On Apr 3, 6:06*pm, "
wrote:

London Underground stations used to have pay phones, though no longer. I
can't understand why they would do that, however, because one cannot get
a signal on their mobile phones on the tube lines.

Speaking of payphones, the AT&T archives has a film (viewable on-line)
about them:

"This 1989 film was originally made as part of a small, traveling
exhibition created by AT&T on the history of the payphone, 100 years
after its conception. The exhibition debuted at AT&T’s Infoquest
Center in New York City.

Invented by William Gray in 1889, the payphone went almost ten years
before it became a coin-op model. Before that, they were on an honor
system. For most of the 20th century, payphones were an essential part
of a connected society. At their peak there were over 2.5 million of
them in the United States.

Phone booths proliferated from the 1920s to 1970s, with the designs
changing from elaborate wooden booths to the classic glass-and-
aluminum. While the booths are now quite rare, the phones themselves
are becoming more so. Once cellphones proliferated, most large telecom
companies (including AT&T) jettisoned their payphone business arms
during the 2000s. The vast majority remaining are owned by small,
local vendors.

The best — and most entertaining — website that tracks the de-
evolution of payphones and phone booths is The Payphone Project, which
has been tracking the decline of those cultural icons since 1995."

http://techchannel.att.com/play-vide...sary-Pay-Phone

http://www.payphone-project.com/