At least 12 of the stand-alone pay phones apparently were ripped off their pedestals and carted away, said Calvin Tadaki, GTE Hawaiian Tel spokesman.
Four each were taken in Kalihi-Palama and the North Shore, two in the Windward area, and one each from the University of Hawaii-Manoa and Kapiolani Community College.
Another may have been taken from Kahana Bay, said Lt. Doug Miller, head of the Windward theft detail.
Officials believe the culprits were merely after the change, even though they uprooted the phones and also made off with the stands. "It's probably easier for them to take the booth - the coin box takes a little time to open up because they're secured," Tadaki said.
Phones stolen include the newer models that accept credit cards and may not have yielded much change, he said. "It doesn't make sense because there's less money available."
Public pay phones do disappear periodically, but the disappearances have risen in the past two months, Tadaki said. He speculated the culprits may have uprooted the phones by ramming into them, then tossing them into the back of a pickup truck to be broken into elsewhere.
Police recovered some abandoned booths in an undisclosed area, their coin boxes pried open and the contents removed, said Kalihi theft Detective Mark Victor. Police do not have suspects.
The coin boxes are emptied at least once a week - more in congested areas where the phones are used often, Tadaki said.
It will cost GTE $1,500 each to replace the phone booths, but officials are reluctant to return them to areas where they are likely to be stolen again. The phones probably will be replaced only in those areas where the general public has relied on them, Tadaki said.
Despite the increase in cellular phone usage, "pay phones are still a reliable source of communication," he said.
Police are asking anyone who spots abandoned phone booths to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or 911, said Lt. Alvin Nishimura, head of the East Honolulu theft detail. Anyone who sees someone damaging or making off with the phone booths is also asked to call police.