When people didn't carry a phone with them there were pay phones all over that mostly worked. Not nearly as convenient as a phone in your pocket and in rural areas hard to find, but could count on one at every gas station, fast food restaurant, and other such places: so they were common. Today they are hard to find at all (and probably don't work if you see one). Thus if you don't have a phone with you, you will run into a worse time than in the past. (OTOH, most people didn't use a pay phone ever - they were expensive)