On my 12th birthday in 1988 I was on my way to pick out my birthday present (a Powell Peralta Tony hawk skateboard) and our car died in the Middle lane of one of the busiest intersections.
I was with my aunt and we were freaking out. All of a sudden this car pulls up in front of us and a lady jumps out of the car with a bag and she had a huge phone just like this. We called for a tow truck and they came right away. She was like our guardian angel with a cell phone lol
Been over three decades but it seems like mine was nearly 100 bucks a month, and got 100 minutes. It would beep at around 54, 55 seconds to warn you that you were about to get into another one of those costly minutes. I remember loaning it to a friend that needed to take a day trip a few hundred miles away. When I got the bill he had used it to talk to his gf for about two hours. I can’t remember all the charges, but that was the last time I ever did that.
I remember that the battery life was shit. My dad could unplug it in the garage and he would have to run to the kitchen and plug it back in or it would die.
My mom's first phone was a Motorola bag phone. We had free nights and weekends, so I could call my friends who lived in the next county over and talk all night. The calls would randomly drop though, and occasionally, we would get some interference from trucker CB radios.
I used to sell these things, different brand but the same type of product when they first came out.
Back then, cell towers were not all over the place like they are now. They were still building the network of towers way back then so you needed a good deal of power to get to the nearest cell tower.
Nowadays, mobile phones have something like 600 mw of power output and can vary up to 3W.
Back then, these bag phones would put out 6W of power and calls were pretty reliable back then.
My dad had one of these, used it to call his affair partner. Ran up over $300 on a cell phone bill in the early 90s, it’s how my mom found out about the affair. Thanks, Motorola!
My Dad has a car phone that looked a lot like this
I used to setup and install them in cars in those early days around 1985. Bag phone and car unit were quite similar
Legit almost looks the same as his thank you for confirming
Same
We called it the bag phone. Only for emergencies in my family.
On my 12th birthday in 1988 I was on my way to pick out my birthday present (a Powell Peralta Tony hawk skateboard) and our car died in the Middle lane of one of the busiest intersections.
I was with my aunt and we were freaking out. All of a sudden this car pulls up in front of us and a lady jumps out of the car with a bag and she had a huge phone just like this. We called for a tow truck and they came right away. She was like our guardian angel with a cell phone lol
We had the phone but everyone was under strict orders not to use it because it was too expensive
Been over three decades but it seems like mine was nearly 100 bucks a month, and got 100 minutes. It would beep at around 54, 55 seconds to warn you that you were about to get into another one of those costly minutes. I remember loaning it to a friend that needed to take a day trip a few hundred miles away. When I got the bill he had used it to talk to his gf for about two hours. I can’t remember all the charges, but that was the last time I ever did that.
My parents had that car phone. I remember feeling sooooooo cool calling a friend from my parent's parked car in the driveway.
“Open fire! Waste the motherfuckers!”
I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
Steel rain. Steel rain. I got a danger close fire mission
Cleared hot!
If only the Prick25 (yea prc) had been so light. The spare battery probably weighed more than that.
My first cell phone was one of those motorola walkie talky cell phones.
I’m remember that they charged for incoming and outgoing calls
My first mobile was a Panasonic Transportable……with an in-car kit. How cool did I think I was
Had one of these myself when they came out.
That’s the same one I had - maybe mid 90’s?
Mid 90's you were outdated. By the giant Motorola flip
Yip, had one just like it.
We had one; we got it for my wife when our daughter was born.
Only rich people or drug dealers had those...and drug dealers were rich in hose days. In today's cost it would be about $10 ,000.
Used to be my tree phone at the deer lease
Ice scrapers, hehe, they're all monsters.
1987 - Radio Shack, of all places
My parents had the gray brick in the station wagon for trips to Vermont.
I remember that the battery life was shit. My dad could unplug it in the garage and he would have to run to the kitchen and plug it back in or it would die.
My Motorola worked like a charm. Never had a problem with reception.
Had exactly that model in the 80s. It seemed sooo cool, but then I realised that my wife could call me and find out where I was…….
My mom's first phone was a Motorola bag phone. We had free nights and weekends, so I could call my friends who lived in the next county over and talk all night. The calls would randomly drop though, and occasionally, we would get some interference from trucker CB radios.
Mine still had more coverage and signal than the rubbish we have in the UK now.
I used to sell these things, different brand but the same type of product when they first came out.
Back then, cell towers were not all over the place like they are now. They were still building the network of towers way back then so you needed a good deal of power to get to the nearest cell tower.
Nowadays, mobile phones have something like 600 mw of power output and can vary up to 3W.
Back then, these bag phones would put out 6W of power and calls were pretty reliable back then.
My dad had one of these, used it to call his affair partner. Ran up over $300 on a cell phone bill in the early 90s, it’s how my mom found out about the affair. Thanks, Motorola!
Looks like you were playing medic
Was there a monthly fee if you used it at all?
There’s a dude in the bushes
Does he have a gun? I don’t know, man; I don’t know!!
What? What?? Red Team go. RED TEAM GO!!