At the time Mr King was working in Canberra and had little knowledge of what was going on back at his Cooma home.

Mr King is now retired. The pensioner has no home phone and can not afford a mobile. He gets around town on a pushbike and does his best to use the pay phones as much as possible.

“I try to use different ones so they get used,” Mr King said.

Mr King was upset to hear Telstra was conducting another review of under-utilised pay phones in the area.

Pay phones at the corner of Mittagang Road and Orana Avenue, Cooma North Post Office, Wangie Street Cooma East, Lambie Street, Cromwell Street and the Monaro highway are part of the review and could be tagged for removal unless the public speaks out.

“Three years ago they did this and I was the only one that made a complaint to Telstra,” Mr King said.

“There are 1,000 people in Cooma East and there’ll be no phone. The one at Cooma North Post Office is often vandalised so I use the one at Orana Avenue, it’s a back up and people need a back up.”

Mr King said these days it was inappropriate to knock on a door and ask to use the phone and as a pensioner trying to keep costs down the pay phone service was an “essential resource” he relied on.

The review is looking to improve cabinet types to reduce vandalism, turn some pay phones into cashless phones to improve serviceability, reduce the number of payphones at multiple sites if necessary along with the removal of under-utilised phones.

At Monday night’s council meeting Cooma-Monaro Shire councillors agreed to write to Telstra voicing their objection to the loss of any pay phones.

“They cost $1,800 a year to run. That’s 144 calls a week to get $1,800,” Cr Roger Norton said.

“But we’re a country town,” Cr Stephanie McDonald said.

Council was invited to make a submission once Telstra had completed the review however decided to write to the company ahead of the completion of the review.

“We have to let them know that residents in some areas need them even if they are not financially viable,” Cr Jack Nott said.

The public can make a submission to Telstra about those payphones under review before May 25. No payphones in Michelago, Bredbo, Jerangle, Numeralla or Nimmitabel are under threat.