Does anyone remember when you had to wait your turn to make a phone call?

[Daniela1982]

Now you have to wait until you can get a signal for your phone to work. That's progress!

I'm next. Wake me when it's my turn!

[Aerissa_Jade]

I still do sometimes "Your call cannot be completed at this time, please try again later Message ###"

As only so many cell phone users can be making calls at a time.

Sometimes you also get the fast dial tone sound thingy, but at least I can just keep trying and it isn't a long wait.

Rural America has crappy towers, service and everyone still has land lines, cause cell service is so spotty and shitty.

I do not recall phone booths though, like your photo. Just waiting either for service or someone else in the house to finish with the land line.

[douride2]

I remember payphones. The last one around here disappeared 4-5 years ago now.

[AviatorTom]

When I was very young, we had one black rotary dial phone in the house, and it was on a party line with 5 other homes in the neighborhood. To make a call, you had to pick up the receiver and make sure no one else was on it before dialing. To receive a call, you had to listen to the number of rings... 3 rings was a call to us that we could answer, the other number of rings were for others on our party line.

[Massageman]

We actually had to do that in the Bahamas in 1992 when we had to call American Express. There were 7-8 phones in a little building (just a little more open-air than the one I've included ), and we just had to wait our turn.

Kind of similar to this one, but with open windows, etc. - - - - - -

[Daniela1982]

That was one big phone booth.

[Massageman]

Phones were all along each wall, with minimalized partitions between them- not very private.

[Daniela1982]

You want privacy? Try telepathy.

[Fireguy17]

yes, we go back to party lines, where there were I think 4 people on the same line.
if someone not from your house but on yr line was talking on the phone you had to wait until they were done.
sometimes you asked if you could interupt and make a quick call.
life in the country!

[LiamSawyer]

Or wait until your phone has enough of a charge to make a call.

[Daniela1982]

That too. Just don't let it go under 25%.

[LiamSawyer]

Good advice

[ChrisMaster69]

Yeah not that long ago actually.

when you are deployed to a main base out in say Qatar etc, there are a limited number of telephones to use, this means sitting waiting

[clampfan101]

Yes and no as I’ve never talked to my friends over the phone. (Not that I wouldn’t. I’m just bad at starting conversations, and they never called me to start one.)

[Daniela1982]

What? You never call your friends?

[clampfan101]

I can never think of anything interesting to talk about, and they’re all busy because they’re married I guess.

[exitseven]

I remember life before cell phones. We had a wall phone in the kitchen that everyone used.

[Likes2drive]

I remember only having one phone in the house with a long cord on the wall , luckily I didn’t need to use it very often

[IsoUser]

To be perfectly honest yes I do because my two twin sisters had the dammed phone tied up constantly Lmao

[Surely]

How about waiting your turn on a party line?
Used to be eight households on my parent’s line.

[motownplayer2000]

Yeah. Especially when all we had was dial up and we missed important calls

[MCheetah]

This is a Girl thing!

[Iron_Man]

I remember the phone booths

[msc545]

That only happens in prison or jail now.

[Lucy68]

Oh yeah

[EaterPeter]

Somewhat

[TallAnon]

Nope