# How many Cell Phones Have you Been Through?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 26, 2003, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110 "2003-12-26T11:20:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/1 "2003-12-26T11:20:25Z")
I got a new phone for Christmas. I realised that this is my 4th cell phone.
Phone history -
phone 1 - I got it about 4 years ago. It became outdated so I got a new one and gave phone 1 to my dad. He’s still using it.
phone 2 - A birthday present. However it got stolen last December. Someone broke into the staff room where I was working and took it along with my purse.
phone 3 - This september my brother gave me his phone as he never used it. It was a slight upgrade from phone 2.
phone 4 - I wanted to go from pay-as-you-go to a contract phone. So I got a new phone from my parents for Christmas. It’s about half the size of my last phone. Phone 3 will probably find its way back to my brother.
So dopers, how many cell phones have you been through?
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### Author:  [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/2 "2003-12-26T11:30:35Z")
Six. Five Nokias, the most recent a 6100. Can’t remember what the first phone I had was, but it was clunky.
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### Author:  [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/3 "2003-12-26T12:50:10Z")
You mean VoIP phones? 😃
Sorry, just an inside joke. I never owned a cell phone, I hope I never have to.
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### Author:  [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/4 "2003-12-26T12:56:49Z")
Not as many as I’d liked to have. On my second now, but only because I can’t afford to buy a new one every year 😃
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### Author:  [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/5 "2003-12-26T15:04:46Z")
Just three. My current phone is a Motorola StarTac (my service is Verizon). It’s obsolete, I guess, but it does everything I want it to, so I see no reason to get rid of it.
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### Author:  [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/6 "2003-12-26T17:13:30Z")
I just bought my second phone.,The first one was getting some “screen burn” and it was acting like it was going to need a battery soon and the new phone was just a little more $ than a battery. The first phone lasted me just over 2 years if I get that again I will be a happy boy.
(Kyocera phones using Virgin Mobile service)
unclviny
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### Author:  [@Mr\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Jim)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/7 "2003-12-26T17:23:43Z")
Just got my first!
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### Author:  [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/8 "2003-12-26T17:40:19Z")
3 so far.
First was a Sprint phone that worked OK as long as I was in Sprint PCS territory, otherwise totally dead as it had no roaming capability.
Next was a Nokia that came with the job. After about a year, the battery went bad and wouldn’t last more than a day, so it was replaced with a new vibrating one. Not two months later, it wandered away and was replaced by my current phone, another Nokia, but smaller and with vibrate built in.
Judging by my counterparts in a neighboring department, my next phone will have a polyphonic ringer and color screen. Meh.
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### Author:  [@badmana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badmana)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/9 "2003-12-26T18:07:23Z")
5
The last 2 were company phones that I don’t pay for (I work for a cell phone company).
The other 3 were, ironically, by our largest competitor. 2 were nokia (6160 and the 8260) and the oldest one was a motorola “brick” phone.
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### Author:  [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/10 "2003-12-26T18:57:42Z")
I’m too ummm, thrifty to buy phones with all the bells and whistles. I go for the freebie available with the service contract and am on year 2 of the current service with phone 2. First one lasted a little over 3 years.
The cheap ones work fine for me, and I don’t use all the features available even on them, why spend more for what I don’t need, eh?
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### Author:  [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/11 "2003-12-26T18:58:55Z")
I get a new upgraded handset every year with my current provider, hence six handsets.
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/12 "2003-12-26T19:12:33Z")
Started off 5 years ago with some huge Nokia.
Then a Nokia 6910
Then a Motorola StarTac (og bless that phone)
Now a Motorola T720 (total junk)
I’m about to switch to Sprint so Sanyo 8100 here I come.
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### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/13 "2003-12-26T19:29:42Z")
I started off with a big ol’ _Siemens_ clunker, then I got my _Nokia 6910_, which I still own.
I don’t need all the “bells and whistles” that the newer phones come with, and really only use the Nokia when I’m out on the bike trail or for car emergencies. (Hell I have something like 150.00 dollars in minutes built up which don’t expire till November of next year!).
Do any of you “techno-mavens” know if the phone I now have might become obsolete or am I pretty much set, fo say, another ten years or so? 😉
Thanks
Q
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/14 "2003-12-26T20:10:06Z")
Well it depends on what you want to do with it. I have my email forwarded to my phone, and I like to surf around the net and get my news and sport scores. I suppose if you want to actually call someone, then the 6910 is just fine. 😃
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/15 "2003-12-26T20:59:13Z")
5
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### Author:  [@Chimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimpy)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/16 "2003-12-26T21:02:44Z")
4 in 4 years. two nicked, one smashed screen, on my 4th atm.
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### Author:  [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/17 "2003-12-27T00:55:01Z")
Just one, which I’ve had for two and a half years. If this one ever dies, I have GOT to get one that takes pictures. That is sooooo cool.
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### Author:  [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/18 "2003-12-27T00:56:29Z")
I’m on my third one.
My first was a Samsung that lasted a year and the sound that came through the earpiece just kept getting tinnier and tinnier.
My second was a Kyocera. it lasted a little under two years. I started to get screen burn, and the sound was starting to go as well.
My new phone is a Nokia. It’s really small. It fits comfortably into the breast pocket of my jacket without bulging and has a pretty good battery life.
If you are not too concerned about having the latest gadget, you can get the cell phone company to replace your phone every year.
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### Author:  [@StanDup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StanDup)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2003, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/19 "2003-12-27T00:59:42Z")
phone One: (1996) A Nokia phone. Clunky, ugly, EXTREMELY HEAVY, big, boxy and made crackling noises. And the manufacturers had a nerve to put a WRIST STRAP on it!
phone Two: (1999) A Sprint phone. Served us well and even had a feature that recorded memos and names. Unfortunately, it had a run in with Queens Boulevard.
phone Three: (2000) An Omnipoint phone. Was a pretty alright phone, until I went on a senior trip to Washington D.C, ald all of a sudden stopped working.
phone Four: (2002) Kyocera phone with Verizon service. Pretty ugly phone in and of itself, but did what it was supposed to do until one day it too decided to fail on me.
phone Five: (2003) Virgin Mobile phone, a wonderful, light phone, with no contract service. I’m pretty impressed with it so far, and I hope it lasts me longer than the other four did.
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### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phones-have-you-been-through/221110/20 "2003-12-27T01:12:00Z")
I’m on my third…
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