Your call cannot be completed. At least not with the pay phones in the St. George Ferry terminal

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – If you ever find yourself without your cellphone, the public pay phones in the St. George Ferry Terminal won’t be much help.

There are stand-alone pay phone kiosks on each side of the terminal waiting room. Phones have been removed from some of the kiosks, while other kiosks have been wrapped in blue tarp secured by what looks like duct tape.

But there are still a number of phones available for use. But I was unable to complete a call when I took the phones for a test drive recently.

I tried to dial 411, directory assistance, on one phone. An automated voice asked me to deposit 75 cents, which I did, but the call didn’t go through. I did get my money back in the coin return, however.

When I tried to call my house, the automated voice said, “Please deposit 50 cents for the next 15 minutes.” I put the money in, heard an automated “Thank you,” but this call also failed to connect.

On another phone, I dialed “O,” for the operator. The voice said, “Please wait one moment.” There was a lot of clicking on the line, but no connection.

One or two of the phones actually had real live dial tones. Remember those? But most of the phones didn’t have a dial tone.

With one phone, any coins I deposited came right back through the coin return. The coin slot on another phone was blocked so I couldn’t put any coins in at all.

I also tried the “free calls” listed on the phones. There’s one where you can call to get “Get God’s Blessing,” which offers a live daily prayer; another to call for Social Security info, and others to reach banks or to get a credit card or help finding a job.