Just for fun: Pre-Cell Phone Stories

[Anonymous]

I just remember skiing in Colorado pre cell phone and then a time when we had cell phones but service up on the slopes was unheard of.

Once I got separated on the slopes from my now husband, wound up at a different base, and it was SUCH AN ORDEAL to find him again. Meanwhile he was stressed out thinking I had gotten injured or something. It took 3 hours to find each other.

I think about that every time we go skiing. I'm often irritated when we cant communicate immediately or can't find each other for 10 minutes. But then I always remind myself about that one time.

[Anonymous]

In highschool, did some MADD type group ever give you a laminated quarter? So if you were drunk, you could use it to call your parents for a ride. I had several, never used them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In 1990, my DH had a car phone! He was in sales. I was pregnant then so he rented a beeper in the event I went into labor.

My DS is now 30. (see paragraph above). He had a flip phone for a few years in high school. Prior to that, I gave him a roll of quarters to use in the pay phone if his sports practice times changed.

Ha! I'm 45. If I needed a parent to come pick me up at school after practice (vs getting a ride home with a friend), we had a pre-determined pick up location and I would collect call my house. My mom would hear "You have a collect call from - Mom, come pick me up - Do you accept the charges?" My mom would not accept the charges and head out to pick me up. The good 'ole pre-cell phone days...

[Anonymous]

I thank god there were no cell phones when I was a teenager. I hate being tethered to that thing now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 1990, my DH had a car phone! He was in sales. I was pregnant then so he rented a beeper in the event I went into labor.

My DS is now 30. (see paragraph above). He had a flip phone for a few years in high school. Prior to that, I gave him a roll of quarters to use in the pay phone if his sports practice times changed.

Ha! I'm 45. If I needed a parent to come pick me up at school after practice (vs getting a ride home with a friend), we had a pre-determined pick up location and I would collect call my house. My mom would hear "You have a collect call from - Mom, come pick me up - Do you accept the charges?" My mom would not accept the charges and head out to pick me up. The good 'ole pre-cell phone days...

Ha! There used to be a phone commercial where a guy did this and said "Bob...wehadababyitsaboy" and his parents didn't accept the charges. After the dad hung up the mom said, who was that and the dad goes, Bob. They had a baby. It's a boy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 1990, my DH had a car phone! He was in sales. I was pregnant then so he rented a beeper in the event I went into labor.

My DS is now 30. (see paragraph above). He had a flip phone for a few years in high school. Prior to that, I gave him a roll of quarters to use in the pay phone if his sports practice times changed.

Ha! I'm 45. If I needed a parent to come pick me up at school after practice (vs getting a ride home with a friend), we had a pre-determined pick up location and I would collect call my house. My mom would hear "You have a collect call from - Mom, come pick me up - Do you accept the charges?" My mom would not accept the charges and head out to pick me up. The good 'ole pre-cell phone days...

YES! I used to come home from college on Amtrak and when I'd get to the train station I'd make a collect call on the pay phone (trying really hard not to let it touch my face LOL) to tell my parents I made it and was getting on the local train to our town.

I also remember the frantic search of pockets and bags for more change when in the middle of a payphone call before it disconnected.

When I was in high school I would wait until my parents were in bed and call the Movie-fone hotline that listed the movie times and then pick up my boyfriend's calls on the call waiting.

[Anonymous]

Remember the days of "emergency breakthrough" calls, pre-call waiting? You'd be on the phone with your friend, operator breaks thought, "you have an emergency breakthrough from Larla Jones, do you accept?" We emergency breakthrough-ed our way through every afternoon, handling calls from everyone! So stupid...

[Anonymous]

In the late 1970s I remember picking up the phone at my grandmother's house and hearing a woman talking. My grandmother still had a party line. I thought party lines only existed in old movies at that point. She didn't get rid of the party line until around 1980 when she bought a new phone and couldn't figure out why the phone line wouldn't work. The phone company told her that her old phone was a party line phone and the new phone wasn't compatible with the party line. It was then she got rid of the party line.

[Anonymous]

I was about 7 years old (mid-80's) when it occurred to me while watching a commercial that phone numbers that spelled out words (e.g., 1-800-GOT-MILK) corresponded with the letters on the number pad. Yep, I figured that out all by my smart self

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you dialed 867-5309, it connected you to a party line where you could hear other kids calling out their names and towns in hopes of making a connection.

I never heard of that and I dialed 867-5309 plenty of times.

[Anonymous]

I love all these stories! Keep them coming

I’m 30 and got my first cell phone when I was 16, but I honestly don’t remember much from before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you dialed 867-5309, it connected you to a party line where you could hear other kids calling out their names and towns in hopes of making a connection.

I never heard of that and I dialed 867-5309 plenty of times.

Jenny, Jenny, who can I turn to…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thank god there were no cell phones when I was a teenager. I hate being tethered to that thing now.

+1

[Anonymous]

When I was 17, I had a pager. I wore it proudly on my hip. It was a condition of having a much later curfew - if my mom paged me, I had to call her back within 15 minutes and if I didn’t, I would lose my late curfew privileges. My friends and I would dramatically page each other with random codes for all our teenage emergencies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thank god there were no cell phones when I was a teenager. I hate being tethered to that thing now.

+1

Yes! And no phone cameras to record all my ridiculous teenage shenanigans.