Believe it or not, they exist!!! You and I wouldn't use them, but, people actually use them still!
You buy phone cards to make long-distance calls. These phone cards might be called prepaid phone cards or international calling cards. The cards usually cost between $1 and $20. You pay for a certain number of minutes.
That used to be how it was like here too but the rows of these public phones in the train station has disappeared leaving the space behind and one I know in the previous work place was young enough to ask me what the space was for. The newer train station don't even have any sign of them.