this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2025
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in australia they’re still everywhere because when i government sold our state telco they mandated that they maintain the pay phone network at reasonable prices
that doesn’t sound particularly comment-worthy on its own so here’s the cool part: turns out collecting coins is more expensive than the money they got from it so they just stopped charging and now all our pay phones are not only still everywhere, but entirely free and have free wifi embedded in them
Nope that was comment worthy without the other half.
However the second part is super rad in a way only people who grew up with the word “rad” can really understand. Or whatever the Aussie equivalent of 90s slang for “cool” would be.
rad works :p you could go with BONZA MATE if you’re really putting it on ahah
That’s amazing to me. So far apart but so lame together 🫶🏻
Bonza mate sounds pretty awesome by comparison, but maybe because I wasn’t bathed in it throughout my life…?
Nah, it’s awesome anyway.
I'd be shit out of luck using a payphone in today's world.
I don't remember anyone's phonenumbers except my teenage girlfriend's family, because while she has changed her phone number, the mother and brother were just 1 number off so I remember them, especially because the first 7 numbers are same as mine.
But aside from that, idk, maybe my own mother and brother.
But I haven't learned a phone number in fucking decades.
Pretty cool though as you know they're there, so either you can use the WiFi with your own device or just remember a few numbers in case you run out of charge.
yeah - i mostly see them as a public good for low income or homeless people… it allows them a lot of different places they can place free phone calls… perhaps not ideally as private as you’d like to deal with medical or social security things, but services exist for that too - just pay phones are everywhere
also i guess for calling 000 (our 911)
Ironically, for homeless people a smartphone is a great investment, since the web allows finding support services and such stuff. But free wifi from the booths is probably great. Idk where they're charging the phones, though — perhaps at sympathetic businesses.
absolutely correct! i used to work for a not for profit that built a big service search engine (largely used for crisis helplines, medical referrals etc) and released a phone app specifically for help finding homeless support services
there are power points in maccas, food courts, libraries, and even randomly dotted around cities outside for maintenance
I have the most important numbers stored in a note on my smartwatch (and my bike's head unit) so I can still call people in an emergency even if my phone is dead. I should probably put them on a note in my wallet too.
I used to have a note in my wallet, but maintaining it was unwieldy and I eventually gave it up.
Probably a bad idea but nowadays I rely on my phones emergency calling. I have my contacts set up and my phone and watch are supposed to call if I get hit by a car. I think there’s a way for calling my emergency contacts even when my phone is locked but I don’t know if anyone knows how to do that.
I’m not sure emergency contacts are actually helpful anymore though. I still have family but they’re scattered. You can call my Mom but it’s a 14 hour drive that she’s too old to make do what’s the point. My ex is local but she’s my ex. My kids should know if I die but I don’t see how they’d help
I have no important people or anyone who would care about me, so needless for me, but a fair idea for those who do.
I don't even have an emergency contact anymore.
The only number I can remember of hand is my own childhood house line. Like I literally just had to look up my own mobile number!
You haven't learned new numbers in decades but you have a teenage girlfriend?
The girlfriend I had when I was a teenager — decades ago.
I'm sure that was clear from the context but I'm not gonna leave that hanging no matter how much of a joke, lol.
I think the joke involved Epstein, or maybe “Bubba”
I'm surprised that they didn't just embed a card reader in the phones.
Still not really feasible. The card charges on a $0.20 call would be "unreasonable".
Depends on how you define unreasonable….
We still have some really cheap parking meters. For example to keep people from using the library parking lot all day, there is a meter and 2 hour limit. It’s only a quarter for half an hour or maybe even an hour.
But who carries quarters anymore? There’s an app for that. You can pay by app. Each quarter has a quarter surcharge. I think that’s unreasonable and refuse but a lot of people are ok with it. I say “100% fee is unreasonable” but they say “25¢ fee is cheap and convenient ”.
Anyone would consider a 20c fee on a 20c charge to be unreasonable.
Visa executives find it perfectly reasonable, apparently.
Where I am, a few payphones exist here and there, and they use specialized cards that are (iirc) tied to the person. This was probably done just so the police can spy on who makes calls.
My first thought was "wait it doesn'tl exist everywhere?" guess not
Best solution that could have happened.
Everywhere is a bit of an exaggeration they are definitely still around but nowhere nearly as prolific as they where in the 90s. Also anything that wasn't owned by Telecom/Telstra is long gone.
Fuck me, that's actually good and I'd make good use of that
I have seen payphones around... like, at all. I've seen the iconic bright pink lit up tops and wifi symbol so I can attest that they are indeed still around, but it's very uncommon to see them. There's not a whole lot left and to say they're "everywhere", I mean... I haven't been interstate for a while but, what part of Australia are you in that these are a common fixture for you?
in melbourne CBD is guess there’s at least 1 per corner