How to use a pay phone
Coins in, dial, and the coin return when nobody answers.
How to use a pay phone
PUBLIC TELEPHONE
In the phone: 0¢
- 1Lift the handset off the hook.
- 2Put in the coins: 25¢ for a local call in most US cities from the 1980s on (10¢ before that).
- 3Dial the number on the keypad.
- 4If no one answers, hang up: unused coins come back in the coin return.
Lift the handset to start.
Pay phones stood on street corners, in phone booths and in every station and airport, for people away from home. Most were removed after mobile phones spread; the US had over two million in the 1990s and around 100,000 by the 2010s.
Safety
- This is a practice phone and places no calls. In an emergency, use a real phone and call 911 or your local emergency number.
General information, not professional advice: your manual and local rules come first. You use this at your own risk; see our Terms.
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