Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

When did you get your first mobile phone?

I

iMacZealot

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 11, 2005
2,237
3
When did you get your first mobile phone, and how old were you?

I got my first personal one in 2005 when I was 13. It was a plain Samsung A670 on Verizon, but it cost a lot for a relatively simple phone ($150). It then broke about a year ago in 2006, so I used our crap spare Samsung until I got a Sidekick 3 last Christmas. I'm now onto my iPhone, which my parents insisted I get because our entire family was switching from all different carriers to at&t. I am extremely grateful for it.

My dad has had a cell phone since the mid 90's, but it was one his hospital gave him. Our family purchased our first mobile phone in 1997, the tenth customer of Qwest. My older siblings shared phones throughout middle and high school, and the two oldest (26 and 25) didn't get their own until college.



I'm interested in when everybody else got their first one, and what a clunker (or not) it was.
 
rdowns

rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,521
Mine was sometime in the early to mid 90s. Decided to replace my beeper since it went off so often (was a salesman) and finding pay phones was a pain in the arse. Some Motorola brick with lousy reception.
 
zelmo

zelmo

macrumors 603
Jul 3, 2004
5,490
1
Mac since 7.5
Sometime around '89 I got a fancy Motorola bag-phone. Weighed about 8 lbs., had crap reception even with the antenna attachment, and a battery that held a charge for about 20 minutes.


I thought I was the ****.:rolleyes:
 
P

Principessa

macrumors member
Sep 6, 2007
56
0
Mine was the Nokia 5110 back in 1999 (I think). I was 13 and the first one of my friends to have a cell phone haha. :cool:
 
GoCubsGo

GoCubsGo

macrumors Nehalem
Feb 19, 2005
35,741
153
16 when I started to drive. It was very uncommon for teenagers to have them when I was 16. Now I think kids get them even as young as 8-9. I happen to know a few 9 year olds that have them.
 
iTeen

iTeen

macrumors 65816
Aug 13, 2007
1,256
0
Washington
when i was 14(two years ago) i got a samsung sch-a650...i still have it but am getting a new phone in a couple days:D(prob the lg voyager)
 
CorvusCamenarum

CorvusCamenarum

macrumors 65816
Dec 16, 2004
1,231
2
Birmingham, AL
My SO made me get one two years ago next February. The salesgirl was somehow dumbfounded that I managed to survive the first thirty years of my life without one of the accursed things.
 
I

iMacZealot

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 11, 2005
2,237
3
iTeen said:
when i was 14(two years ago) i got a samsung sch-a650...i still have it but am getting a new phone in a couple days:D(prob the lg voyager)
Click to expand...

Wow, I had the A670 (which was basically yours but with a camera and external display) and I've been on two new phones since then.

I feel sorry that you must stay on Verizon.
 
S

Schnebar

macrumors 6502
May 15, 2006
372
1
California
I got my first phone in 7th grade when I was 13. So that would have been 2003.

My parents forgot about me when I was at school watching an after school sports game. I waited on the steps by myself for like an hour, at night before they remembered me. Then the next day they took me to Verizon and got me a phone so that would never happen again.
 
GSMiller

GSMiller

macrumors 68000
Dec 2, 2006
1,666
0
Kentucky
Me and my Mom both got our first cell phones when I was in the 10th grade, which was back in early '04. They cancelled school one day because it was snowing and I couldn't get a hold of her and had to sit there and wait for a few hours, so we went the next day and got them.
 
iTeen

iTeen

macrumors 65816
Aug 13, 2007
1,256
0
Washington
iMacZealot said:
Wow, I had the A670 (which was basically yours but with a camera and external display) and I've been on two new phones since then.

I feel sorry that you must stay on Verizon.
Click to expand...
yea...its a good phone for working good for two years now...i really would love a iphone but we don't have any coverage here in my little hick town.:rolleyes:
 
d_and_n5000

d_and_n5000

macrumors 6502a
Oct 6, 2005
631
0
Last Christmas, an extremely crappy Motorola v170 - the truly crappy side of phone technology. It was with Tracfone. I was 14. I let it lapse around October, and don't plan on reactivating it...

I'd like new one, but it ain't happening. My braces pretty much put the nail in the coffin of any expensive gifts this Christmas. We're going simple. Which i suppose will be good - I'll still get to hang around family, and its not like i'm not getting anything, so I should be grateful.
 
B

BadlyDrawnGirl

macrumors member
Aug 25, 2006
75
0
New Zealand
This doesn't really count as me "getting" a cell phone, but the first one my family owned was this huge console-like contraption we used to carry around in the car. It was probably purchased around 1991 or 1992 since I was in 2nd grade at the time. I remember being so freaking proud every time my dad asked me to stick the antenna onto the windshield with the suction cups and call home - it was like I was communicating from outer space or something, lol.

My first phone that was actually mine was bought in 2001 from Verizon, right before I went off to college. (I went to NYU and my uber-paranoid mom had nightmarish visions of me being accosted by scary black men in an East Village alleyway and not being able to call 911.) It was a Motorola and was about the size of a blackboard eraser. LOL this brings back memories...
 
I

iMacZealot

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 11, 2005
2,237
3
iTeen said:
yea...its a good phone for working good for two years now...i really would love a iphone but we don't have any coverage here in my little hick town.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Mine snapped in half after about 15 months, and my brother's and my friend's did the same after about 10.
 
E

ErikCLDR

macrumors 68000
Jan 14, 2007
1,795
0
When I was in 7th grade so... 2002 I think.

It was a motorola flip phone.. V something i believe.
 
xodonniedarko

xodonniedarko

macrumors 6502
Aug 15, 2007
328
0
North Carolina
I got my first phone when I was 15, right after I got my permit. I got Cricket (if any of you know that service) because it was 35$ a month and it was non-contract plan, so it was pay as I go.

My mom said I couldn't get a cell phone until I payed for it myself, but that was okay because I had a job that summer, too. It was a hand-me-down phone, an old kiyocera. Oh yeah.

kyocera-k10-g.jpg


Something like that, but a little more ghetto and used.
 
Counterfit

Counterfit

macrumors G3
Aug 20, 2003
8,195
0
sitting on your shoulder
Mine was a hand-me-down from my brother when he was in France for 6 months. I got his car during that time too. The phone was an Ericsson R3xx. I liked it, but then the microphone died. I got it mid-January 2002.
 
gadgetgirl85

gadgetgirl85

macrumors 68040
Mar 24, 2006
3,752
301
I got a mobile in 1999. It was some form of Motorolla...I was about 14. Then the next phone I had was a Nokia 5110. That was a sweet phone! I lost it at school :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom