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FakeNoose

(38,376 posts)

8. My dad had a "car phone" like that but it wasn't portable

Sat Aug 2, 2025, 09:08 AM

Aug 2

It was too big to carry around, but it was installed in his car. My dad worked on construction sites and he had to be available by phone as he traveled from site to site. I think it linked up to the Telstar satellite or something. There were no cell towers back then.

In the 90's before we all got those silly flip phones, I knew a computer guy who had a "portable" phone that he used carry around. It must have weighed 10 pounds. The connectivity was terrible too, didn't seem like it was worth it (to me), but it was a status symbol for him. He had "clients" who would call at all times of the day or night, and ask computer-guy questions.

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Ha ha, love the older movies when "cell phones" were the size of a shoe!! [View all] a kennedy Aug 1 OP

Last month customerserviceguy Aug 1 #1

Me too, I had one of those huge phones they called a "bag phone"...It was in a small briefcase size bag...those were the wcmagumba Aug 1 #2

Didn't Those Things Weigh Around 4#? ProfessorGAC Aug 2 #9

Yup, it was a beast...I've been around a while and seen a few phones... wcmagumba Aug 2 #10

Or when there were tiny flip phones that had antennas you had to pull up, Ocelot II Aug 1 #3

I had one of those too... wcmagumba Aug 2 #11

Older phones? OC375 Aug 1 #4

Almost took a recent call on my watch. usonian Aug 1 #5

Back in the late 80s, a lawyer in town (whose last name was Lawyer) rsdsharp Aug 1 #6

My dad had a "car phone" like that but it wasn't portable FakeNoose Aug 2 #8

When I was in middle school (late 60s) a guy from my church had one of those installed in his car for work, he was some wcmagumba Aug 2 #12

📲 Cellular 📼 LessAspin Aug 1 #7