# When did you first get a cell phone? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 15, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813 "2011-03-15T17:48:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/61 "2011-03-16T22:41:29Z")
Early summer 1998 - just after I graduated from high school. Motorola Startac. I was the first of my friends/family to have one. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/62 "2011-03-17T00:15:48Z")
[Almost two years ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=512333). Actually, our two year commitment for free phones is almost up, and I need to start another thread on whether we should stick with our Verizon plan or what. ---
**Author:** ![Enocavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e480ec/32.png) [@Enocavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enocavy)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/63 "2011-03-17T02:00:41Z")
Husband and I got our first cell phone in 1991. We got it for “free” when we bought a new car. It was a bag phone and was the size of a shoe box. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/64 "2011-03-17T02:25:13Z")
First phone of my own in 1994. My dad worked for the phone company, though, and we had bag phones in the family cars (they came in a case, with a corded handset!) starting in the late 80’s. I got one of the early [qwerty keyboard phones](http://www.mobiledia.com/phones/nokia/3300.html) in 2003. It was a bit ahead of the texting curve, and I never did get the hang of text shortcuts because I never had to use them. Anyone who ever got a text from me got it in regular typing with with grammar, spelling, and punctuation. What a nerd. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/65 "2011-03-17T04:09:54Z")
> [@Enocavy](#): > > Husband and I got our first cell phone in 1991. We got it for “free” when we bought a new car. It was a bag phone and was the size of a shoe box. What exactly was a bag phone? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/66 "2011-03-17T04:54:21Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > What exactly was a bag phone? I remember those. They were essentially a portable car phone with a self-contained battery that you could carry around with you in a bag outside of the car. Like this. [http://www.svwsticker.com/files/svwsticker/users/1/Motorola-bag-phone.jpg](http://www.svwsticker.com/files/svwsticker/users/1/Motorola-bag-phone.jpg) For use inside of the car, you would plug it into the lighter outlet and plug in the cable from the external antenna mounted on the rear window or trunk lid or roof of the car. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/67 "2011-03-17T05:08:12Z")
> [@Incubus](#): > > i feel like an adult without a cell phone must be some kind of recluse. Pay phones are few and far between these days. If you are not in your moms basement, A cell phone is too useful NOT to have. Pre paid phones are also pretty cheap, as is being added on someones plan. My fiancee added me to her t-mobile plan and for 1500 mins, and unlimited text/net its only ten bucks more. I think people with cell phones greatly underestimate how common pay phones still are, because they have no need to be observant of them. I’ve never had a cell phone, and I know the location of lots of pay phones in the areas I like to go. I spend maybe $0.50 or $1.00 per month on pay phones, if I use them at all, with zero commitment. No cell phone can compete with that. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/68 "2011-03-17T05:42:44Z")
In 1994. I bought a new car that year, and the Toyota dealer threw in a “free” phone as part of the deal. It was a Motorola flip phone. I hardly ever used it, mainly because it was so big I never took it out of the glove compartment, so mostly I forgot it was even there. I didn’t start using a cell phone regularly until much later, when I finally got one I could carry around in my pocket all day. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/69 "2011-03-17T05:50:39Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > I spend maybe $0.50 or $1.00 per month on pay phones, if I use them at all, with zero commitment. No cell phone can compete with that. Sure. You can’t post to the Dope from a pay phone, though! ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/70 "2011-03-17T12:57:42Z")
Got mine in 2003. We were moving into a new house, and wanted cellphones. After doing the math it would cost the same to get a landline or cellphones, so we got the cellphones. I haven’t had a landline since. The only thing I miss from a landline is being able to hear the phone ring anywhere in the house, and for about a year I kept up the old habit of saying “Check the machine to see if anyone called while we were out” even though I knew full well we had no answering machine. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/71 "2011-03-17T12:57:59Z")
And how the hell could you text to your friends while driving down the road from a payphone? Huh? Answer that one. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/72 "2011-03-17T13:04:10Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > I think people with cell phones greatly underestimate how common pay phones still are, because they have no need to be observant of them. I’ve never had a cell phone, and I know the location of lots of pay phones in the areas I like to go. My husband is a mail carrier who very reluctantly bought a prepaid Tracfone two years ago because it had become ridiculously inconvenient for him to find a pay phone when he needed to call back in to the office for whatever reason. Yeah, they’re still out there, but they are increasingly few and far between. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/73 "2011-03-17T14:35:16Z")
I’ve had my first cell phone for nearly a year now. I use it more than I thought I would but still not much more often than I used to use pay phones. Maybe 120 minutes a month or so. ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/74 "2011-03-17T15:14:57Z")
1993, when Mrs. Duc became pregnant. Motorola Brick. We later upgraded to the way-cool Motorola flip. In high school in the late 70’s I had a radiotelephone in my car, and a ham radio with a telephone patch. I was always in touch! ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/75 "2011-03-17T15:47:06Z")
My first cell phone was a Motorola DynaTac back in, I think, 1985. It was big with a really thick rubberized antenna that couldn’t collapse. I had one installed in my car in 1987. I think it was also a Motorola, but I don’t remember the model. It was big as well. They had to cut away a portion of the center console in my car to install it. It was very cool though. No one I knew had a phone in their car back then. My next phone was a MicroTac in 1990. It was the first flip phone I’d ever seen and had to have it, although it was bloody expensive. Throughout the '90s I had a series of phones, mostly Motorolas. At one point, when I changed cars, I had a Qualcomm phone installed. Piece of crap that lasted a little more than a year. In 2001 I got my first Blackberry which wasn’t even a phone, and then went through a series of Blackberry phones culminating with the Storm in 2009. In December 2010 I caved to the Android hype, accepted Google as my technology overlord and got the DroidX for myself and then the Incredible for my wife. I still have every cell phone I’ve ever owned, 11 in all, with the exception of the two car phones both of which were trashed. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/76 "2011-03-18T03:50:08Z")
The poll results at the moment look like a normal distribution. I got my first phone mid-2004. AT&T pay-as-you-go phone, for emergencies only. What prompted me was issues with one specific off-leash dog and owner I encountered in the local Forest Preserve several times. (I bought pepper spray as well at that point.) On walks I keep the phone turned on in case I need it right away (all other times I leave it off). As it turns out, I didn’t have anything like an actual emergency until about 2008, and then it was only a dead car battery and I called the AAA (actually, as far as I’m concerned, the amount I had paid for that convenience was totally worth it). Until then, when I built up some large balance of rollover minutes, I’d call some free news/entertainment number to play blackjack against a computer whose voice was a Sean Connery impression. Before AT&T/Cingular converted to digital, I also received text messages for free. I used them for news alerts, and that was how I found out during a walk that Pope Benedict had been elected. I carry it with me any time I go out. Very occasionally I’ll forget it. I feel a little uneasy without it, which surprised me the first time that happened. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/77 "2011-03-18T21:08:49Z")
I picked the most recent option, but it may have been one back. It wasn’t until Pay as You Go became ubiquitous, and then it was a little while after that as I hardly ever talk on the phone. I still only use it when I’m shopping with a group and we split up, so we can know where each other are without having to have a set meeting time and place. ---
**Author:** ![uncle\_squeegee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b5e925/32.png) [@uncle\_squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uncle_squeegee)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/78 "2011-03-19T01:49:35Z")
1994, the year I started working at what was then McCaw Cellular and is now part of AT&T. I’m still working there there and still have the same number. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/79 "2011-03-19T03:17:31Z")
1. I was among the last of my peers to get one, and I was 22 or 23. But I’d had a long-term loan of a mobile/cell phone that wasn’t mine for a couple of years prior to that. ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813/80 "2011-03-19T03:42:40Z")
I chose 2002-2004, but it might have been late in 2001. That’s when I started dating my now-husband. At the time, I was one of the few people in my group of friends who didn’t have a cell phone. It worked out ok, though, because I could usually reach someone I was meeting up with by calling them on their cell. However, my boyfriend didn’t have a cell either, which made meeting up with him after work or whatever much harder. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-get-a-cell-phone/574813.md?page=5)