Comment by SoftTalker
5 hours ago
Early cell phones were so limited it's sort of amazing they gained adoption. They were big (literally the size of a brick), heavy, and expensive. Battery life was poor. The EM radiation was possibly harmful. Due to all of that most mobile phones were permanently installed and could only be used in a car. Plans were either pay-by-the-minute or had pre-paid minutes with expensive charges if you went over. Roaming off your local network was crazy expensive... somthing like dollars per minute. Texting wasn't even a thing at the time; most phones only had a 10-character display. Voice quality was poor and calls often dropped or would not connect.
It wasn't until phones shrank and service got cheaper, that consumer adoption took off. Businesses and early adopters will pay even if the product is inconvenient and costly to use, as long as the benefit exceeds the cost.
Because there was no alternative. Even small suitcase size meant you could make a call from your car instead of driving away to find a payphone.
Payphones were everywhere though. And if you were somewhere that didn't have a payphone, you probably were out of cell phone coverage also. They were a bit more convenient, you could use them without stopping, and you didn't need to have a pocketful of coins (but most people did carry some coins in those days, too). And they were a status symbol.
I remember an absurd ad where a pushcart hot dog vendor was taking orders on the cell phone and I'm like $0.99/min for a $5 or less sale? Yeah the ad was for a service that charged by the tenth of a minute or something but it was still crazy. It was mostly doctors and traveling salespeople that had them.
I love the scene in the beginning of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me with the car phone.
Absolutely not "everywhere". In a city or municipality centre, sure. In the harbour, out on the docks, nada.