Payphone Plot Question (spoilers)

[DustyBlue]

It's been a while since I played so maybe I'm getting something wrong here, but I remember even at the time wondering: Akasaka tried to use a phone at the clinic he was staying at and it wasn't working, and he (very stupidly) didn't want to use the clinic's desk phone to call his wife so he went outside to take a really long walk and ended up checking 2 different payphones. Neither worked, presumably because Rika or maybe even the uniformed worker men cut the cords.

But in chapter 1's ending, Keiichi's call to the police was tracked to that payphone because Ooishi said it was the only payphone in Hinamizawa. So what's the deal? There were originally 2 payphones in the past, but one of them stopped working? Did they just never end up fixing one of them since the cords were cut that day? It seemed like a bit of a retcon to me, and a kind of unnecessary one, at that. Can anyone make sense of this for me?

[fllthdcrb]

As far as I can see, there is only one phone booth, even though there are multiple payphones. And the officer (one of Ooishi's colleagues, not Ooishi himself, incidentally) said there's one phone booth.

Translations from Steam version.

"Onikakushi-hen":

I scratched out a note and thrust it at my colleague sitting across from me.

(Hinamizawa, phone booth!!)

He understood quickly and hastily started on the internal lines.
...
My colleague pushed a note in front of me.
(There's only one booth in Hinamizawa. A patrol car is on the way. Five minutes.)

"Himatsubushi-hen":

Appreciative of how considerate Ooishi was, I set out to the lobby to find the phone.
...
Taking a quick look around, I soon found the payphone.
...
...Just as I had heard at the hospital, set next to the counter of the cigarette shop was an antiquated payphone.
...
"Ah, thank you very much... I'll try looking for that phone booth."
...
Well then, was it about time to give up?

...Just when I thought that. I saw the light in front of me.
I had finally found it. It was a phone booth.

[DustyBlue]

Ah, so the first payphone he went to was one that didn't have a whole booth? Just one outside in front of the cigarette shop? That makes sense.