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The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Phone Call

Posted by Columbo
August 10, 2008

This pay phone at 10th & F is one of the last of its kind. There are probably a few other pay phones around PQ, but as blocks are rebuilt (and cell phones rule the world) they are few & far between.

This one seems to get more use as a beverage coaster than a communications device. We’ve seen a few people use these as a way to ask for money by holding out the receiver asking for change for a call. But mostly they sit unused.

When was the last time you used a pay phone to place a call?

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Comments
Comment by cave woman on August 10, 2008 @ 9:55 am

i can’t remember the last time i used a pay phone here at home in dc but…..last time in was in NYC i used pay phones many times. i called my friends, made plans and we all showed up in the same place at the same time – like magic! you see, you can live without a cell phone as long as ALL the pay phones of the world aren’t taken away. :)

Comment by pqresident on August 10, 2008 @ 5:15 pm

there’s a pay phone on D at the corner of 7th Street on the Oyamel side of the street. I’ve even heard it ring. ’twas very tempting to pick it up and answer, “Ed’s Auto Body – this is Ed.”

Comment by FourthandEye on August 10, 2008 @ 7:56 pm

quite a few on various metro platforms – right?

Comment by Columbo on August 11, 2008 @ 9:19 am

That is true #3, metro stations still have payphones, and useful ones at that. Even with verizon service in the metro I find the reception & ability to hear the person your talking to are greatly diminished. I find those to be very helpful payphones. A saying I hate, but perhaps those are the exceptions that prove the rule?

Comment by yellowliner on August 12, 2008 @ 10:23 am

There is also one at the corner of 8th and H St, right in front of Fuddrucker’s. So it seems they are more common than rare in our neighborhood.

Comment by yellowliner on August 12, 2008 @ 10:23 am

Sorry! I meant 7th and H St!

Comment by pqanon on August 12, 2008 @ 2:43 pm

There is also a payphone on 6th and G NW.

Comment by PQarch on August 14, 2008 @ 10:05 am

There’s another payphone at 4th and G NW…

Comment by Anonymous on August 14, 2008 @ 1:01 pm

Payphones still exist in the library.

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