These are shrines to the local god of Communication. Sometimes a single shrine is found standing on a street corner, and in some occasions, multiple shrines are lined up against a wall, allowing for multiple worshipers to partake of the ritual at the same time.

The ritual is undertaken as follows:

An offering, usually consisting of sacred tokens or gifts of metal are placed within the offering slot, and the worshiper removes the "handset" and places it in a ritual fashion against one side of his or her face. A secret code, known only to the worshiper, the god of communication, and a few select others is entered on the series of numbered buttons. This code, based on the fragments we have discovered and the impressions of fingers, has been established via GIS spatial distribution analysis to be at least partially geographically based, with the first few digits signifying a larger geographical area and the second subset of digits narrowing the geographical location even smaller. Apparently even small children were indoctrinated with a variety of these codes for use in various rituals.

Once the code has been entered, the worshiper is then allowed by the god of communication to interact at a distance with a separate person, and the two commune together for a time. The length of time the communion is allowed by the god depends on the number of tokens offered at the beginning of the ritual.

Several ritual postures have been recorded in relation to the use of these shrines. One consists of the worshiper turning their back to the shrine and leaning against it while holding the handset against their face with one hand. A second consists of bending over slightly at the waist, trapping the "handset" against the side of their face with their shoulder, and marking small pieces of paper by which they recall their memories of the ritual throughout the rest of the day.

The glyphs you have observed vary greatly between shrines. Their exact meaning has not been understood, but they appear to be related to local figures of authority, romantic exchanges, and the size of the genitals of certain celebrated local personages.

If you are interested in further reading, I recommend Horace Mitchell Miner's excellent treatise on these shrines "Communication Ritual Shrines of the Mid-20th Century". Miner is a well-respected anthropologist, whose ethnographic study "Body Ritual among the Nacirema" caused signficant conversation among anthropologists upon its publication in 1956.

Xenoarchaeologist here. First of all DO NOT TOUCH IT. I would need to see the artifact myself, but it appears to be an early Gallifreyan experiment with cloaking devices, or "Chameleon Circuits." When broken, they frequently take the form of stationary, blue Earth telephones. Clearly this device has traveled from the Gallifreyan past to get stuck in our era. This is further evidenced by its dreadulbaproximation of homo sapiens communication devices. It appears to take the form of a traditional house phone, but mounted on a stick in a parking lot. Evidence suggests that similar devices, called "pay phones" by Nixon era humans, were not uncommon across urban and suburban settlements.

But remember: Don't touch it. Experimental timelord tech is highly volatile.

this appears to be a shrine of some sort.

it is similar in structure and size to that of the Shinto shrines from early japan but the manner of markings and conscious use of metal over more natural materials indicate that it probably belonged to a more organized religious group.

i would be interested in what the markings translate as since they clearly have some important significance, possibly indicating who or what this shrine payed homage to.

I'm not sure about the object itself, but I have a fairly good understanding of late 20th century English characters. It says across the top of the device that it is a "Phiteee".

Hopefully, someone more informed on the technology of the time period can step in and explain its purpose.