When I met my wife in high-school, not having a phone at all (like not even a landline in the house) was not uncommon. Her family had a cellphone in the house to use as a replacement for a landline and my dad put a password on our phone for outgoing calls (me spending hours on the phone with her might have been part of the reason for that). So I had to buy a pre-paid card and use a payphone to talk to her. I can't believe that less than 5 years later we all had internet and personal cellphones.