[hotjoint]

Just a heads up for the next time you forget your cell phone at home. As of last week, the cost of a local call on a Bell Canada payphone is 50 cents. I think it’s safe to assume that other payphone companies will follow.

It’s a been a long time coming — not only has there not been an increase in payphone costs since 1981 (back then they were a dime) but competition from mobile phones has pretty much rendered the standard payphone obsolete. They’re really only there for the small percentage of the population that hasn’t gone cellular yet and for when the rest of us forget our mobile devices on the charger at home.

In a different age I could see a lot of people getting bent out of shape about this, but really - does anyone care that the cost of a phone call has doubled?

http://smartcanucks.ca/payphones-now-50-cents/

Saw this on the news last night, does anyone use a payphone anymore? phone companies are losing revenue so they're jacking it up to 50 cents :haha:

IMO this will make them lose even more revenue, greedy bitches!

[ilvtofu]

LOL people still use payphones?
I'd go into a bell store and use their palm pre demo and make LD phone calls for free instead
That's what i do when i'm in the states, GOD I'M CHEAP!!!

[quasi]

Are there any payphone left anywhere besides the airport?

[silk]

maybe its just me, but i hardly see any pay phone other than skytrain/bus stations or in the mall now.

[hotjoint]

maybe its just me, but i hardly see any pay phone other than skytrain/bus stations or in the mall now.

they said on the news that they used to have 38,000 phones province wide but its been decreased to 20,000 now.

[Mugen EvOlutioN]

who the fuck uses the pay phone?


the bums?
crack whores?


escorts???


food take outs?

[bcrdukes]

Statistically, with the rise of ownership in cell phones, pay phones have become an antiquity. The cost of operation per pay phone unit is far too significant in terms of maintenance and facilities management. Pay Phones used to generate a lot of money whereas now, everybody including 5 year old Joey, Grandpa Simpson, and the dog next door, have cell phones.

[shenmecar]

LOL. WHO GIVES A FLYING FUCK?

[murd0c]

I love watching people in a 100' + car useing a payphone. I wonder what they do for work hahah

[thumper]

maybe its just me, but i hardly see any pay phone other than skytrain/bus stations or in the mall now.

hospitals and gas stations. or at least the chevron i was at last week when my telus cell phone service took a crap on me (again) and i had to call from a pay phone instead.

[Marioo1991]

I only used pay phones to prank call ppl, its been a while though

[turb0fr3ak]

what is a "payphone"

[pandalove]

god damn skytrain

[q0192837465]

they said on the news that they used to have 38,000 phones province wide but its been decreased to 20,000 now.

I'm surprised there r still 20,000 of them around. I barely see them anymore.

[JSALES]

the only people i usually see using payphones are dirty bums or 'little gangster kids' who can't afford a cell phone

[Mananetwork]

The only place they're really good for is the airport

[StylinRed]

i dont even see them in the malls anymore, which you would think should still have them


but i thought Telus handled all the payphones?

[ajax]

Wasnt Bell the first company here to charge incoming texts? Are they not making enough money, or are the gambling that other companies will follow and they can make the most money first.

[skyxx]

Payphones are good for calling your girlfriends. So you don't get caught.

[misteranswer]

The poor still use pay phones.

[pandalove]

http://news.softpedia.com/images/news2/50-Cents-Says-Kanye-West-Owes-Him-His-Success-2.jpg

[Vansterdam]

hahaha DIS IS FIDDY

[JSALES]

how much was it to use the pay phone before? 25 cents?

[tiger_handheld]

now bums are gonna be asking for loonies instead of quarters.. crap!

[liu13]

Payphones are good for calling your girlfriends. So you don't get caught.

a true player has a phone that the wife / gf doesnt even know about



and yes i use payphones time to time when im stuck in public after dark, one of my biggest bad habits is forgetting to bring the phone when i go out, it has drive me to such madness that i even considered buying a manpurse

[AzNightmare]

haha payphones are useless now. And I hate it when I make a call with them and end up getting the answering machine.

[static]

All part of this trend.

http://media.economist.com/images/20090815/CWB014.gif
http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14214847

According to one much-cited calculation, the country’s last printed newspaper will land on a doorstep sometime in the first quarter of 2043. That is a positively healthy outlook, however, compared with another staple of American life: the home telephone. Telecoms operators are seeing customers abandon landlines at a rate of 700,000 per month. Some analysts now estimate that 25% of households in America rely entirely on mobile phones (or cellphones, as Americans call them)—a share that could double within the next three years. If the decline of the landline continues at its current rate, the last cord will be cut sometime in 2025.

[skyxx]

I still rely on home phone cause it's technically unlimited and if someone calls me from long distance it's free.

[yellowpower]

Theres alot of payphones around still...

[AutozamAZ-3]

I still rely on home phone cause it's technically unlimited and if someone calls me from long distance it's free.

i don't think it should cost anymore than it would cost you normally to accept incoming ld calls to your cellphone than it would cost you local calls

[Renxo]

payphones give you aids...

[Preemo]

One good place for a pay phone that I would definitely have to use without a choice is Buntzen Lake.

So, yes. This is ridiculous!

[dizzystar]

fucking canada line

[ajax]

fucking canada line

Sorry, but youre not pandalove.

[thumper]

i dont even see them in the malls anymore, which you would think should still have them


but i thought Telus handled all the payphones?

i thought so too, but when i was at metrotown today lining up at the cibc interac machine, i noticed that the row of pay phones outside was all labeled Bell.

[GoateeMe]

cheeper to borrow a cellphone from someone

[Graeme S]

I liked how it was in Asia; roughly 5c for 20 seconds. Much more logical.

[silk]

cheeper to borrow a cellphone from someone

not everyone going to lend you fool