By GLENN ADAMS Associated Press Writer
FAYETTE, Maine (AP) -- Along a hilly stretch of road in central Maine, there's no cell phone service for more than a mile.
Callers once used the pay phone outside the Fayette Country Store, but that ended when the phone company, despite objections, removed it. Customers who need to make toll calls now are told to drive a few miles to use a pay phone at the Readfield Post Office.
Around the state and country, similar scenes are playing out as telephone companies remove unprofitable pay phones. In Maine alone, the 8,200 pay phones available to the public in 1998 dropped to 4,500 by 2003, according to state Rep. Herbert Adams.
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