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Original poster

When did you get a mobile phone?

117 replies

manicinsomniac · 09/02/2020 15:47

I've always known I was late getting one (got a bright blue Motorola brick for Christmas 2000 and I was very excited! Grin ) but I don't remember seeing them until 1997 or so and tv/films from the 90s don't seem to feature them much.

But I've just been reading about mobile phone history (thrilling, I know - fell down the internet black hole!) and apparently there were handsets available from 1985 (1983 in the US) and the first non brick flip phone came out in 1988. I'm really surprised.

When did you get your first phone?

OP posts:
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LaurieSchafferIsAllBitterNow · 09/02/2020 18:47

I am glad someone mentioned the "mars bar" thing....I had my brothers phone in 95, and there was something in my mind about mars bars!! He had a contract and then got posted overseas...no data roaming in those days so he asked me if i wanted to take it over and use it

I think we had one for emergencies before that, shared between me and dh/ car use but I cannot remember properly!

UpTheRhineWithoutAPaddle · 09/02/2020 18:49

When I started teaching in 1994. It was a huge Talkland one with a pull out antenna. I still have it (have lost the charger though 😕) and the kids at school are incredulous when I show them it. It couldn't even send text messages - not that I could send them to anyone as none of my friends had a phone then!! How times change.
As a PP said, I use my iPhone 11 now as a portable internet device rather than a phone as I'm so antisocial now

ArbitraryNameChange · 09/02/2020 18:51

1995, it was an NEC P100, chosen because it had a battery life of up to 24 hours.

And could be used to prop a door open

thatmustbenigelwiththebrie · 09/02/2020 18:52

I got one in 1999 when I was 18

NichyNoo · 09/02/2020 18:56

1998 when I went to uni and opened a Barclays student bank account because you got a free phone. It was huge and on BT Cellnet. Cost 50p to send a text and calls were about £1 per minute so I couldn't actually afford to use it.

If you opened a NatWest student account you got a pager - those were the days when we still didn't know which would be more popular - pagers or mobiles.

Sibbles · 09/02/2020 19:03

Think I was around 10 years old, possibly just 11 was the year before senior schools so around 98ish I think. It had an aerial you had to pull up Grin

TheWomanTheyCallJayne · 09/02/2020 19:06

96
I was 15 nearly 16 and got it myself (with parental help)
It was a brick with a flap.
I remember how much more sophisticated the Nokia I got next seemed to be.

onlyhereforthefood · 09/02/2020 19:09

I had the orange Bosch 509e back in about 2001 when I was 14. I thought I was so cool!

wendz86 · 09/02/2020 19:14

I was about 14 so prob 2000 or 2001. My dad had one a few years before that was a massive brick .

Toomuchtooyoung01 · 09/02/2020 19:23

In 2001 when i was 17. It was a pay as you go Nokia which had an aerial, could only store 10 text messages at a time and the only feature was the game Snake.

Kittensinmysupper · 09/02/2020 19:27

1987 in my work car ... felt like James Bond

Racheyg · 09/02/2020 19:35

I was about 15 and a bt cellnet phone. My parents still have it in a draw somewhere

Racheyg · 09/02/2020 19:36

Sorry forgot to say 1997/98

NameChange84 · 09/02/2020 19:39

1999 when I was 15, though I had pagers before that. It was a vodaphone one but I got a Nokia soon after with the changeable covers. Had a bling flip phone in the early 00s!

weegiemum · 09/02/2020 19:43

My dh got one for work in 2000 (on call GP - had been pagers up till then),

I didn't get one for years - resisted one actually as I thought it was a fad. Even now I have a very much recycled iPhone 6 and don't get my kids excitement with new phones.

TwoBlueFish · 09/02/2020 19:43

My first was a pink clam shell, I got it when I was pregnant with DS1 so 2003.

teenagetantrums · 09/02/2020 19:48

1994 the year l had my first child was a brick Nokia.

penguin246 · 09/02/2020 19:54

Can't remember exactly. It was a nokia, probably 1999, and I used to do £5 top ups. And play snake. That was all it did.

BritneyPeedOnALadybug · 09/02/2020 19:55

After seeing some pics does anyone else have (probably rose-tinted) nostalgia of a time where you could charge your phone and it would last for weeks and if you dropped it on the floor your heart didn’t instantly go into your mouth, praying the screen wasn’t smashed, and probably felt more concern of the floor being dented? Or is that just me? Grin

penguin246 · 09/02/2020 19:57

Oh yes I had a pager for a bit before that. What were they all about? I think my Dad had one for work then gave me one.

I still don't think you can beat the Nokia 3210!

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 09/02/2020 20:00

I'm 38 and don't have one - just never seen the point. I think I'm very much alone in that though.

pointythings · 09/02/2020 20:03

I got one in 1998 -basic Nokia mini brick with endless battery life. Incredibly useful because my work took me all over the place.

I was very late to the smartphone game though, didn't get one until 2015 and within weeks didn't know how I'd ever lived without one.

neversleepagain · 09/02/2020 20:06

My parents bought a brick Nokia when I started university in 1997. I kept it in the glove box of my car and used it about five times Grin

YgritteSnow · 09/02/2020 20:10

A Motorola PAYG from WH Smith in 1998 with Orange. It was almost as soon as PAYG came out as it had only been contracts before that and your credit history had to be impeccable to get one. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw I could get one on PAYG. So excited Grin. It was £99 I think. A huge amount for me back then but worth every penny.

TaliZorahVasNormandy · 09/02/2020 20:10

2001 when I started College. It was Nokia 3210.