February 5, 2013

ET Phone Home

I got my first cell phone in 1992 or 1993. It was a a cell phone in a bag. It was a full sized handset and I could screw on a portable antenna or connect it to the wired antenna in my car. The nylon bag it lived in was about the size of a small cooler.

The phone worked great. Unless I was in the deepest hinterlands, I could get a crystal clear reception. I suspect the clarity of signal was partially due in that the total number of people using a cell phone in my area was small. In those dinosaur days cell phone users in semi-rural Indiana numbered in the hundreds, not the hundreds of thousands that use the phones today.. Lots of bandwidth (or whatever the magical cellphone airwaves are called) was  available.

Those old cell phones called and received calls.  There were no games, no calculator, no video, no music.  They were phones. For the record, few people had my cell number, I mostly used my limited minutes to call out. Roaming was a constant feature and one had to pay attention when crossing the imaginary lines into the territories of rival cell phone providers.

After a time  I migrated to a chunky Nokia and eventually to a series of flip phones. I combined my trusty Palm organizer with my cell phone when I got the first of two or three Treo models. I might have had a Blackberry sandwiched in there somewhere. I have had iPhones the past several years.

I am due for a replacement phone in a few weeks. I am not sure what I am going to buy this time.  I like my iPhone just fine. The Droids have some cool features. I might just keep my current phone until it quits functioning.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have an Iphone, had a blackberry but found it to be a pain, tried a droid and paid to get rid of it. I think the provider is more important than the phone, Verizon is the king around here with reception.

James Old Guy

Dan O. said...

I've never had more than a phone with a camera. And that's even more than necessary. All I ask of a phone is that I be able to well, make phone calls. Is the texting convenient sometimes? yes. Do I use the camera? Sure. Alot. But if it didn't have it, I wouldn't miss it.

I always tell people, even though I work in electronic technology, I don't use it. I've never been into gadgetry. I'm more a K.I.S.S. philosophy kind of guy.

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