I am about to make my first trip to Thailand.

I would like to know if public telephones which use coins or calling cards are as common in Thailand as they are in Europe or the USA.

Thanks.

yes, they are.

on the corner of my small soi there are 5 phone boxes - nobody uses them anymore, everybody, even my 3 years old niece, has a mobile. Cheaper and much more convenient.

Yes I agree londonthai. Go buy a local sim card for about 300 baht ($7.50 USD) with 50 baht worth of calls included and make calls for as little as 1 baht a minute. You can call back to USA for as low 8 baht a minute using the 008 over ride code, cheap and easy.

Absolutely....buy a local pre-pay SIM card for your (unlocked) cell phone. They cost about 200 baht and that includes a small amount of credit. Can be bought almost anywhere and topped up in even more locations.

If you have to buy a phone you can get a perfectly serviceable one for about 1000 baht.