.

The companies have the costs structured in such a prohibitive way, along with the contracts.

For someone like myself who would seldom use it, it just isn't worth it. These "Pay Cards" are a rip-off, too. From what I can see, they only last for a certain length of time as well. And, they still want too much!

The cost of the ruddy phones are ridiculous and they are so feature-laiden that it's nuts. Is there such a thing anymore as a "plain Jane phone"?

I'm keeping my landline phone day by day. Well, my dsl is connected to it, but that could be fixed. I keep it since I fear that I'd lose my cellphone at some key time, or fail to keep it charged in a timely manner. So far neither of those has happened. Paying for both phones is a threat to my small budget, and I don't want to lose high speed internet. But then, I like to have the cell when I'm out and about...

Reyn- I have been looking for a very high quality simple phone for few years. Apparently, if the phone is of excellent quality (sensitivity, durability, excellent voice quality, etc.), it comes with all the bells and whistles. A simple phone with none of the extras is only found on low end models.

Osso, I'm on high speed cable, which is bundled with my cable TV, as a package. Is that an option for you?

I take it that you've not found one yet?

To me, that's just part of the problem. It's the monthy fees which are a big downer.

Actually, I was looking very seriously for a while at a pair of UHF radios for my wife and I for local in-town use. It is now available in Canada (You guys have had it longer than we have). I'm somewhat concerned as to the quality of the transmission /receiving though.

Reyn
You can buy a decent no bells phone for about 100 dollars. You can get pay as you go for about 25 dollars, or less, every couple of months. I have had a Nokia 252C analogue cell phone for about 5 or 6 years and only use it when I have to. I still use my regular phone at home and have my high speed internet connected to it.

As of now, I have been able to avoid having a cell phone. Just a landline.
Which I will keep.
Work is requiring that I 'get with the times' and be available on cell. I'm not excited about it, but hey, it had to happen sometime.

There's something about pay phones that I just love. Memories, I guess. I still like to use them.

Reyn, reconsider a prepaid plan. I have one and am more than happy, and ending up getting more than I thought.

The phone, just a little basic one, cost me something like 30 or 40 dollars, I got it with a rebate.

The cards? Yeah, at first they come with 90 day expiration dates (that's for a $25 care for 130 minutes, but after you spend $100 that expiration time goes on for a year, plus, they tack on 15% extra minutes. A $10 card gets you 30 days, 30 minutes, so it pays to get the $25 card.

Not sure if this applies to the year exiration, but when you're still under the 90 day expiration thing, if you load up your phone before the current one expires, they roll over into the new balance.

Anyway, after getting the phone, if you don't use it much, you can go the whole year and only spend $100.

Here's the kicker, I'd had the phone a year, still had a bunch of minutes, like 200 on it and I got this little gift card for $10 at office max. So, since the expiration date was coming up, I ran in and picked up a $10 card, thinking that would hold me for another 30 days...

When I checked the balance the next day, I had my 200 and some minutes, plus the 30 minutes I bought, and it didn't expire for a YEAR. So, bascially, I've gotten 2 years of service for $100.00.

I can make 4 hours last a year, the only person who has my number is my husband, and those calls are of the "I'm at the store, are we out of coffee?" type.

Although...I did have a blow out on an interstate, and I feel the phone paid for itself right then.

This is through T-mobile, check out their website.
You can buy a nokia cheap at a drug store.

Now, my husband has his own cell phone plan, but his needs are totally different than mine.

Thanks for the info. That wasn't my experience when I checked around at out local outlets here at our mall a while back.

Ah, it's nothing urgent. It's just one of those "nice convenience to have once in a while" kind of things.

I was referring to Bell. Not sure about the others.

Chai, thanks also for that info. My usage would be similar to yours.

Has anyone else ever tied / thought about using those UHF radios? You can get them for various distances.

Back to payphones for a minute. Ten or twelve years ago, before cellphones became ubiquitous, one of my tenants asked me to arrange for a payphone to be installed on Main Street outside of her hair salon. She was tired of people asking to use her business phone to make supposedly quick calls that often weren't.
That phone is still there, installed by the phone company at no cost to me.
And it does get used. Surpisingly often and often for very long calls.
I get a check each month from the phone company for 10% of the revenue, so I know how much it generates. The check for May was for $2.00, jumping to $4.11 for June.

And, this: I remember when airports and train stations had dozens if not a hundred phonebooths. Johnboy would go from one to the next when he was a kid on vacation with his folks, collecting the forgotten coins in the change dispenser.

I think I checked into Bell and wasn't overly impressed, but this was a few months back.

Thanks, I'll keep it in mind for future reference. Things change.

I have a couple of those. Mine are good for something like 10km. Just an advancement on the kids walkie talkies from days gone by. I did try them out by driving a few blocks away and calling my wife at home. They do work within limits. i.e. you lose power depending on buildings etc.

Good little gadgets in a pinch. Not very private because the speaker is on the unit.

Yes, good point, but I would be saying anything too secret.

There are various models available with different ranges. Of course, city use (which is where I would be using it) would cut down your range.

What's the quality of the sound like? Also interference. Is it tough to get a free channel?

Mine are Cobra. Cost me about $100.00 when I got them about a year ago. They have 22 channels plus about 38 sub channels. I just picked what i figured may be an obscure combination and I have not had any interference on them. Sound quality is good and they do have a volume control, settings lock button, call button, battery saver mode etc.

They are also very handy when you need to check what is on certain breakers etc. You can have someone on the other end checking instead of running up and down to and from the basement to check which lights are out. :wink:

I had a need for a cell phone 13 months ago. The best plans around here had a contract, roughly $40.00 per month, and murderous charges for extra time. I went TracPhone. The Phone, with 10 minutes, and a card for an additional 180 minutes ran about $180.00. Since I had time remaining (don't talk much), the yearly cost was just under 4/12 of the monthly plans I looked at. A month ago, I renewed, and added 400 minutes for $139.00, and the expriation of the total time remaining (493 minutes) became August 8, 2007. The renewal process was excruciating, but for my usage, much cheaper than any other cell phone option.

It works for me, but Watch It. If you place your calls from outside your stated calling area, units consumed are exactly twice the minutes actually used.

By the way, I fired MCI as long distance carrier several years ago. In spite of their promises, their monthly rate with no calls was more than twice the cost of the AT&T 800 minute card I recently bought at Sam's. And remember, the MCI charge DID NOT INCLUDE ANY TIME TALKING LONG DISTANCE. On the AT&T card, by the way, the time you buy is yours - period. It does not expire. Yes, calling cards are inconvenient. It just happens that I would rather save the money, and sorely resent monthly charges while receiving no benefit in return.

So, here's the game plan for 2006. Since I only used about 80 minutes cell time last year, and cell phone air time does have a time limit, and the calling card has no expiration date, all my long distance calling from home is done on the cell.

This scheme wouldn't work for someone who talks a lot, but it's saving me hundreds per year, and I do have a cell phone when I need it.