im not, but back in 1996ish i used to rock one of these


it even had a replacment rechargable battery that you could put a bunch of AA battery's in
anyone into vintage phones?

If yours goes too far back, they wont work since they are analog. I had to upgrade mine due to that reason.

I remember my dad got the first flip phone. Star tack or something. He thought he was sooo cool when he got a call and would open his phone. I still have it somewhere.

I just pulled that exact phone out of a closet the other day....it was my wife's. I had a couple of the StarTac phones....they were, and still are, one of the best phones I ever had.

quote Originally posted by User00013170: If yours goes too far back, they wont work since they are analog. I had to upgrade mine due to that reason.

Would like to have a 'brick' for my old PC collection tho...

EDIT: Arrgh.. i meant to do an edit. not a quote.. I don't normally talk to myself

[This message has been edited by User00013170 (edited 10-10-2009).]

My father had a Motorola back in the very early 90's that was about the size of a cinder block. Looked like this:

The battery life was terrible and the call quality wasn't good, but it was something else back in its day.

I have a basic motorola flip phone... not camera, no internet... just a basic phone we could get back in 2006. The wife is itching to upgade (hers is just like mine) so she can have a camera and a qwerty board (she sends maybe 10 texts a month, I do maybe 5 a year).

I couldn't believe that one of my customers had his cell phone ring last week. He took it out, flipped it open and it WAS a StarTac. I know they made those in digital for the conversion but I had no idea they were still actually in use today. I also had the white Motorola "Brick" phone as well as the in-car hardwired phones back in the 80's

quote Originally posted by GT86: My father had a Motorola back in the very early 90's that was about the size of a cinder block. Looked like this: The battery life was terrible and the call quality wasn't good, but it was something else back in its day.

That is a brick..

My first cell phone was a Motorola that looked like the flip phone, except it didn't flip open. That was back in the late 90's.

quote Originally posted by IMSA GT: I couldn't believe that one of my customers had his cell phone ring last week. He took it out, flipped it open and it WAS a StarTac. I know they made those in digital for the conversion but I had no idea they were still actually in use today. I also had the white Motorola "Brick" phone as well as the in-car hardwired phones back in the 80's

The Star Tac is a great phone. That's all it is - a phone, and it's nice and small and easy to use.
For someone who just wants a phone, it's a nice choice. Most phones these days have so much extra crap on them it seems like making phone calls was an afterthought.

No. Old school phones are old. Old is not good, old = bad.

Damn beer. LMAO I;ll apoligize later.

Growing up, my folks had those cell phones that came in brief-case sized bag/pack. That was in the '80s. We even had a car-phone in dad's car. The pack was in the trunk, antenna on the rear window, microphone near the visor. I think airtime was in the dollars per minute range.

Its amazing how quickly technology progresses.

[This message has been edited by Rainman (edited 10-10-2009).]

quote Originally posted by Rainman: ...cell phones that came in brief-case sized bag/pack. That was in the '80s.

We had one of those; it required a rats nest of wires to plug it into the lighter and couldn't be used outside of the car or power source. I think ours just stayed in the car and was only actually plugged in when it was time to make a call.

Microphone??

The first "mobile phone" I had actually had a telephone with a corded receiver/handset. Mine was uptown compared to my boss's, it had only one button, to call the operator. He gave the operator the number and they made the call. Mine had a regular touch-tone keypad. I'd put the number in and it would show up at an operator's station and THEN they dialed it and connected it for you, but it gave the appearance that you were doing the dialing. IIRC that was about in '78 or '79. I know I was out of college, and I graduated in '77. The calls, I think, cost something like $1.25 per minute.

My first cellphone was a Nokia bag phone. Not very portable, but had a lot more power than any flip or handheld phone, then or now. Could hardwire it to an external antenna. I almost never lost service with that and back then there were a whole lot fewer cell towers.

John Stricker

Edited to add that I can't find a picture of the one I had, but this is real close to the one my boss had in his truck.

quote Originally posted by Rainman: Growing up, my folks had those cell phones that came in brief-case sized bag/pack. That was in the '80s. We even had a car-phone in dad's car. The pack was in the trunk, antenna on the rear window, microphone near the visor. I think airtime was in the dollars per minute range.

[This message has been edited by jstricker (edited 10-10-2009).]

Remember the old IMTS that was replaced by cellular service? My first job with Bell Telephone was to remove one of these from Sonny Liston's car in Las Vegas. (I was a teletype repairman at the time, the local telephone company was non-Bell).



The above photo and a history of Bell mobile telephone service (1946 - 1985) is here:http://www.wb6nvh.com/Carphone.htm

For some of the really young crowd out there that never knew this....phone numbers used to be dialed by an operator. You would tell them a word and then a 3 or 4 digit number....such as Victoria 759 and the operator would connect you. Those were the days before 27 billion people were born

[This message has been edited by IMSA GT (edited 10-10-2009).]

I've still got a brick. I found the audio quality to be much better than digital.
If the signal was poor, you would just hear static and hissing along with your conversation. It wouldn't just chop up and drop out like the digital phones do.
For comparison, compare television "snow" that you used to see, to the digital pixellation that you see now.

I used to work on the old VHF and UHF phones. They had a 35 pound drawer unit that was bolted in the trunk, and an umbilical cable the size of my thumb that connected to a control head bolted to the floor or dash.
Most IMTS systems would support maybe a dozen simultaneous conversations. Across an entire city.
Of course, Atlanta had the Bell system, and the non-Bell (Radio Common Carrier - RCC) system in competition with one another.
I worked for the RCC company.

Check out the link posted above. It's really good.
We had the UHF / MK packages, as well as another proprietary system that was not mentioned in any kind of detail. Secode was the vendor for that system.
I could go on a long winded geek-out, but I'll save it.

------------------
Raydar
88 4.9 Formula IMSA Fasback..........................88 3.4 coupe -soon to be something other than red

Read Nealz Nuze! Praise the Lowered!

[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 10-11-2009).]

My brick....approx. 1.5 pounds worth.

It was my first cell phone.
I've kept every subsequent cell I've bought since.
They kept getting smaller and smaller until I got my Blackberry

My uncle up until a few years ago rocked one of thoes very small flip old school phones, you know the ones with the green screen numbers. He said he paied over $1500 for it so why let $1500 go to waste. I think they were called starteck phones or somthing. My dad had a few of them My side of the family goes through phones like an alcholic through beer.

Look at how phones evolved to. Went from green screens that you couldent save contacts onto to these newer touch screens. Adn the new phones are a hell of a lot cheaper to.
just like computers. When my dad bought his 1st laptop it was the biggist pos i have ever seen. It wouldent even be able to run rollercoaster tycoon games. Had one of thoes screens that you had to tilt it just right to see it. $4000 A powerful laptop now $1800 at most.

[This message has been edited by pontiackid86 (edited 10-11-2009).]

I used to have, and would still have, and older cell phone (around 2001) if it wasn't for it's unfortunate fishing trip in a certain porcelain pond...

QUOTE]Originally posted by mcaanda:

No. Old school phones are old. Old is not good, old = bad.

Damn beer. LMAO I;ll apoligize later. [/QUOTE]

Beer is quite old....quite a bit older than cell phones....:P

[This message has been edited by Xuin39 (edited 10-11-2009).]

quote Originally posted by spark1: Remember the old IMTS that was replaced by cellular service? My first job with Bell Telephone was to remove one of these from Sonny Liston's car in Las Vegas. (I was a teletype repairman at the time, the local telephone company was non-Bell). The above photo and a history of Bell mobile telephone service (1946 - 1985) is here:http://www.wb6nvh.com/Carphone.htm

I had a similar one in early 80s but no dial...you had to buzz an operator. Best I ever had was the original Motorola Flip. Worked flawlessly and you could hear it ring on the other end of the house. Ive hated every one Ive had after it....but had to make do. I still dont know why they cant make one ring loud. My home phone is not much bigger and I can hear it ring inside even if im working outside. My cell rings in my pocket and if theres any outside noise, I miss 1/2 the calls.

Yeah, those old Motorola units took up half the trunk of a big car. Lots of places here, that even those wouldn't work, and everyone in the oilfiled used what we called a "ranch radio". It resembled a CB, --no dial mechanism but you pressed the button, and had an operator dial the number for you. When you had an incoming call, it was wired into a little relay to blow the car horn- and -I've seen bars empty out when 1 car horn sounded, since everyone in the bar was oilfiled and we all had the same setup. I used to just drive up and start blowing my horn just to see how many people would come running out to answer their "phone".

quote Originally posted by fieroguru: I have a basic motorola flip phone... not camera, no internet... just a basic phone we could get back in 2006. The wife is itching to upgade (hers is just like mine) so she can have a camera and a qwerty board (she sends maybe 10 texts a month, I do maybe 5 a year).

Every time I "update" my phone, I end up wishing I hadn't. I don't want a camera, I refuse to text and I sure as hell can't use one to surf the internet. My son has the latest and greatest Blackberry with all the services. It costs a fortune in my opinion and it almost useless for anything but a phone. But, he's paying for it and it seems to make him happy so what can I say. Funny (almost) how it costs so much to have the latest and greatest and yet, it's still just a damn phone.

My last upgrade I told the phone dude, I want the most durable but none of the bells and whistles. Ended up with something he called the"military" version. Seems to take the abuse and still works, I don't use the camera and I cut the text service out cause I'm not going to answer it anyway. I guess we're both happy.

Ron

quote Originally posted by $Rich$: im not, but back in 1996ish i used to rock one of these it even had a replacment rechargable battery that you could put a bunch of AA battery's in anyone into vintage phones?

That's a Startach isn't it?

I still have a huge Pannasonic cellular phone that my parents bought back in 1991 when they owned a yacht.

It's a huge brick that's actually about HALF the size of a cinderblock. Built into it, is a corded receiver hand-set that you latch / unlatch. What it basically is, is a car phone, WITHOUT the convenience of being able to use the car's battery (so you're lugging around a small lawnmower sized battery with a car phone).

I'll take a picture one day. It's analog of course, but when you plug it in, it still works. Since it doesn't have service on it, it instead immediately calls the operator.

------------------
Todd,
2008 Jeep Patriot Limited 4x2
2002 Ford Explorer Sport 2dr 4x2
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6
1981 EZ-GO Xi875-A "Miami Dolphins" Medical Cart
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter

No, that's not a StarTac - it was the precursor to it, though, I believe.

I had one exactly like the one in the commercial, although I also bought a slimline battery pack for it. Made it less of a brick and more of a back-pocket 'buttphone', so we used to call it. ("Dude - you're butt's ringing.")

Amber display, handy size - heck, I wish I could have another one.

I also remember having one of the vehicle-mounted mobile phones installed in my 1986 Nissan 'HArdbody' pickup truck. Transceiver unit mounted behind the seat, handset cradle mounted on the dash, hole drilled in the roof for the hardwired antenna to go through - when I had it professionally de-installed after I went to a handheld cellphone, they used a smooth, flush plug to fill the hole in the roof.

Wow - blast from the past...

------------------
Patrick W. Heinske -- LZeitgeist@aol.com

"There are two types of Fiero owners - those that have gotten ripped off by Toddster, and those who will get ripped off by Toddster."

[This message has been edited by LZeitgeist (edited 10-12-2009).]

quote Originally posted by blackrams: Every time I "update" my phone, I end up wishing I hadn't. I don't want a camera, I refuse to text and I sure as hell can't use one to surf the internet. My son has the latest and greatest Blackberry with all the services. It costs a fortune in my opinion and it almost useless for anything but a phone. But, he's paying for it and it seems to make him happy so what can I say. Funny (almost) how it costs so much to have the latest and greatest and yet, it's still just a damn phone. My last upgrade I told the phone dude, I want the most durable but none of the bells and whistles. Ended up with something he called the"military" version. Seems to take the abuse and still works, I don't use the camera and I cut the text service out cause I'm not going to answer it anyway. I guess we're both happy.

We both think the same. I have the same as your new one...its the Casio Boulder. I dropped one off a motorcycle on the street pavement. It has a few scratches but still works fine. I got it because it has the loudest ringer I could find and like you I dont want all the other bull crap.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 10-12-2009).]

Remember "bag phones"?

I have a Sony--it's big as a 12" shoe!

I've been thinking about getting an old flip phone like that and putting the smaller and more updated guts of today's cell phones in it. I wonder what kind of looks I would get using it? Or getting a bluetooth handset like this:



http://www.thinkgeek.com/el...ics/cell-phone/8928/