I ran into a similar situation. I was at Old Mill subway station and my cellphone was dead. One of the two payphones there had the texting keyboard–and texts are only 10c, where a local call is 50c, and he was long-distance ($3.00 minimum for a long-distance call, and I didn’t have that much change, and pay phones don’t take two-dollar coins anyways…) So I texted my friend’s voice number–and he got a voicemail where the system had read the text to him in that computery voice. 
Hmmm. I’ve used text-to-landline from my cell, but have never seen that option on pay phones, yet. And the pay phone I used most certainly accepted toonies.
UCLA still has a few that are built into some of the older buildings. Kerckhoff Hall, the old student union building has two very spacious ones, all wood-paneled, opposite the Coffeehouse. I wouldn’t be surprised if they date back to the early 1930s when the building was built–though of course the actual phones themselves are modern.
Then Boelter hall, built sometime in the 1950s, has a bpoth of the traditional Superman-like proportions on the sixth floor. What’s interesting about this one is that it’s built flush into the hallway as shown here. I’m surprised they still have them.
We have a bright blue brand new looking phone booth in one of the buildings at work. But there’s no phone in it (and it doesn’t appear that there ever has been). I guess it’s just for silly decoration, or maybe a place to talk on your cell phone (but my cell coverage is so bad at work that I have to go outside for it to be reliable – going into a little metal booth is the last thing I’d want to do).
I have three within 800 metres or so. Use them all the time for a 1800 number I have to ring a few times a week (free from landlines, not free from mobiles). They’re glass panelled booth things, but don’t have doors.
When I go to Indiana Amish country to see the folks, there are phone booths out in the middle of nowhere. More commonly, though, are the privately owned phone “shacks” that are usually in Amish front yards.
Outside of there, the last place I saw a fully functional phone booth was in Harriman, TN about 2006. It was a vintage one, outside of a vintage drugstore (where you could still get a cherry phosphate, a green river or a kick-ass tunafish sandwich).
Damn. What company ran that phone? All of the Bell phones in Montreal are $0.50.
Slightly off topic, but didn’t there used to be one single telephone booth somewhere really remote where people from all over the world would call and occasionally be lucky enough to have someone pick it up? I think in was in Australia?
I believe they eventually removed the phone booth, but recall reading several articles about it.
Right here in Chicago at the Daley Center, there’s a bank of phone booths on nearly every floor. All of the floors with courtrooms have them, as I recall. They’re built into the walls, not stand-alone booths, but they’re actual booths with doors. IIRC, only one booth in each bank still has a phone in it, but people use them to make cell-phone calls without the noise of all the people milling about in the halls – or the risk of a sheriff’s deputy coming out of one of the courtrooms to “hush” them.
Again in metro Chicago, there’s a British-style red phone booth at each of the two Glenview Metra stations.
There used to be one about 200 yards from my house, but it disappeared about 5 or 6 years ago. I used to use it to call friends (girls mostly!) as we only had one phone in my house and it was in the living room so there was no privacy.
There are still some nearby though. Here’s one on Street View. None of the proper old red ones though.
I have seen it mentioned in the paper that the more modern ones in town centres do make money. This is not because of the phone calls, but because they can be used as advertising hoardings. Something you cannot do with the traditional phone booths.
Probably true - as you can see from another angle, this one is usually plastered with KFC adverts. Not sure why they need to do this as the KFC restaurant is only a few feet away! (And, at the time the Street View pics were taken, the KFC in question was closed due to a fire anyway…)
I have been hearing of the demise of the pay phone in the West for years now and still find it hard to believe. What do you do if your cellphone is out of battery or lost? Seems like they’d keep some pay phones around for emergencies.
Instead of starting a new thread, I’m going to add to this. I just saw a picture of one of my friends using a phone booth somewhere abroad. And I got to thinking, are there areas in the US where phone booths are still active? Every time I see a public phone in the US (which is very rarely), I pick it up to see if I hear a dial tone. My perception (I use “perception” because I know this could be confirmation bias) is that nine times out of ten, there is none. And I honestly don’t remember the last time I saw an actual phone booth in the US. These public phones are ones I see in hotels and other indoor public establishments. Do they still exist in certain areas? I’m sure they do, but I haven’t seen one in Chicago for what feels like at least ten years. How much is a call these days? I remember 25 cents as a kid in the mid-to-late 80s, then 50 cents, then I have no memory.
Pay phone in Chicago this summer near the Logan Square station. No dial tone, though.
Remember this scene in Bladerunner?
A working one on the Trans-Canada just east of Geraldton. Google Maps
I’ve lived in this neighborhood for years–there used to be quite a few functional phone booths within easy walking distance (at gas stations, the 7-11, grocery store, etc). Nowadays the only one I can think of is in front of Yum Yum Donuts about half a mile away. I’m not sure it’s even working–I walk past it at least twice a week and I’ve never seen anyone using it.
Oh, cool. Do you know exactly where that is? I mean, I see you said “near the Logan Square Station” but where? I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen an actual outdoor public telephone here in Chicago.