most convenients stores still have them inside or out, malls still have 
them...any large store will have them...gas stations, all the larger city 
transit bus shelters here have them...schools like colleges and universities 
and vocational , though of course that's not much of an option for the 
general public though I've used them at my old college a few times in a 
pinch...
they certainly don't appear on street corners or out in public areas anymore 
that's for sure.
Some bars/clubs/pubs still have working payphones in a back hall.
it ain't the '60/70's/80's  anymore where every bar, restaurant, shop and 
street corner had a phone booth or payphone on the wall.
but they are still there some places if one really needs to locate one.
I have also found that asking a passer by if they can phone someone for you 
and pass along a message will work as well.  I've had random people come up 
to me on the street and ask if I could call a number for them and relay a 
message for a ride or to meet or something.
There was a time when you could ask to use someones cell phone, but people 
now respect privacy and only ask if you can make the call for them.
One guy came up to me a few months back and even showed me his broken phone 
to legitimize his request...it was for a call to his girl friend who he was 
trying to meet for a ride home, and she was only a few blocks away.  No 
problem, I made the call, passed the message and he was very thankful.
So where there is a will, there is a way always.

73
Colin, V A6BKX
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Howard, W A 9 Y B W" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2012 5:23 PM
Subject: Re: Third party rules.


> Where do you find a "pay phone" these days???
>
> 73
>
> Howard #3
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Colin McDonald" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2012 4:09 PM
> Subject: Re: Third party rules.
>
>
>> I'm not sure I know anyone, except perhaps my 87 year old grandmother, 
>> and
>> my GF's 92 year old grandfather, that don't own a cell phone.
>> Why use auto patch when you can easily make a more or less private call 
>> to
>> who you want?
>> And, it's full duplex instead of half duplex like auto patch.
>> radio ops are used to keying up and talking and then listening to the
>> other
>> persons transmission, but most people aren't, so having a meaningful
>> conversation over auto patch with a non-ham is almost impossible.
>> The only places radio telephone is still used that I know of is in remote
>> areas of north western, and northern canada where there is no cellular
>> coverage.  And with that, it's all commercial and operated by the 
>> regional
>> telco...we have one repeater here with auto patch, and it doesn't work
>> most
>> of the time...it's more of a novelty than a reliable or useful feature.
>> Yes, I do pay for my cell phone air time, but I'm going to have that
>> regardless, so I might as well use the far more convenient and reliable
>> cell
>> phone rather than a flaky or potentially unreliable autopatch.
>> And if my cell phone battery goes dead, well, I always keep enough change
>> in
>> my wallet to use a pay phone if I have to for an emergency or something
>> very
>> important.
>> I've also asked hams on the repeater to make a phone call for me when my
>> cell battery is dead, and I'm not near a pay phone, and I just happen to
>> have a handheld on me.
>> I pretty much always have a charged HT in my backpack when I'm travelling
>> around the city or out of town just in case.
>> I haven't heard phone patch on HF in probably 20 years either.
>>
>> 73
>> Colin, V A6BKX
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "John Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2012 9:39 PM
>> Subject: Re: Third party rules.
>>
>>
>>> There's only one repeater I know of in my area with auto patch anymore
>>> and
>>> each club member who chooses to, can pretty much only call home or
>>> whatever
>>> emergency  number they designate. Other than the amateur radio news line
>>> every week, I don't think that auto patch has been used for anything 
>>> else
>>> in
>>> 7 or 8 years at the least, maybe more than 10.
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Harvey Heagy" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2012 6:44 PM
>>> Subject: Re: Third party rules.
>>>
>>>
>>>> There was a time when we had to do that too.  There was at least one
>>>> person
>>>> who was bringing up the autopatch without identifying himself and
>>>> placing
>>>> calls to either long distance or 976 numbers.  I had to bring down the
>>>> patch
>>>> a few times myself when he did that, or tried to.  The club eventually
>>>> blocked most of these numbers as well as long distance numbers, and 
>>>> when
>>>> someone would try to do that, they would get a response in code, "SRI,"
>>>> which I believe is an abbreviation for sorry.
>>>> Harvey
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>>> From: "COLLEEN ROTH" <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2012 4:43 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: Third party rules.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>i have to say that there can be as many flaky people on the low bands 
>>>>>as
>>>>>on
>>>>>UHFSTVHF.
>>>>> Not all poor operators are on UHFSTVHF.
>>>>> Colleen Roth, N8TNV;