When did you get your first cell phone?

My first phone was a Nokia 5190 with VoiceStream back in the summer of 2001. I was going away for the summer, and my 60 weekday minutes/500 weekend minutes (NO night minutes) plan was cheaper than a phone card. That phone was HUGE! It did nothing but make calls, SMS, and play snake.

Service was generally good where I was (New Haven, CT). When i got home to Long Island, service became crappy. I couldnt get a constant signal at my school, so we got rid of the Voice Stream service, and added me onto my parents Sprint account. My first Sprint phone was an a460, good at the time, but what a crap phone now!

 

96 when I was a crack dealer

 

My first cell phone was the Nokia 5165 on AT&T Free2Go. That was around 1998, when everyone had one in town, and I felt left out. So I went off with my parents and they bought both me and my brother the phone to share. Now, both my brother and I have our our lines, my plan details are listed as my signature, his were 600 Anytime minutes, unlimited mobile to mobile, unlimited nights and weekends, GSM America with a new (and free) Samsung x426, which he has to this day.

Pritesh

 

My first phone was a Nokia 5170i from Cricket. I got it August of 2001 I think? Lol...

 

I got my first cell phone back in 2000 when I lived in Vegas. I got a cell phone because I could never find a working pay phone any where in Vegas. Also my grandmother would be able to get a hold of me, she always worried about me. At the time I was 22. It was a Sprint Qualcomm QCP 2760, if I remember correctly. I only had it a day & a half, as there was no coverage in the heighborhood where I lived. I then went to Pacific Cellular (Alltel & Nevada Bell reseller) and was able to rent a old Motorola GSM phone. That thing was a brick!

 

First cell phone was an analog Motorola, Bell South mobility, I don't recall the model. It was in 1995, not long after I moved to Atlanta.

I had been using one very similar to the one my man is holding in my avatar for work in 93, but the first I actually purchased and owned was in 95.

Went digital at the end of 1998 with a Nokia and ATT digital one rate, did that because I started to travel and needed a nationl plan with long distnace.

 

I became cool back in 1996!!

 

when i started driving i got a CellOne analog phone with a plan that was $19.99/mo

 

My first phone was the old brick Nokia that AT & T used as the "Go" phone like a nokia 292 or something. Back in like 1995?? gosh I can't remember that far back!!! .. It was something my Dad got for me when I was driving back and forth on I-5 for college.

thanks for the laugh down memory lane! ha ha

 

I was 18 in 1995 & I had a Moto DPC550 - Plan was 250 anytime Unlimited N&W 6:00PM-6:00AM & National (Canada) free Roaming

 

1994 I think when I lived in Texas. Southwestern Bell.....
1995 Moved back to PA, switched to Comcast Metrophone (both companies above now part of Cingular).
1996 Moved to Virginia, had Bell Atlantic Mobile for a while.
2000 Switched to VoiceStream/T-Mobile.

 

Back in 1994 when I was junior in college. Had Cellular One in the city, $29.95/month for 30 anytime with a Nokia 100.

 

A crack dealer?

My first cell phone was a Motorola v2397 in December of 2002 that I only got because it was free with my job. Now I don't think I could live without it.

 

Hmmm...I was not 18, so had to have it activated in my moms name. It was the analog motorola flip phone through Cellular One (now Cingular) back in 1994. I think it was 39.99 for 40 minutes. WoW...I paid that much for nothing back then?? My, my have times changed in the last 10 years.

Plus I wasn't dealing crack like Yello It was just for emergencies, like car trouble.

 

I don't remember the phone model we had (for emergencies), but it was a black Nokia phone that might have been digital/analog, but I am not sere.

It was with Cellular One back in 1997 (I believe) here in Florida, before Cellular One was bought by AT&T Wireless.

Our plan had 100 anytime minutes and no n&w minutes for $20 or $25/month.

I remember being impressed about the 100 minute talk time on the phone!! :smilebig:

After we got rid of that plan, we went to AT&T Wireless in 1998 and got the aforementioned Nokia 5165 with a AT&T Local plan for $29.99/month for 150 or 200 minutes and something like 500 n&w minutes or something similar to that.....I don't quite remember.....

Man, cell plans sucked back then..... :browani:

 

My first cell phone was a Motorola p8767 (the color grey startac) on Sprint (wish I had gone with Verizon then.) I got it because that summer I started to have the lifestyle that I maintain now. 9-5 work, 5-7 gym, 7-9,10, 11, 12,1,2,.... dance. I am not home and concious at the same time so it is the best way to contact me quicly.

 

The 8767 is a Timeport, not StarTAC. (Sorry, just my ____ Motorola obsession coming out.)

 

my first cell phone was back in 1995, Junior in highschool. It was a Motorola Analog phone, black w/ Red LED. It was a popular one back then and expensive, can't recall the model name. And no, I don't deal crack. It was a gift from my ex at the time, a gift as he calls it...but I see it more as a tool for him to track me down 24/7. :browani: I don't remember what kind of plan I had on that phone but I remember it was lots of money with very little minutes.

My very first phone which I paid with my own money was a Nokia 8890. I love that phone!!! Classy and sleek except the reception of Cingular/ then pacbell died on me when pacbell became Cingualr. Paid $40 bucks a month with unlimited nites and weekend (but no reception at home) so what's the point of paying them $40 plus tax everymonth when I can't even use the phone in my house. I was w/ Cingular for 3-4 years before I became a diedhard VZW customer.

ang

 

I got one in late 1998 or early 1999 (not quite sure when), just a bit before I graduated from college. I had a Qualcomm 2700 on Sprint.

 

wow. havent seen you in a while, nice of you to check up on us. :wink:

heh. im not as old as u geezers.

2000, Moto StarTac (cant remember the model) with Cingular when it was still TDMA it was...DUAL BAND!...

 

My first phone was in 1991 with Sprint Cellular it was a Motorola Bag phone, I would put it in my backpack when I was mountain biking...of course it weighed about 8 pounds.....The best I can remember for about $30 per month I had 25 minutes of airtime and my overage inside my area was 25 cents per minute, my area was pretty much only my local county.

As far as equipment I'll just list my personal phones and not include any of the phones that I used for testing purposes....I wouldn't be able to remeber them all.

Moto Bag phone..Sprint Cellular
Moto DPC 550 & Moto Bag phone...Alltel
Moto Bag phone and StarTAC...Alltel
Audivox Handheld & Audivox Install...US Cellular
Audivox Install & Smaller Audivox Handheld...US Cellular
First Digital StarTAC & Audivox Install...and Moto Bag phone with portable Cellular connector for Data...US Cellular
Qualcomm "Brick Phone"...Hargray Wireless
Qualcomm "Thin Phone"...Hargray Wireless
Qualcomm Palm phone...Hargray Wireless
Kyocera 3035 & Telular Fixed Wireless...Hargray Wireless
Motorola Time Port & Motorola Fixed Wireless...Hargray Wireless
Samsung i300...Sprint PCS
Treo 300 Sprint PCS
Samsung i330 & Novatel Aircard...Sprint PCS
LG 4400 & Blackberry 6750 & Sierra 555 Aircard...Verizon Wireless

Brings us to Today:

Samsung i600, Blackberry 6750, Sierra 555 Aircard, GPS Management CDMA transmitter....Verizon Wireless & Qualcomm GSP1600 Satellite Phone...Globalstar

 

I got mine back in 1994 thru Airtouch, the dark grey Motorola with the flip that cover the keypad, think it was the DPC 550, i think paid $400 and my plan was about $80 for about 250 minutes, not sure, here's a picture of my Moto:
of course i had the slim battery to make it look cooler, so i thought..


then around 1996 i think it was, i got service with Sprint and got the first Samsung they carry thru Radio Shack forget the model number could have been Spc 1000,( Larry will probably know this model) the little black candy bar style one, back then i got a retention plan of 1000 minutes for $75 but could never hold on to a call anywhere so i went back to Airtouch, of course it's a different story now...

 

I had my first cell phone in late 1998 when I was a high school senior. My first phone was a Nortel 1930 (1900 Mhz GSM only) with BellSouth Mobility DCS (now Cingular Wireless). The coverage was decent at the time but I couldn't pick up a signal inside my house most of the time and when I did it was usually to weak to hold a call for very long. I however had a free incoming call plan that was good until 2000 and other then that service was pretty good so I stayed with BellSouth Mobility DCS until early 2000 I believe.

I then went cell phone less for a little while. In 2001 I signed up for SunCom Wireless and purchased a Nokia 5165. Later on I upgraded to a Nokia 8265 with them. Service was quite good with them and I had a excellent signal at my house and my mom's. I however grew tired of some of there policy's and the crappy audio quality of TDMA so I jumped ship with them in November of 2003.

In November of 2003 I signed up for Cingular Wireless with a Nokia 3595. I gave my Nokia away though to a friend and I'm now using a Sony Ericsson T616. Cingular has definately made some improvements in this area. Back in the BellSouth days I could barely pick up a signal at my house and now the signal is great. I've also noticed it seems to be stronger indoors now and has fewer dead spots on the road. So far I'm pretty happy with Cingular and I plan on staying with them.

 

Hey! THAT was my first phone...that grey flip one...right about 93 or 94 too.. :thumb:

 

My first phone was a Motorola bag phone that my grandmother gave me in 1991... it was pretty much only for emergency use. The first phone that I had for real use was an analog Motorola from New York Bell Mobile (which became Bell Atlantic Mobile pretty much immediately after my first bill). The plan included 60 minutes, and then 100, nights but no weekends, and cost $30 a month. It also included, free of charge, the service where you dialled * and spoke the name of the person into the handset. I miss that.

I upgraded to an Audiovox digital phone and it sucked... but it worked in the middle of nowhere when I went to college. I got another analog on Cellcom in Iowa, a Motorola StarTAC... then I moved to California and got a Real phone.

 

I got my first phone in the summer of 1995 from the Contel Cellular of California booth in the Ukiah, CA Wal-Mart, (Contel was absorbed into GTE not long after that, it's now Verizon), it was a Panasonic analog candy bar style phone, EBH 10 or something like that, it was a nice little phone. I got one because phones were just starting to get popular at the time, I had some money burning a hole in my pocket (I think I paid 150 or so for it, don't remember the contract or plan) and I wanted one, simple as that I was living in Pocatello, Idaho at the time, so I used my sister's address in Laytonville to get it (impatience can get the best of me someitmes lol), when I got back to Poky later that summer, I switched the service to Commnet Cellular (later Airtouch Cellular, also now Verizon), though I got a Motorola Micro-Tac with them, they couldn't find the instructions to program my Panasonic, and I got the Motorola for free, so no biggie

 

See all you people go way back with cellphones, lol. All I started out with was a kyocera qcp2000 series with qwest (correction from above), THEN a nokia 5170i with cricket, then a samsung n150 with verizon, motorola i58sr (i think that's the model number) with nextel, then a tried out a sph-a530 with verizon again for a month or two and hated it-returned it, after that i got a vox with virgin mobile for a real temporary, then got my v600 and t68i with at&t wireless.

 

My first phone was an analog phone I bought cheap off someone. Forget what the model was right now though. Couldn't beat that thing for durability. Could have dropped it from the top of a house and it probably still would have worked.

 

It was spring of 1997, I believe, during my Privation Years between the careers of broadcasting 1995 and telephony 1998. I had added working at Wal-Mart to my existance (I did NOT have a life, just existance) as a substitute teacher.

I believed that the evening hours I was working, in a store with just four lines out, were keeping me from accepting offers (or learning of them) at my preferred high schools. Preferred schools have a higher number of students than "desk occupants". Assignments were offered by an automated IVR (voice prompts + DTMF) system.

So I found a used Motorola 8000 Classic (full-size handset stytle with red LED 7-segment displays), and started up no contract on a 60 minute plan (nothing else) with GTE Wireless in Memphis. Worked great in the Wal-Mart store, just a thousand feet from the nearest site along an expressway.

So cellular service kept me from further despair. (I was already in depression.)

Life is much better now.

COtech