Four. Original was a big Uniden bag phone that was about the size of a small toaster. (circa 1990)
Then a Motorola flip phone with (ooh!) more than 10 number memory.
A Nokia something or other that worked everywhere except where I needed it. (AT&T)
Now a Motorola/Nextel little i60.
I’m on phone #7. This has been since 1996. Mine always seem to die in the most strange fashions.
One fell into Lake Michigan - I went into about 6 feet of water in the middle of November to retrieve it. Tried taking it apart and drying it out, no dice.
One dropped into a mug of beer. Don’t ask how it got there. It did work for another week or two, but stank of skunky beer and the display didn’t work until it gave up the ghost.
One I left on the roof of my car and didn’t realize until I was a couple of miles down the road. Never saw that one again.
One my friend smashed into his forehead and broke the thing into a few pieces. Again, don’t ask why.
One I dropped into a bucket of water while I was washing my car. Took it apart and dried it off. It did work for quite a while after that, but would occasionly turn itself off for no reason. Finally got sick of it so I bought a new one.
BTW, my favorite phone of the bunch was my first one. It was from PrimeCo before they became Verizon. I don’t remember the model, but it was the one where you slid up the earpiece to activate the keypad and answer calls. It was built like a tank and took a ton of abuse - it was the only one of mine to die a natural death.
First was bought around 1996, a pure analog model, probably made by Motorola.
Swapped that for #2 (dual-band Star Tac) in 1999 when I changed cell providers to take advantage of a company discount program.
#3 was a Samsung 8500 bought in 2001 because the Star Tac’s reception was poor at our house. I’d finally put up with it long enough and it pained me to replace a machine that worked great in 99+% of America, but not at the .0001% where I spent so much time.
4 months ago the Samsung fell in the lake so I reactivated the venerable Star Tac. After 2 years unused in the basement, the battery had aged to where it only worked for 30 minutes of talk on a full charge. A replacement battery was equally bad, perhaps from being on the shelf at the store for years. That was a pain in the butt.
Got a new Samsung VI660 last week for XMas. The Star Tac returns to the basement as a spare.
One. It’s been two years now, but the one has worked out fine. Motorola 120c.
One Nokia that’s worked fine for 2 1/2 years, though it seems like a new battery would be good. No color, no web, no e-mail, no photos, and “polite/ring once” do me just fine.