1996...and I'm still with the same provider, sort of.
I held out until the year 2000, when I was 24, and I don't know why I waited so long. I cannot imagine my life without a cell phone now.
2007
1999.
And I'm only on my second phone now. Not a "smartphone."
late%20adopter
2006
1987. It was installed in the center console of my car. Or I could have purchased a "portable" model that I could carry around in a stylish bag complete with compartments for chargers, extra batteries and other cell phone accessories...
Times sure have changed for us eldergay technology geeks.
J.%20Sculley
I got mine when I was in the third grade. This was around 2000-2001. My mom insisted. I actually got one before that but I didn't carry it with me until third grade. I don't remember life without one really.
Around 2000 or so ... same provider, but I'm on I think my 4th actual phone.
2005. Still use the same phone, even after dropping it in water once. I don't like talking on the phone much so it works for me.
When I was in 5th grade I think, so 2002.
Late 1980's, but only usable in the car! Remember the little spiral antennas mounted on the rear roof!?
2007
2011
I don't have a cell phone at all!
I don't have a TV, either!
I don't even have a computer. I send my DL messages via telegraph!
Hissssssss!
Just like r6, but I worked for the company. The call rates were 33-cents a minute - a $500 bill the first month.
Late 90s. Maybe 1998. I think it was GTE when I got it, now its Verizon.
When I met BF in '93, he had one of those center console car phones too.
1973
Who cares?
2002
"I don't have a cell phone at all!"
Me neither! Don't need one! Life's great!
1995 nokia, even left it at a camp ground, and had to get a new one... now how many years later have a drawer full of old phones.. heck even had one stolen 4 or so years ago, we were watching a rocket go off at bar at cocoa beach, came back and phone on bar was stolen.. such bad luck with phones.. glad we still have land line!
goober
My parents are waiting for me to turn 16 before they buy me one.
Catherine%20Zeta%20Jones
Mid 90s.
I worked for one of the telcos and got a discount. Even with the discount it was expensive and all my friends thought I was a showoff.
I got my first cell phone right after 9-11. I decided that if I was ever near a disaster, I would want to be able to phone my loved ones ASAP to let them know I was okay
2002 is when the whole world started to get them down here in my little corner of Southern California, it seemed. I held out until 2004.
By 2005, it was a city of zombies, talking loudly in public, texting while at restaurants with friends. If cell-phones really do cause cancer, this whole city is royally screwed.
It was 1988 & it was called a 'car phone' then, with the 'brain' of the phone installed under the passenger seat. Service was via LA CELLULAR & cost $25 per month for what they called 'Nightowl Service'. The best cell clarity ever! Calling from the SantaMonica Freeway to a friend in Seattle was as clear as any land line call. I miss those days.
1984. My boss decided he needed to be able to be in quick contact with me when I was out of the office and the company installed one in my car. It was huge! Like a walky-talky. I hated the thing then and I still hate the things today.
1994
2012 and I haven't used it yet. True.
This summer. Only because if i was in a disaster. I'd want to be able to call my loved ones to let them know i was ok. ....than remembered i have no loved ones. So returned the phone and used the money to buy a loved one. At least for one night.
1997 through sprint
Christmas 1903. The range was surprisingly small.
Only ANCIENT eldergays say the don't need a cell phone. Makes life easier for things like picking friends up at airport, meeting people etc... How great it is for people who pick u up at the airport when you text "just landed". No wondering when you'll be at the curbside. Though I think people are way to involved with their devices and they should be ignored at dinners, movies etc...
"" Only ANCIENT eldergays say the don't need a cell phone.""
For what?
Seriously, every other person these days has a cellphone if there is an emergency.
If I breakdown on the road, I have a "Call Police" placard that fits in my back window. I am sure the authorities will get many calls reporting my position.
No worried, and don't need a cell phone.
Not THAT old R32 -- under 60!
1990 my partner got one. We always took it with us in the car. I didn't drive (Manhattanite), so I couldn't care less. I finally got one after 9/11. In case I needed to call and say goodbye as I got trapped in the gassed subway or the poisoned air of a high rise, or just to say, "Hi, I escaped the car bombing on Lexington."
Funny, R6. My first BF had that and it was called a "car phone" at the time. Installed in the center console of his Camaro.
I remember seeing an interview with Ringo Starr and he was recalling something from 1969 and said, "So I called him on my car phone," and I was surprised to know they had car phones then. They were only for the very rich and famous.
When I was in 4th grade, so last Tuesday.
R35 again. His car phone was in 1980. It was about the size of a large home phone with a box attached but he could plug it into the car and receive and make calls from the car. At that time, phones only worked at home or in cars. The idea of walking around with a phone was nonexistent, at least to us.
1986 - Installed car phone. 1987 - big Motorola analog phone a la X-Files.
Older Than Dirt
My partner's friend had a "portable" phone in the 1980s. It was attached to a big box/suitcase-like thing and he would bring it into buildings with him and plug it in so he wouldn't miss any calls. He also carried a gun with him wherever he went because his main place of business was in East NY and it was very dangerous.
So the guy was loaded down.
1994. I think it was Nokia, and there were a million different colored faceplates you could swap out. Had that until I got a fabulous FLIP-PHONE in 1999! The flip-phone finally died last year and I got a smartphone.
Never had one and never will--don't understand the "minutes" thing or "going over" or any of that bullshit and don't care to. I had to carry one once as part of the job I had and hated it--I detest the way they work and like old fashioned phone with the mouthpiece in front of my mouth. I think telephones are more a supplement to actual face-to-face conversation; to carry one around constantly is to be a slave to a fucking phone. If cell phones cause cancer I guess I'll be the last one standing.
whatever............
Not so small, R31. This stylish frau was sporting the trendiest, most Hi-Tech iPhone of the day.
2001. I avoided it as long as I could, didn't want one.
Now, of corse, I'm on my third iPhone and can't live without it.
R42 here. Forgot to add this. Why are restaurants so COLD these days?
I still use a beeper.
Were car phones cell phones?
1998, but I have never gone to the smart phone.
R44, you could easily live without it.
You're being silly thinking you cannot live without it.
Those of us who have never had a cell phone nor a smart phone get along very well without one.
You could too.
It's just that you do not want to. Nor do you see why you should.
Many people cannot afford the monthly bill on an iPhone.
The first one I loved was a StarTAC with the indliglo lighting.
I'm now on a HTC EVO 4g LTE. Great phone but there is no 4g LTE service in my area and maybe never will be. It's some ongoing bullshit litigation about bandwidth.
Had an MB that came with a phone. Spotty quality, especially on highways. But who didn't love the whole "I'm on the car phone" salutation back then?
