So I’m watching supergirl on Netflix, and the characters go back in time to 2009. One of the characters pulls out her smart phone and proceeds to call her mom getting her voicemail. Would that work?
2009 corresponds with the introduction of 4g. So a modern phone should be able to connect to the 4g frequencies and maybe even the previous 3g frequencies.
Even if frequencies aren’t a problem though, the phone wouldn’t be connected to a voice plan of any of the carriers at the time, so I would think you would only be able to call 911.
As an aside, my 3G dumb phone from Samsung that i bought for $10.00 about eight years ago just stopped working, not because it was malfunctioning, but because TracFone decided that it was obsolete and refused to support it. They did provide me a new Blu smartphone with 4G compatibility for free, though.
Suppose I’d been with the same carrier (I dunno, let’s say Verizon) since then. Would their system in 2009 recognize my SIM card as being tied to my account even if it didn’t recognize the device? What if it was literally the same SIM card I’d had since then?
It’s the same SIM card since 2009? Then, I think so? Maybe there is something else that can go wrong that I’m not thinking of.
Seems unlikely that SIM Card would have made it through all the intervening phones though.
Thanks, the connection to the carrier voice plan was what I was thinking would probably be the sticking point. In the writers defense, she was calling from an alien spaceship (on the ground) at the time so its possible that her phone connected to the ship which then hacked the nearest cell tower.
ISTR a similar plot point in Doctor Who some years back, where the Doctor (Nine or Ten, maybe) timey-wimey’d their companion’s phone so they could make calls between the future and present-day London.
Weird writing quirk in a lot of time travel fiction is the notion that time is passing in the present, and also, there is another narrative where time is passing in the past. Even to the point where, despite having a time machine, there is urgency to get back to the past before something occurs there - I mean, you have a time machine - you could just set the dial to get you there before it happens, but the story requires urgency, so it’s like the present-present and the past-present are somehow running in parallel
“The clock in San Dimas is always running.”
“Ted! Don’t forget to wind your watch!”
A common plot hole which has been called “meanwhile in the future” at TVTropes.
not just tracphone every major carrier in the world is planning to abandon 3g by the end of the year …and it’s affecting more than phones
From the link:
Are flip phones history? Not necessarily. AT&T said flip phones aren’t being phased out but, like other devices, if they don’t have 4G they won’t have data or voice services.
They aren’t phased out, you just no longer can use them for anything!
Tracfone isn’t actually a carrier, they contract for service on AT&T, Verizon, or TMobile networks and resell it to their customers. They don’t really have a choice about discontinuing 3G. AT&T also sent free Android phones to customers who still only had 3G - cheaper than keeping the 3G network functioning for a dwindling number of customers.
4G flip phones are still available.
I’ve never had a SIM card wear out or stop working. I’ve only changed them when I changed phone service. They are pretty well protected in there and pretty simple. Seems plausible that someone could have one that lasted 10+ years.
Modern smartphones like the iPhone 12 and 13 still support everything back to the 2G/2.5G GSM/EDGE bands that the original iPhone used back in 2007. These are obsolete in the US (the frequencies have been repurposed for newer cell bands) but they are still supported so that the same devices can operate in countries that haven’t upgraded yet (either sold there, or brought by travelers).
https://support.apple.com/kb/SP830?locale=en_US
https://support.apple.com/kb/SP852?locale=en_US
SIM cards basically have not changed in any significant way since the 1990s. They have become physically smaller, but still have the same electrical and logical interface. The design is so backwards-compatible that new SIMS sold/delivered standalone (i.e. not bundled with a specific phone) are die-cut so that you can punch out whatever size you need for your phone: mini, micro, or nano. Likewise, you can get adapter trays to load smaller SIMs into devices that expect larger SIMs.
Personally, I’m still using the same nano-SIM that I got with my iPhone 5 back in 2012 or 2013 in my iPhone 12 Pro (purchased 2021) today.
One solution is to say the character was connected to wifi and using something like Google Voice or any other VoIP programs that were around at the time. That would do away with the need for a carrier plan and compatible network. Modern apps probably wouldn’t work but if there was a web interface maybe the could log in that way and make the call.