Are public phones like Pay Phones still needed for safety reasons?

[froggyboy604]

I think pay phones, and public phones at school, library, and community center are still useful for safety reasons. A cell phone can get lost, or stolen by a robber. Smartphones also break easily when drop on hard floors, or in water.

If there is a fire, robbery, medical emergency and other event, people may not have enough time to unlock their phone if they use a complex password and pin, so using a regular public phone like a pay phone, or desk phone at a library maybe faster at calling for help.

Some People are also not good at keeping their phone charged, and the battery life on phones is not very long sometimes, so there is a chance a phone does not have enough power to dial a number to someone, or talk long enough to tell someone about your unsafe situation you are in.

Cell phones also shutdown automatically to prevent damage from the freezing cold when it is freezing outside. Most phones also shutdown automatically when it is too hot, so if you live in the dessert, work in a hot room, and other hot places, your phone may shutdown often when it gets too hot in the sun.

But, a pay phone, or desk phone at the school and library is usually installed in a building or place where the phone won't overheat or freeze in hot weather or freezing cold.

 

[Chinatown88]

Honestly sometimes I wonder why there aren't more payphones. I was out with friends the other day and I saw a pay phone booth. I ran up to it only to find that the phone was gone. Guess the city was too lazy to tear it down. It's a good safety net considering technology could go haywire.

Definitely helped a long time ago when cell phones weren't a thing. My mother locked us out of the car when we were in the library. Luckily there was a payphone she could use to call my dad at his job so he could bring the spare keys.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

In buildings yes, I don't think they are needed on the streets.

 

[froggyboy604]

In buildings yes, I don't think they are needed on the streets.

Homeless people, poor young kids who don't own a cell phone, poor and cheap people, and people who don't like using newer tech like cell phones will still find pay phones useful.

Pay phones on the street can be a good backup phone if your cell phone unexpectedly breaks if you drop it in water, or a hard surface which breaks it. Cell phones also get stolen if you live in an area with a lot of crime where you maybe more likely to be robbed if you are talking on a cell phone, and your cell phone is an iPhone, or Samsung Galaxy S7.

Pay phones can be useful for more anonymous private phone calls where you don't want to reveal your real name, phone number and address which you used to register the phone number as easily because of Caller ID which is built-into most cell phones, and landline phones.

 

[working3]

YES! I used one a few days ago at the hospital. My phone died and I needed to call my cousin to see what room she was in so that I could come in and pick her up. Im sure she was freaking out because my phone died and she was ready to go. I was so relieved when I saw the phone, although pay phones are gross and nasty. I always picture someone's greasy, gross ear when I pick it up. I try to put it a away from my ear when I talk. She was also happy that the phone was there. She got picked-up on time and everything worked out. For emergencies and when your phone dies, the payphone is still very useful.

 

[froggyboy604]

YES! I used one a few days ago at the hospital. My phone died and I needed to call my cousin to see what room she was in so that I could come in and pick her up. Im sure she was freaking out because my phone died and she was ready to go. I was so relieved when I saw the phone, although pay phones are gross and nasty. I always picture someone's greasy, gross ear when I pick it up. I try to put it a away from my ear when I talk. She was also happy that the phone was there. She got picked-up on time and everything worked out. For emergencies and when your phone dies, the payphone is still very useful.

I notice if you are making a lot of long calls to many people, and don't have a chance to charge, the battery sometimes run out fast. Phones also sometimes loses its battery power when it is off for very long.

I agree the pay phones can have users who are unclean, but most people use cell phones, or home phones now, so they maybe cleaner these days if a worker comes to clean the phone while collecting the money in the phone.

 

[OursIsTheFury]

I haven't seen payphones where I live. The only time I have seen payphones in this day and age is watching Breaking Bad, and they use that so they will remain anonymous when calling the cops lmao. I don't think phones are needed because there are lots of shops everywhere and you can easily ask them if you could use their phones in case of an emergency. I'm sure people are decent enough to help someone when they are in need.

 

[froggyboy604]

I haven't seen payphones where I live. The only time I have seen payphones in this day and age is watching Breaking Bad, and they use that so they will remain anonymous when calling the cops lmao. I don't think phones are needed because there are lots of shops everywhere and you can easily ask them if you could use their phones in case of an emergency. I'm sure people are decent enough to help someone when they are in need.

Pay phones can be good for making more anonymous calls where you don't want to give your real name and number away because of Caller ID which is built-into most phones.

Some people like illegal immigrants who are unlawfully living in a country are more likely use a pay phone to tell a charity like an immigrant help center phone number that a racist person or group is bullying immigrants. If they use their real name and phone number on their real phone, they may more easily be found by the police who may arrest them, and send them back to their home country.

 

[OursIsTheFury]

Pay phones can be good for making more anonymous calls where you don't want to give your real name and number away because of Caller ID which is built-into most phones. Some people like illegal immigrants who is unlawfully living in a country are more likely use a pay phone to tell an immigrant help phone number that a group of people like a racist person or group is bullying them. If they use their real name and phone number on their cell phone, they may more easily be found by the police who will arrest them, and send them back to their home country.

I see. Well, I'm in Asia and I don't think there's an immigration problem here. Remaining anonymous is a use of those phones, sure, but I think the reason they removed it all here is because nobody really uses them anymore. Most people - even street urchins for some reason - have mobile phones with them, and prepaid loading stations are everywhere, meaning you can get phone credit anywhere you are. There's also an option to "borrow" 5 messages from your provider and pay it later, in case you need to send a message in case of an emergency.

 

[Danielx64]

I see. Well, I'm in Asia and I don't think there's an immigration problem here. Remaining anonymous is a use of those phones, sure, but I think the reason they removed it all here is because nobody really uses them anymore. Most people - even street urchins for some reason - have mobile phones with them, and prepaid loading stations are everywhere, meaning you can get phone credit anywhere you are. There's also an option to "borrow" 5 messages from your provider and pay it later, in case you need to send a message in case of an emergency.

Hmmm, how can you borrow messages from a phone provider? Or do you mean that you are on a plan where you spend x amount per month?

 

[OursIsTheFury]

Hmmm, how can you borrow messages from a phone provider? Or do you mean that you are on a plan where you spend x amount per month?

No there's like an emergency option in the provider's freebies and you get 5 messages to all networks, and you have to pay back the cost of it the next time you get credit. It's pretty neat; I don't use it for emergencies, but if I need to send a message and I'm out of credit I usually take the emergency fund and pay it back when I'm not too lazy to go out and pay for it. You can only use it once though; afterwards you can't get emergency messages until you pay off the old one, which is basically just a few cents.

 

[Danielx64]

No there's like an emergency option in the provider's freebies and you get 5 messages to all networks, and you have to pay back the cost of it the next time you get credit. It's pretty neat; I don't use it for emergencies, but if I need to send a message and I'm out of credit I usually take the emergency fund and pay it back when I'm not too lazy to go out and pay for it. You can only use it once though; afterwards you can't get emergency messages until you pay off the old one, which is basically just a few cents.

I don't think we have such as thing like that here but I know that I can make emergency calls to 000 if I don't have credit (or my sim card dies).

 

[froggyboy604]

No there's like an emergency option in the provider's freebies and you get 5 messages to all networks, and you have to pay back the cost of it the next time you get credit. It's pretty neat; I don't use it for emergencies, but if I need to send a message and I'm out of credit I usually take the emergency fund and pay it back when I'm not too lazy to go out and pay for it. You can only use it once though; afterwards you can't get emergency messages until you pay off the old one, which is basically just a few cents.

I like the idea of borrowing credits, and paying back credits the next time the user needs credits. It can be useuful then you need to make a call, but your out of credits.