Feb. 2009.
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 got my first cell phone in 2007. Most people I know had them by then.
For me, 1997. What was then Voicestream offered a discounted plan for employees where I worked. I had a little Ericson “candy bar” phone that wasn’t much larger than the iPhone I now have.
My mom got a Motorola car phone in 1992 through Cellular One. I have no idea what Cellular One is now. Before my dad sold my mom’s car a couple of years ago, I turned the phone on. Zero bars. I couldn’t even get an “out of service” message after trying to make a call.
I personally got one in 2000, when I got my driver’s license, or just a bit before; my dad wanted me to have one in case something happened while I was out driving. My family, however, definitely had one in 1989 or 1990; it was a car phone, hard-mounted into my mom’s Mazda 626.
They turned into Cingular, which is now AT&T. My mom’s car phone was through them, too.
We got our first one sometime in the '93-'94 timeframe. We had one between us–I wanted one because the spouse often went out on long motorcycle rides and I wanted him to have a way to call for help if he got in trouble, or call home if he was going to be late. I think we got matching Motorola StarTACs in around '96-97, and spent way too much time flipping them open and going, “Kirk to Enterprise.” 
- I got it as a high school graduation present.
Funny thing is, I HATE talking on the phone, but I can’t imagine life without it.
That’s me!
Hotel for people with mental health issues.
It still would be and added expense for me (I’m on disability) and there is no one to add me to their plan.
My parents got me one when I went away for school in 2000. They got their cell phones three or four years before that.
I got one in 1996 because I had become a slum lord.
Well, not really a slum lord, but I did buy a block of houses in a low income area with a reputation. I was working over there alot of the time by myself. Seemed like a good idea for the 5’4" white woman in the hood to have an immediately available phone.
I still have the phone somewhere, but I no longer have that number (my former SO is still using it 
Current number I have had since I moved across country in 2002.
Around 1996. It was a Motorola flip phone from AirTouch (now known as Verizon). I’ve been through many phone models since then and a few different carriers. I’ve been with AT&T since 2004, through the merger with Cingular and back to AT&T and I’m on my second model iPhone.
From 1987-89 I had no phone at all. Well, you could call me at work if you had to, but no home phone and certainly no cell phone, though bag phones and “car phones” were around then. Think of it: I HAD NO PHONE.
Anyway, 2003~ish I got a Palm Pilot and was completely irritated that I had to carry around two devices. My now-husband had a Kyosera Palm/phone combo and it was exceedingly excellent. Too bad Palm crapped out because I still miss all its features. Of course, the iPhone is excellent in many other ways.
I got my first cell phone 10 days ago. I am 42 years old. I got a pay-as-you-go phone that costs $1.99 on the days I use it (I get unlimited minutes for the day) and nothing on the days I don’t. I expect to use it about 10 to 15 days a year. The only person who needs to reach me is my wife, and I am almost always either with her or at work, where she can call me on my desk phone. I got the cell phone because there are a few days each year when it would be convenient to have one and this one is cheap enough to make it worth having.
It’s the juvenile one-liners. For sure.
My husband and I got ours in 2002, when we graduated college, moved across the country, and started having a real income. What amazed me was my perspective switch: before I had a cell phone, it never occurred to me that anyone else had a cell phone, and I was a bit skittish about calling people on their cells even when instructed to: I wasn’t sure of the proprieties of the situation. Once I had a cell phone, I suddenly assumed everyone had one and was gobsmacked when they didn’t.
I moved a lot in high school (3 states) and it was pretty traumatic for me–this was back in the early 90s, the last days when you had to get dressed up and set a kitchen timer to call long distance. My friends and I wrote long letters in snail mail. I often think how different that whole experience would have been just a decade later, with email and free long distance. (and yes, I know people had email in the early 90s. Average 15 year old girls did not).
I’m in real estate, one of the first occupations to use cell phones. We got ours in 1988.
January 2001. My husband and I planned to go out of town for a few days but there was a looming danger of it being cancelled because of important technical stuff going on at his job. His boss said, “Of course, if you could be reached . . .”
We hied ourselves to Verizon and beat it out of town. I think he got one five-minute phone call to put out some programming fire.
Somewhere around 2002. My employer required me to carry it, and paid the bill. Later, they made me responsible for the account and paying the bills, but added a small stipend to my weekly pay. I liked this better, because it made me responsible for any excess usage, which in turn meant I could use it for personal calls as well.
IIRC it was about six inches long and I had to wear it on a little clip thing that attached to my belt or waistband.
It was nice to have on hand, but pales in comparison to my current smart phone with unlimited Net access as well as most of my CD library ripped onto it, which you’ll have to pry out of my cold dead hands. Unless you work for one of the service providers and you are selling me a better one.
The hubby bought me one for my birthday in 1993. Still have the same number. I must confess it was a few years before I apprehended the utility of cell phones; for a long time I just kept it in the car in case I broke down.
I got mine in 1994 when I started my current job. I travel to a different place every day. It was important that my family be able to contact me in an emergency, and I didn’t want them to have to go through my employer to reach me. I added on my husband, mom, and sister within a year or so.
My dad got one in 1992. At the time, he was homeless. He lived in a pickup truck, grilled out at a storage facility, showered at the gym where he was a member, and came by my college dorm to borrow money that I got from selling my plasma.