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Original poster

When was the last time you used a phone box?!

50 replies

birmanbaby · 15/05/2019 07:17

I tried to yesterday after leaving my phone at home.

None of them worked, they were either vandalised or emergency calls only. I tried 5 different boxes, have they been decommissioned to only take emergency calls now?

OP posts:
Flowersmakemyday · 15/05/2019 08:05

I have absolutely no idea when I last used a phone box. The ones we had in our town were removed many years ago.

Dinosforall · 15/05/2019 08:06

2000?

DownWentTheFlag · 15/05/2019 08:08

Around 2004?

BertrandRussell · 15/05/2019 08:08

Yesterday!

newnameold · 15/05/2019 08:09

I wouldn't even know where to find 5 different phone boxes! They have become few and far between near me.

NCC1701D · 15/05/2019 08:09

2006

KatherineJaneway · 15/05/2019 08:12

So long ago I can't even remember!

austenozzy · 15/05/2019 08:16

The one in our village still works, but we’re v rural and until recently mobile reception was patchy at best (but fibre broadband!). Mobile reception now really good. It barely gets used and ideas are being sought for its repurposing. We have defibrillator, book swap, etc already so not sure if it will stay. 😟

DustyMaiden · 15/05/2019 08:19

I have no idea. I looked for one when out for the day and my phone played up. Couldn’t find one. Went into Subway ( sandwich shop) to ask the young lad behind the counter. He looked at me as though I was crazy and lent me his iPhone.

lilyfire · 15/05/2019 08:20

I tried to about 4 years ago. Looking for a house in a village after dark. Long drives and house numbers not visible. I couldn’t get any mobile reception in the village so I could call and get directional Found a phone box and it didn’t work.

applesarerroundandshiny · 15/05/2019 08:20

1990's?

SciFiScream · 15/05/2019 08:37

@KatherineJaneway did you know that there's a right way, a wrong way and a janeway to do something?

There's coffee in that nebula...

🖖 LLAP

(Sorry love finding a fellow fan...)

TillyTheTiger · 15/05/2019 08:43

I last used one in 1998. I don't think there are any at all in my town now. The only one I remember seeing elsewhere recently has been repurposed into a book exchange/mini-library, which I thought was lovely.

BertrandRussell · 15/05/2019 08:50

There is one at our very rural train station that is used regularly- mobile coverage can be a bit dodgy, and you need a taxi or a car to get anywhere from there, because the 4 a day buses are cleverly timetabled not to connect with any of the 6 a day trains.....

babysharkah · 15/05/2019 09:10

1995, we emigrated then and when I came back I had a mobile. I used to call my dad from the station to come and pick me up!

Loyaultemelie · 15/05/2019 10:16

Around 1998 as teens who thought we were hilarious ringing up people in the village pretending to be from the water board and asking them to check if various taps were running. After they checked a couple telling them they'd better run after them quick and hanging up Blush

Rockbird · 15/05/2019 10:58

Last summer. There's on at the Isle of Wight steam railway and I always make a point of calling my mum from it so my dds can have a go.

Lost5stone · 15/05/2019 11:00

Around 2004. I don't we have any in our town anymore

Crustaceans · 15/05/2019 11:01

Probably 1998, when I got a mobile phone.

BT are legally obliged to keep some minimum number of phone boxes operational. Although emergency calls only might cover that obligation. There are phone boxes that are still maintained that haven’t been used in years.

BertrandRussell · 15/05/2019 11:01

Well. Our incredibly useful phone box was taken out by a truck last night. I blame this thread!

DownUdderer · 15/05/2019 11:13

About 6 years ago I used one in Australia to text. That was very useful!

thatmustbenigelwiththebrie · 15/05/2019 11:18

I tried to use on a few years ago when I dropped my phone in town and smashed it. It was a quite a modern one where you could go online but I could not for the life of me work out how to make a call..

In the end I went to the Vodafone shop, got them to look up my bill so I could guess which one DP's number was, and they let me use their phone to call him.

PinkHeartLovesCake · 15/05/2019 11:20

So long ago I can’t even remember!

Megan2018 · 15/05/2019 11:20

I got my first mobile in 1997, so in the UK not used phone box since.
I think I used a phone box abroad in about 2000 as couldn’t use mobile then.

RosaWaiting · 15/05/2019 11:21

I got my first mobile in 1994 I think.

but I did use one near the Houses Of Parliament to shelter from the rain the other day. It stank of wee Sad