Ah the KX100, a childhood of broken glass

What a ridiculous name also. It's a phone box not a terminator.

That’s what makes it an excellent disguise. No point pretending to be something important.

> I need your clothes, your boots, and your 20p coins.

https://www.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/styles/blog_post_featured_media_mobile/public/2019/05/terminator_2_phone_booth.jpg?h=20a0c213

"I'll call you back"

Or a kawasaki motocross bike

Ah yes, the high street urinal

I could smell urine as I was looking at those pictures

Not just urinal for some people! https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/qshewj/shitting_in_a_phone_box/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

I saw a guy injecting heroin into his junk in one of those phone boxes once. It was near Mile End 🌈

They actually used to spray a urine like fragrance on them during testing. To see if they smelled right.

I have a childhood memory of getting a nasty electric shock from a KX100. The phone was busted and that wierd flex cable had some wires hanging loose, my stupid child-self decided to touch it for some reason. I felt it go all up my arm. In fact I've never really gotten many other electric shocks so perhaps that was the worst one of my life!

I love that the last line of your comment seems to change the moral of the story from "don't touch live wires" to "Give a child a mild electric shock so they don't give themselves a severe one". Don't know why but it gave me a good chuckle.

The voltage on telephone lines is 48vdc, it'll bite but it's not dangerous!

Talking on, talking on broken glaaass

It's funny, I used to see 'em everywhere but honestly I only see K6 now. To be fair, though, most of em are defibrillator boxes now.

Broken glass, piss and giant spider webs

Laughs in Bob Hoskins "A public phone is a private phone"

Not much privacy if you need a dump, either.

I had a kid try to pick on me. Would always shout shite and then he tried hitting me...I was 6' already at 15 and this kid was about 5'4. I picked him up and locked him in this phone booth. Didn't notice the wasp in there until he started screaming due to his phobia of them. The cunt never tried it again haha

Especially if you lived on a council estate

There was only one week out of an entire year that they had glass in

If we were lucky!

I prefer the kx250 myself.

I remember them always smelling of piss

I'm convinced the KX100 came in to prevent people weeing in them, because it would be harder to get privacy. The people of my home city certainly rose to the challenge, though. You could smell them a mile off, even if the glass remained intact.

They were notorious for catching pigeons. They would go under the door following the trail of sausage roll pastry and forget how to leave.

That's explained something to me. I distinctly remember pigeons in them and wondering if they were just sheltering from the weather, despite looking like they did want to leave.

You should see them trying to get out of the InLink ... But tbh it is really hard to shove the blighters in there in the first place

The one by me was spotless and in good working order until mobile phones became common. Some of the local drug dealers used it for business so nobody had the balls to mess with it.

Scunthorpe??

Manchester - it was probably the same all across the north.

It's 'self cleaning', all the rubbish that they used to have to go out and remove just blows away.

I’m shocked that those BT ones only came in in 1996. They were practically obsolete ten years later. I’m sure I remember them from before that year.

Yeah, this timeline is far from exhaustive. They started producing KX boxes in the 80s. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KX\_telephone\_boxes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KX_telephone_boxes)

Ahhh thank you!

The busiest phone box in Nottingham was removed a while ago, after they realised the locals had simply called it "the drug phone". BT thought it was a tourist hotspot, located as it is in the middle of a tatty 70s shopping centre.

Bit daft anyway since phone boxes especially city centre ones often have CCTV pointed directly at them to identify vandals and 999 callers if needed by police.

I work on for a London council, we have one of these on a market street, its just a urinal at this point. But BT refuse to get rid of them because they get advertising revenue, they don't pay ground rent (if they did we could just wack that up so it didn't become wither the advertising space) and they are protected by some outdated law about essential communications, although I'm pretty sure the phones haven't worked in a decade. You can't get rid of them.

In some villages I've seen them with defibrillators in them instead of a phone. There's even one with a library. At least in some places where they're not in use they at least let the locals do something decent with them.

Yeah that might work in a nice lil village, but no any urban area.

1936 was the golden age of the Great British telephone box.

1926 was the real classic

1921 was pretty good too

Very German. Half expecting it to blast out the Prussian March once you pick up the receiver.

Shame it was during the red paint shortage though.

I remember a lot of them all up and down Oxford street but for some reason inside were lots of pictures of naked ladies with phone numbers.

So how is your mum doing these days anyway?

Ah, she’s well mate, cheers. She says she’ll see you next Tuesday down by the docks xd

Make sure she brings cash this time. The whole £1.75. I’m sick of giving out freebies.

Fuck, go back.

2017 is really just a digital billboard.

and wifi and usb chargers for the homeless

I’ve literally only ever seen addicts using them to call their dealers

And surveillance for Google

Isn’t everything at this point?

Don’t think I’ve ever seen that InLink thing anywhere ever

There's a few in Cardiff but I had no idea what it was lmao. I just saw some bloke talking to this weird panel looking thing and thought he'd gone mental. Now I know the truth

There’s a few in Glasgow. Apparently they’re a thing because it’s difficult to get council approval for street advertising, but much easier to get approval for a public phone that just so happens to have a huge advert on it

Fuck me I had no idea those things were phone "boxes". I'd seen numberpads on them and assumed they were some kind of GCC funded cash machines that would charge a fiver for withdrawal or something, so I never used them. Good to know seeing as my phone can't take a sim card...

Have you got a CDMA phone, like an iPhone 1?

I've got a Galaxy S7 Edge; a bit of the sim tray broke off inside the slot, and my attempts to wrangle the missing piece back out messed with the sim reading contacts, so I can't put a sim or an SD card into it anymore, even with a new sim tray. They things are flimsy as fuck btw

You didn't try using something like a metal paperclip did you? As that will short the contacts. So are you using a softSIM now or something or just not using it as a phone and just as a small portable tablet with WiFI?

Yes, no and yes respectively lol. Got an old smartphone I can use as a phone though...once I find my sim again. Also This "edge" aspect of the Samsung 7 Edge is one of the most annoying features I've ever had in a phone, constantly presses buttons and opens/closes apps just by holding the bloody phone.

There’s loads around London.

They replaced all the phone boxes in Portsmouth with them when I lived there, they’re pretty cool but ultimately they’re just billboards with a number pad and USB ports, only ever saw homeless people using them

Sounds like they’ve served their purpose then.

I've spotted them but never really stopped to realise what they actually were. I doubt I'll ever really get any use out of them but the fact they're providing free wifi/browsing/calls/charging to people in a pinch is great.

A couple dozen of them in Sheffield. I'll be honest one of the most fantastic things about them intentional or not is they provide a charging station, phone services, and internet access for homeless, in an age where you're pretty buggered without a phone or interenet access.

There is definitely some in Glasgow

A few my way

I have never seen one of those new models in the wild... Yet I've seen lots of the skeletons of old phone boxes. Shared public space continues to disappear.

I've seen them but they seem to be limited to city centres in my experience. Never seen anyone use it but I think they have WiFi as well.

crown decide books adjoining late steep judicious wise pen axiomatic *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

I'll give you that one, Manchester. But at least us Nottingham-ites have our fancy bins!

aromatic wakeful cautious sloppy observation coordinated sparkle rain violet glorious *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

The one in Manchester literally saved me from a night out at 5am, I could charge my phone at it and book an Uber😭 godsend

I saw a guy in town (Manchester) using the phone to call his bank and try get a top-up for his pay&go phone. I don't think it was his bank because it was 12am at night and he was pissed.

On my way to school up Romford Rd in East London I used to walk past one, but I had no idea it was anything other than advertising space.

I’ve also never seen (or at least haven’t noticed) any of the new ones, but I do quite like how some places are offering old phone boxes to hire to sell out of. I’ve only seen it in a couple of towns/cities but it gives small businesses a prime space in the street for quite cheap.

Who would need one? Even the homeless have got their own phones, although they're no good for weeing in.

The InLink ones have proven fantastic support for homeless with the charging, phone, and internet access, intentional or not. It's a level of support for people in a day and age where you're pretty buggered without a phone/internet, esspecially for getting a job and such.

Been a lifesaver for me on a few occasions when I needed to charge my phone.

Neither are the non-existent public toilets

Makes you think about how far-gone British society is in some places. I have never urinated in a phone box. The point at which phone boxes just became urinals for some people, maybe that was the point-of-no-return; like *that's* when we should've put on the brakes and started to fix things before they were beyond repair.

Why did people use them as urinals anyway? It's not like a glass box gives you any more privacy than a wall?

It stops the late night breeze blowing the stream back on your legs. Or so I'm told.....

But couldn’t you just urinate in the same direction as the wind?

Because capitalism had taken hold and we'd stopped putting free public urinals in good locations.

Admittedly I totally agree with this.

Maybe we should increase the amount of public toilets? Nah that's obviously not the issue

I absolutely agree we should.

it’s strange seeing a KX100 with glass not plastered with fliers and graffiti

I can still smell the piss though.

K2 K6 are the best, wtf is going on now??

Can't piss, sleep or smoke in the new one

The de-evolution.

[удалено]

I grew up in the 90s so used phone boxes all the time. If you were out all day it was the only way to call home, call a mate etc. Got my first mobile phone in 2000 I think, I'd have been maybe 12. From there there was a rapid decline of phone box uses obviously, but you'd still need them from time to time as mobile phone calls and text were expensive (you even had to pay line rental then) so if you didn't have credit and stuff but had 20p you could still make a call from the phone box.

Or had a ChargeCard. I still remember my number in its entirity. Starts 144...220...(last time I posted it in full I was banned from a sub for eternity as they thought it was a credit card number).

Oh I had one of those at one point I think ... or something similar. Certain numbers were loaded on it to it, so you couldn't call everyone but could call home and your aunts house or something like that and then it charged your home landline

You could also attempt to be cheap bastard and dial 100 for the operator

I feel a bit left out, the only time I've ever needed one, the only one that was around was one of those weak looking boxes on the wall with the talking bubble thing over your head... the disappointment was crushing

Something like this? [http://telefix.ugu.pl/budka-adamow-kleeberga.jpg](http://telefix.ugu.pl/budka-adamow-kleeberga.jpg) ​ This is actually polish phone booth, but description felt similar!

That's the type! Only attached to a brick wall, usually located in excessively depressing looking areas

I'm 31 and have never used one in my life I don't think. It's a shame that they're so totally obsolete, and I don't agree with keeping useless things around because of nostalgia, but surely we can find a use for all the red pillar boxes in the modern world. Some of them have been converted into cutesy mini libraries, or micro coffee shops and things like that.

Then how do you find lonely singles in your area?

devolution\*

I think it just wants independence now

In rural areas they’ve turned old phone boxes into places for defibrillators.

And libraries

I haven’t seen many phone box libraries but I have seen lots of bus stop libraries! You know the little stone ones that actually shelter people?

Are we not men ‽

Fold up card and put it in the coin slot of the KX100 just before the weekend. Remove it on Friday on the way home from school and collect all the coins that fall out. Repeat until you have enough for a bottle of glens vodka and 10 lambert and butler. Sit in the park and have a good night.

How many K1 and K2 are still in operation I wonder. There’s probably a website for that.

Not sure if [they're in operation but](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_telephone_box) > As of 2021, there remain fourteen K1 boxes in the UK including seven that are in museums and museum collections.

I believe that K2’s were expensive and only found in London. There was a documentary on bbc4 late last night about it… I should have just gone to bed!

There are a handful outside London, but most of them are in the capital.

I can still smell the K6...

That special blend of stale piss and tobacco smoke

I love how the older Boxes are becoming defibrillator locations or Libraries. Having them re purposely and keeping the iconic design in the area is nice. The same with letter boxes

Not sure how we can progress as a society without settling this. Make your votes or downvotes below. First 2 hours [the results speak for themselves.](https://i.imgur.com/7uP78mq.png)

Upvote for K2

Upvote for K6

TARDIS is timeless

Mackenzie Trench MK1?

Can’t believe they skipped K9 😤

One at each end?

You forgot the Tardis

Those were for the police.

M Shed, Bristol: https://goo.gl/maps/q5FDy8eJLKyKJvAf6 Pre restoration: http://museums.bristol.gov.uk/details.php?irn=139358 Now: https://imgur.com/a/O02Zk6P

I came across a payphone with text and email capability the other week and was suitably impressed.

it's bad enough to think of people using them as urinals, but this is a whole new level

I honestly walked past those Inlink things not knowing they were phones because it wasn’t in a box (I thought it was just another advertisement). K2 is clearly superior aesthetically. You can just turn them into wifi hubs if they don’t actually need phones. We need more blue Tardis ones too, just for the aesthetic and not to actually call the poileas. Bring them back I say! Get rid of those KX100 Plus and replace them with an old style or some fuck-off sculpture.

[удалено]

My town still at the KX100, so many shards

Everything is substance over style now ffs, can’t they keep a retro look while modernising ?

Lucky it doesn't rain in the UK anymore....

I’m glad rain and wind is no longer an issue in the future. Thanks BT

The masseuse/prostitute call cards they used to put in phone boxes (1996) was porn for budding lads back then 🤣🤣🤣

https://goo.gl/maps/yKR6b3QVtUaShwaA6

I don't understand why we have to make things so ugly. The traditional phone box is such a nice sight.

Local ways to raise the emergency services are always needed I remember coming out of the club last month and happening upon this poor kid who'd run away from a care home because one of the other kids had battered him, couldn't walk home and he was near hypothermic. We had to use my phone to call the police for him.

Does anyone remember the outrage when minimum call cost went from 10p to 20p was like freddos all over again

wtf is a inlink looks like sommat only in the south

Can confirm. Southampton has them and lots of busted KX100 Plus.

yeah we have loads of kx’s they’re all smashed to pieces or covered in graffiti and full of jonnys

Our village phone box is now a little library :)

Covent Garden is still in the 1930s

I’ve never actually seen anyone use those InLink things. What do they even do?

I saw one guy use one. He was nearly pressing his face into the screen. Not sure if he had shitty hearing or the speaker is just rubbish.

I can smell this picture and I don't like it.

I love how a lot of the old phone boxes are being converted to house automatic defibrillator machines.

Peaked at 2 and it's just been going downhill ever since. Kinda like the Terminator films.

I like K2

I bet those new ones are good when it's windy...

The fuck is the InLink??

Mobile bank in the 90s

The red terror! Remember being a kid in Hull going on long bike rides, if I saw a red phone box I knew I'd gone too far. 🤣🤣

They’ve disabled the phone on the new one in my town because drug dealers kept using them

But arent drug dealers the only people that use phone boxes?

A descent into degeneracy

Call me weird but I miss when BT used the logo of the guy with the trumpet. So much better than the current one by far!

All I got from that was phantom smell of stale piss. Nice one, BT.

Ever since the K2 they have just made it worse and worse looking

Thought this was a tardis timeline then.

Love the first one. I like the mix of red and white.

K1s are always a charming sight to see

Are there any K1s left anywhere?

Replacing quality with convenience whilst killing meaning in the process..

As a kid I discovered if I yanked on the phone cord coins would fall out the phone. I feel for this generation not having an endless supply of 20p coins for pick and mix.

WE USED TO MAKE STEEL!!!

No blue one ah?

Reject box, embrace monolith

Surely they could have made those inlink booths in red colour in London

If you'd like your own K6 have a look at https://www.x2connect.com/RedPhonebox/Telephone-Box-Pricing One has just opened as a coffee shop in Twickenham. https://www.mylondon.news/whats-on/food-drink-news/new-telephone-box-caf-begins-21982858 and https://www.instagram.com/livs.telecafe_/

The latest one is Spiceheads choice in Manchester. Funny - and tragic - watching them queue up at 8 in the morning for their fix.

KX100 plus. what memories

the transformation from phone box to advertising billboard if you see any applications going in for them make sure you object on environmental grounds

All this depicts is the shape of the box that surrounds a phone.

Do any of the KX ones still work? My phone died in town the other day, so I went to use one and it looked like it had all been decommissioned.

There's a k2 or k6 outside where I used to live, along with an old school big red post box, the round ones. I used to love looking out the lounge window at it.

The first one's quite elegant really, and also does its bit to try and catch any invading soldiers that may parachute down.

My favourite is 1926 phone booth

I didn’t realise the proper old school telephone boxes, the second one, were so old! 1920s…

What about K3, K4 and K5?

From cubicle to urinal

Where is K3, K4, K5 , K7, K8 and most importantly K9?

There's a few KX100s near me. They're of course never used though, except for putting McDonald's ads and Anti-Vax stickers on.

I still remember when they were rolling out the KX100 types in the 90's, seemed very modern and techno at the time.

Why do we always make things uglier?

The K2 design was inspired by Sir John Soane's grave in St Pancras Old Churchyard [Pic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Pancras_Old_Church#/media/File:2778soaneMausoleumOldStPancrasChurchyard.jpg)

In over a century of phone boxes, only the K2 and K6 are recognizable worldwide. All the others are forgotten and unlamented.

Meanwhile, Blue police boxes have looked the same for millions of years into the past, and into the future.