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anybodyiwant2be t1_iu7u2st wrote

The Motorola brick. I had it and cellular one was my carrier in Seattle in 1991 too

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turdferguson3891 t1_iua2i6b wrote

We had one of these in my mom's car in the early 90s in SoCal and it was also cellular one. Her plan only had a handful of minutes a month, it was really just in case we had car trouble and needed to call AAA. At the end of the month we got to use up the 15 minutes or whatever it was. I remember calling my grandma while were driving to her house and the entire conversation was just, "Grandma! I'm in a car and I'm talking to you!".

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Latitude22 t1_iuajb2u wrote

Ha ha same. Cellular One, Seattle none the less. Then I got the slim brick. Oh boy was that bad boy nice!!! Very slim ha ha ha. Was like .35 off peak and like .55 during peak or something like that. PER MINUTE FOLKS.

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donblacs17 t1_iu7olfw wrote

That phone was 6-12 years old when this photo was taken. He is smiling because he knows it is chesy - that’s the point of the photo.

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B3eenthehedges t1_iu84dhr wrote

Definitely way less than 6 years, that was a Zach Morris cell phone, and it was a joke because no one else was rich enough to have them. We were still all on pagers then, so i I'm sure Kurt was just being ironic. It wasn't until the late 90s that they came out with cell phones you could actually fit in your pocket and afford the plan.

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liftoff_oversteer t1_iu9patg wrote

Pocketable Mobile phones were available earlier than late '90s. I did get me a Nokia PT-11 in '96 and I was hardly the first to ever have one.

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R0osteryo OP t1_iu7ozgi wrote

Thank you for the background! I didn't know this.

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davtruss t1_iu81xf0 wrote

I too appreciate the context, but a reverse image search on that picture suggests "kathmandu durbar square" as an alternative search. Is it possible this is where he was at the time?

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klsi832 t1_iu7ns9b wrote

Hello? Hello? How low? Is Zack Morris there?

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Ani_Solo t1_iu8ha33 wrote

I was just going to say, that's not a cell phone, that's a Zack Morris phone.

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crudedrawer t1_iu9o8kk wrote

I guess it shows my age that I don't know who Zack MOrris is and always consider this the Gordon Gekko phone.

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NedRyersonsHat t1_iu7ny0r wrote

Kurt: "But my car is new...I don't need an extended warranty"

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extendedwarranty_bot t1_iu7nynx wrote

NedRyersonsHat, I have been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty

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davtruss t1_iu81fyi wrote

I'd take those calls if I could be assured Rosario Dawson was on the other end. I mean, I might even listen to the recorded messages.

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davtruss t1_iu81bgo wrote

Yeah, that's about right. Wife bought me a "bag phone" in the early 90s. It was powered by the cigarette lighter, but tragically the receiver had a cord that connected to the base. Still, you could carry it around like lunch.

That's also about the time home phones began to have a mobile base with a receiver that had an antenna.

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0nSecondThought t1_iu8xy8s wrote

And the power was so high you could get a signal virtually anywhere.

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howniu t1_iu7o1pi wrote

Awsome shirt.

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sidewayscratch67 t1_iu7pfli wrote

You can say what you want about how clunky those phones were, but I never, ever had a dropped call with those guys and range went forever (of curse, I could have probably hard boiled an egg beside one - but that's a different story).

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newMike3400 t1_iu7ydb7 wrote

The range wasn't that great it's just that with a 20 min talk time you couldnt go very far.

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turdferguson3891 t1_iua4njh wrote

They were analog, though. So instead of your call dropping it just got staticky. I got one to work when I was camping one time even though we were far away from any city. Reception was terrible but I got a call to go through. With modern gsm phones you probably just wouldn't have a signal at all.

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newMike3400 t1_iucsl9n wrote

I had the same style motorola roamer in the UK in 88. Didnt work well in the centre of soho as too few circuits.

1

RussTGates t1_iu7mpm8 wrote

Gotta be careful with those, might cause brain damage

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SasquatchSloth88 t1_iu8qd73 wrote

In his spare time, Kurt moonlighted as an investment banker and would introduce himself over the phone as “Gerald Goldstein.”

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agoodfuckingcatholic t1_iu7qtmh wrote

My old man had one of these in the 80s and apparently they were heavy and loud. Probably radioactive as well 😂

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Habatoozoo90z t1_iu7vb3t wrote

Cell Phones have been around since the 70s, and he looks like he's holding one from the 80s.

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laopitaipei t1_iu80li5 wrote

Probably calling his dealer

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RyviusRan t1_iu8ftf7 wrote

The cell phone is an amazing piece of technology. Must have blown his mind.

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JakkSplatt t1_iu8ngk5 wrote

Ha! My buddy came over in '95-'96 with a briefcase phone🤣

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MrA1Sauce t1_iu7s666 wrote

Good ‘ol AMPS. Probably 3-5 watt.

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non-number-name t1_iu8c111 wrote

I am more curious about the model of his sunglasses.

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Chuckobochuck323 t1_iua7ykh wrote

Wait until Op realizes cell phones have been around since the 70’s

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KitsuneDawnBlade t1_iu8f49x wrote

These were the absolute top back then. Expensive af but really nice

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Analyst_Cold t1_iu8luap wrote

This was definitely the vibe at the time.

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ethnicfoodaisle t1_iu8wx8i wrote

By then, really small cell phones did exist but were crazy expensive.

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ike_tyson t1_iu8y5ep wrote

I always wanted a shirt like this. Is this the same shirt from the Heart-Shaped box video?

1

locootte90 t1_iu9hk3s wrote

I had a Motorola brick, albeit newer and smaller.

1

CoraxTechnica t1_iu9v3uw wrote

Oh man you just made a bunch of people feel old as fuck

1

Salty_kernel t1_iu9z4se wrote

😂😂 what's with the questioning I swear I'm going to fight one of you youngins over this one day. That one is a little before my time but I remember seeing tons of them in pawn shops

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turdferguson3891 t1_iua4d5a wrote

We had one like this in my mom's car when I was in High School circa 1992. It probably wasn't the latest model but she had a budget plan that was just for emergencies so they likely gave her the absolute cheapest model they had.

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RodCherokee t1_iua4wmf wrote

I had much worse earlier - a Motorola with a cord and old style mic and ear piece. The battery was the size of this one !

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Dangerous-Dot-3745 t1_iua88mq wrote

Cell phones REALLY looked like that back then! Nirvana's "Nevermind (91) ' album is an instant CLASSIC! Rip!

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Dermutt100 t1_iu8ex4r wrote

​

Americans were way behind in mobile phone adoption. every little kid in Britain had a Nokia style cellphone, even in the 90's when they were still a rarity among adults in the USA.

And due to a failure of American capitalism (or a success if you are one of the providers) Americans still pay 1990's prices to use them. Americans are still completely ripped off by their providers, they pay a fortune for calls and data compared to Europeans.

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SandboxEight t1_iu8slbo wrote

You must not live in Germany lol. At the time I left (5 years ago) it was way worse than the US

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Neveragainthanks t1_iuagrnt wrote

The 3310, which I’m guessing you’re referring to wasn’t released until 2000. It was the very late 90s when we started get phones. I didn’t have one when I left school in 98, I did get one in my second year of 6th form though

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bulletproofmanners t1_iu7rq0f wrote

Unfortunately not Kurt, it is a clone they sent out. Do some research, notice so many errors on the clone.

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