Ah my first ever nokia! 6 phones ago, and I still miss ‘snake’. The fact those things are impossible to destroy was pretty cool too. But I do love my bells and whistles.
My first cell phone was, I think, a Nokia 3360. My service at the time was pay as you go, and when I moved to NC I had to switch to a monthly service and got another Nokia…I don’t know the model number offhand, and since I seem to have lost it I’m going to have to get another one. I still have my old one, but when I tried to charge it the other day the battery appears to be dead. I’m wondering if AT&T can activate it and change the number so I can use it with my new monthly service.
What do you dudes mean by “unlocked”?
I think they mean a phone that isn’t tied to any one service provider in particular.
If you tell me the model number, I can likely tell you whether you could still use it. I can tell you that the 3360 is no longer a viable phone, because it uses the US TDMA (D-AMPS) standard, which is no longer supported by any carrier I know of.
You kids get offa my lawn!
My first cell phone was the Motorola DynaTAC.
Also known as “The Brick.”
I’m simply amazed by how far cell phone technology has come. My current phone is the LG VX8300. I feel like Starfleet when I flip it open to take a call.
And I used to sell Nextel.
Yes. You can buy a phone from that is locked to a carrier (subsidy locked) at a discounted price*, because they will make the discount up on your use of their service, or you can buy an unlocked phone at retail** and then use it with the carrier of your choice – provided the carrier supports the phone and is willing to permit you to use it on their network.***
Some carriers (T-Mobile I know for sure) will send you instructions on how to remove the subsidy lock from your phone after a certain length of service, while others will treat you like a thief for even asking.
*Usual American practice
**Usual European practice
***A major reason I love T-Mobile – like I said upthread, they don’t care where your phone comes from. As long as the phone is compatible with their network, they’ll let you use it. Even if it’s not a phone they sold you, they are usually willing to do what they can to help you make it work.
Technically not a cell phone but at my first job, we used IMTS phones. They had rotary dials. And at least one vacuum tube in the giant radio in the trunk; you could see it glow through the cooling vents.
Retro-cool! It would be fun to put one of today’s cellphones in one of the IMTS control units, hook up the controls, and mount that in your car.
Same with my old Motorola T720 . A TANK it was!
But everyone told me that the StarTac and other old phones could not be re-activated as they didn’t have the GPS thingee in them? 
The StarTac came in several versions for different networks: AMPS (now obsolete), TDMA (now obsolete), CDMA (Verizon, Sprint (but not Nextel)), and GSM (AT&T/Cingular, T-Mobile).
To use the CDMA version, you’d have to talk Verizon, Sprint, or your other CDMA carrier into activating it on the network. To use the GSM version, you’d just have to put your SIM card into it – you needn’t involve the carrier in selecting or “activating” a phone, since GSM phones don’t get activated like CDMA.
All of the phones that I’ve ever used on T-Mobile since I went with their service in 2000ish will still work on their network without any involvement from them – I would just put my SIM card in to one of them and I’d be ready to go.
Also, not every network uses A-GPS to provide location services to emergency operators. Verizon, Sprint, and other CDMA providers use A-GPS in the handset itself, wherein the phone tells the network where it is. T-Mobile, AT&T/Cingular, and the other GSM providers use a tower-based method, wherein the towers tell the network where the phone is.
Since the StarTac does not have A-GPS built into it, there is basically no chance of you convincing Verizon or Sprint into activating it, but if you had the GSM version, you could use it on a GSM network.
Don’t laugh too hard.
That’s still the phone I use.
For work.
It’s the company phone.
They won’t buy me a new one till this one dies.
Absolutely indestructible. Antique. :smack:
Lucy
Perhaps you can try what worked for the OP? 
Wow. Do they at least pay for the coal to run the charger for that thing?