I last used a payphone somewhere around Kremmling Colorado 10 or 15 years ago. We were fishing and stopped at a little store where cell service did not exist. And that was probably the first time since the mid-1990s. They were getting awful already, taken over by companies that could take $5 for a 2-minute call.
I take pictures of payphones (with my cell phone!) because they’re such oddities. I saw one yesterday at the Evanston Public Library. It had a dial tone. Here it is!
Few people spend hundreds on cell phones. Most are subsidized and insured by the network providers, who lock people into multi-year contracts in exchange.
Correct, they do not spend hundreds up front, but they sure pay for it in the end.
I buy a really nice 1— or 2-year old recently top-tier phone every few years from eBay, for $150 or less. My yearly cost for cell service (including the phone) is about one quarter of when I had a contract and “free” phone.