Vintage Cell Phones
 

So something that might come as a surprise to some, 2G service is still in use in America, some carriers won't activate them but will let you keep your old 2G phone if you're still using them, while others (like anything on the T-Mobile network) will happily let you activate them no question asked.

As someone who's not a fan of smart phones, I decided to go back to my Nokia 5190 a couple years ago. It's old, very very old, but STILL has service. It's now 21 years old, old enough to drink alcohol, and I'm not going to lie, people keep telling me 2G service is limited, especially if I travel. At least on T-Mobile's network that hasn't quite been the case for me. I've traveled around with this phone, and had great service, only once in 2 years has a call dropped, and it might have been the other party (had to call some call center and it was busy sounding and overseas). I've had people tell me I sound so clear when using this phone vs my smart phone I used to use. They say specifically I'm louder, less muffled sounding, and it sounds less compressed, no real artifact. They think it's a landline. In my home I get full coverage, at the grocery store I get 3/4. In fact when I was hospitalized in 2017, I was using my Nokia already, and that got 1 to 2 bars of service in the hospital room whereas the nurses and their smart phones got nothing, and were forced to use wifi calling.

Here it is today.
https://i.imgur.com/usuFG6P.jpg

I know, the days are numbered (T-Mobile originally said they would shut off 2G at the end of 2020, but I've been told this is now delayed until further notice as there's apparently still a few 2G customers), and I love vintage cell phones, specifically the basic "dumb" phones. They were simple, they did what they were designed to do, and they usually end up lasting longer than the other phones. They don't need software updates, and I can still text on it just fine (I was actually able to Tweet on Twitter with this Nokia up until recently when they shut off SMS Tweeting).

Does anyone else here have a fascination with older cell phones?

I actually get a kick that this Nokia refers to itself not as a phone on the back, but as a handheld tranceiver. (Which is indeed what a cell phone really is!)

From what I understand the CDMA carriers Sprint and Verison (and the 'virtual carriers' that rent use of their service) still use 2G for their primary call and SMS services and only use their 3G-5G service for data transfer.

I currently use a Moto G7 power smartphone (has 5500mAh battery that matches the all week life of my last flip phone, also not an overpriced flagship), and have found the limits of Sprint's coverage...The display will tell me LTE (aka 4G), 3G, or a plain signal strength gauge (indicating 2G service)...I can surf the web and send pictures with my texts in LTE or 3G, but if I have the bar graph I've learned that all I have is phone and text without pictures....Basically all of northeast Iowa (in my short jaunt there) is either 2G or dead zone. Northwest Wisconsin is also mostly dead zone with patches of roaming...It seems like highway 53 is the only strip of data going north and drops dead or to roaming north of there.

I had my flip phone for a long time. By the end of college, I was probably the only student with one and not by choice...My folks are cheap and my phone was part of a family plan (and I didn't have funds to buy my own phone/plan).

About the only vintage cell phones that I find interesting are the analog ones going back to the early somewhat experimental networks...

The 2 keys to survival for a smartphone: keep it in a protective cover/case so you can drop and or throw it safely, and don't get it wet (unless you get one designed to be waterproof)...Warranties are a good idea I drowned my first smartphone 3/4 way into the warranty in a beach accident and didn't get a case for my first G7 and ended up having it slip out of my hand on the downswing (read that accidentally threw it onto concrete) of the moto gesture that activates the flashlight (both phones survived well enough to recover data and use albeit not as good as before)...The current one had a case before it ever got used...Warranty pretty much covered everything both times.

I've still got my OKI 900,(1993 era) it has the modded eprom that allows for up to 5 esn's. It was great fun, It has an external interface that you could hook up to your computer. It would allow you to follow conversations (both sides) and even follow them during handoffs to other cell towers. It would decode the data to give you all the information (phone numbers dialed). There was also another eprom that would allow up to 200 esn's that would roll through them. This was before the cell companies found out about all the clever hacks.
Tony

I use "Nokia" 3310 :)

Which one, original or re-release?

Original ;)

Perfect, the nearly direct successor to my 5190 (US market 5110).

So I've kept almost every cell phone I ever had. All but the first one, an Audiovox AMPS phone that was 3 watts in the car kit, and 1 watt when un-docked/on battery. (Battery lasted for about 20 minutes on a good day.)

Aside from the AMPS/NAMPS ones, there's a bevy of Palm Treo units, both flip and non-flip, plus a Motorola Razer(?) or two, a Motorola StarTac flip, the first Android sliding keyboard one, and every other iPhone model starting from 3GS to 6S.

The iPhones all still work, and I could probably have them activated if I needed to. But the older ones, even though some are GSM, I thought were doorstops. What approximate date is 2G? Is there a way to tell if they'll work just by firing them up and observing for signal? (Testing by calling 911 doesn't really seem prudent...)

It depends. I can only speak for T-Mobile at least (including MetroPCS as it's the same network). From what they have told me, there's now no specific date as to when 2G will be shut down. Now T-Mobile's 2G is on the PCS band, 1900MHz. In most cases it's actually running on the LTE guard bands with limited space, but dumb phones are working fine with it like my 5190. As long as those phones have a 2G radio on 1900MHz, and are unlocked, I don't see why you couldn't activate them. If you go directly with T-Mobile, just inserting the SIM is all you need to do, even out of another phone (MetroPCS requires you to give them the IMEI as some sort of security measure, but they haven't complained about my Nokia 5190's IMEI). The SIM currently in my Nokia is actually a 4G LTE nano SIM slapped in 2 adapters (My Moto Razr however would NOT work with this SIM so mileage may vary).

As for the CDMA based carriers, I'm not quite sure what's going on with them. AT&T has already rid of 2G entirely.

I am curious about switching to Mint, which also uses T-Mobile's network, since they have better prices, but I have been holding it off as from what I understand, NEWER SIM cards might now have issues with my Nokia, specifically SIM's that include 5G support.

I had the 5110 in the past.
Do you use your 5190?

Yep, I use it daily. Better call quality and signal reception vs my smart phones, and I never use the smart phone features, I don't use facebook, twitter, etc when I'm out of the house, so better to just have no distractions.

Vintage cell phones eh? I have an AMPS Motorola Ultra Classic, two CDMA/2G Star Tacs, a Nokia 6820b (GSM), A Nokia 5110 (GSM 900Mhz), A Motelona XY968 ( Motorola v220? gsm flip phone in an Ultra Classic "brickphone" body).

I use a Huawei Mate 9 on T-mobile now. Their 2G service has been non-existent at my house for some time, but the LTE is ok.

No matter how fancy are new phones, sometimes people do ask to se my 3310 :D

Oh they always have to ask if my 5190 has Snake. Why of course, it was the second Nokia to have it (first I think was the 6110). And I got a high score, not impressive but I have played it: https://i.imgur.com/vZHS1em.jpg

Thats awesome!!!

Is 2G analogue??


I hope it keeps working for ya buddy http://www.videokarma.org/images/icons/icon7.gif

Nope. 2g is digital. AMPS was analog, but they shut it down in 2008

Why they shut it down.
A.M.P.S. was 1G.

Yea AMPS was Analog and was shut down for a huge reason: People with scanners could snoop on the conversations. There was simply no security with it. I have a newer Nokia here somewhere that was my grandmothers, it was an AMPS phone actually and it's weird to see, you'd think it was a 2G phone.

The N.M.T. 450 which also was used in Romania had the seame "feature" :) But the really bad thing was that phones could be cloned so some one other else could talk in your acount and you would pay extra.
But the people complained or it was just a gouverment decision?

A slight digression, but for anyone who accumulates old phones without intending to, the next time consider donating the old one to a place that needs them, like a battered women's shelter.

I still have my first cellphone from about 1990, it is analog, and won’t connect to the system anymore, but makes a nice paperweight.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...71892f_w_d.jpg

Still use flip phones, but my all time favorite was the diminutive Nokia 8210. I see that these are available on eBay... can they be configured to operate on a US system?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Nokia-8210-...97.m4902.l9144

not affiliated,
jr

If A.M.P.S. would have had still exist you could still use your big brick.
Tuning a small mobile phone I don't think is possible. Better look for the U.S. version.

Yea they can't be re-tuned. I took apart one of my Nokia 5190's here, and it has specialized filters just for the frequency they operate at: https://i.imgur.com/xUP9ZDG.jpg

On another note, I'm leaving MetroPCS, and switching to Mint Mobile. Entering my Nokia 5190's IMEI number into Mint's phone checker says it IS compatible and identified it properly as a 2G phone. So I guess we'll see if the Nokia gets to keep ticking. I'll find out maybe Tuesday, if the number ports fast enough. (I don't see why not, because they are using T-Mobile's network so technically I'd be hitting the same towers).

If keeping that phone is more important than the carrier and your not confident you can go back if mint doesn't work, then you may want to first try and get a cheap prepaid sim from mint to test the phone with before switching number and turning off your old plan.

There's an old proverb about making sure the new bucket holds water before getting rid of the old one...Good words to live by in situations like this.

I seem to recall back in the AMPS/NAMPS days that you could configure a pair of cell phones to act as walkie-talkies, just connecting with each other. Config/maintenance software and interface was probably required.

Asking because I have two NAMPS Audiovox phones that are pretty small (size of TV remotes) that would be handy in this application. I even have 'car kits' for them for higher output and antenna addition. FCC issues may 'squelch' that idea, however...

I'm already 90% sure it's going to work. MetroPCS that I have right now is a T-Mobile MVNO, and Mint is an MVNO as well on the T-Mobile network. Both are no different. The SIM card Mint is sending is a 4G LTE SIM, that's the same kind of SIM Metro gave me 2 years ago (not a 5G SIM, which won't work in the Nokia). So the SIM versions are the same, same network, frequency, both are MVNO's (which was in the 2G specification by the time the Nokia was made anyway), I honestly am sure it'll work.

But at this point saving money was more important, so if I need to put the SIM in my smart phone, it's not entirely a deal breaker. It will suck, but Mint has the best deal in my area for services with coverage.

There' been floating around for a little over a decade now the discussion and designs for an AMPS repeater that fit in a briefcase. The idea was that a (then modern) CDMA phone was passing the call on through a heavily modified AMPS phone unit, much like the walkie-talkie idea.

Problem is however that with AMPS deallocated, running the repeater now bleeds into several bands and it's extremely illegal. The page seems to pop up from time to time in different places before it disappears again due to legal threats most likely.

This would seem to be a very cheap experiment:

https://www.amazon.com/Mint-Mobile-S...s%2C226&sr=8-4

not affiliated,
jr

The only problem with that as far as I was told by sales, was that I wouldn't get the $15 a month special when I recharged it. I'm fairly certain it'd work though, there's really no reason it wouldn't, the Nokia 5190 knows about MVNO's, and it's still on the same band and network technically. I'll find out Tuesday. If it doesn't work, I'd be more happy to save $15 on my phone bill as it is.

I would rather have a cell phone on an analogue network as analog sounds better.. I dont care if someone is listening,THEY ARE ANYWAY!!!!!!!!

I would love having a 1980s cell phone.... Just a nice basic phone that works and sounds excellent!

;) https://streamable.com/4lthz

My iPhone 6s is now considered “vintage” because it has a headphone jack. :D

On the topic of vintage cell phones, anyone have a car phone that is still operational? My family has a 1999 Mercedes E320 with a car phone but I’m pretty sure it’s analog unfortunately. It would be nice if it could at least call 911 in a pinch.

My fathers 95 Continental had one, but the phone itself was long gone. The module however was still in the trunk itself (with also the FM radio module too).

Mint works as I suspected.

Only weird SIM card mis-communication between the phone and the SIM card is the Voicemail icon. That shouldn't be there. The SIM card has settings on it for 5G wireless, and as I suspected, the Nokia is reading that as "Hey I got voicemail!" but the phone DOES still put the text "New Voicemail" on the screen if I got voicemail. So it's not like it's leaving me curious. Everything else works, call and text.

so that is what that is. Every smartphone I've had so far has constantly had that stupid voicemail notification constantly active even when I had just checked my voicemail and had 0 messages in it.... It's kind of annoying that new phones suffer from this too... sounds like some bad engineering practice is being employed around SIM cards.
My problem is they don't always send me a text when I get a voicemail so sometimes I don't know I have one for a week or 3...

Yea, that icon being stick is a SIM card issue. Phones usually store that indicator in the SIM memory (smart phones might be different though, but that's how GSM phones used to do it). This SIM card in my smart phone shows no voicemail, in the Nokia it shows voicemail. The way I can tell here is simple, when I turn on the Nokia, that icon lights up BEFORE I even have service, that means the SIM card is saying it, but I think it might be because this is a 5G capable SIM card. Those have extra strings in them that might be confusing the Nokia. I had a feeling I might run into it, but I wasn't sure what it would do. Apparently it's a false voicemail icon. Luckily when I get a voicemail, the Nokia still puts on the screen "New Voicemail" so it's not like I won't know if I got anything or not.

Now my smart phone on the other hand, that thing constantly would fail to tell me if I had voicemail or not. Visual voicemail never worked either, it was so broken.

I got some voicemail message. Let's see how I will acces it.
Nice "Nokia"... red "body" :)

Yea it's a very beautiful Nokia. Not the original face plate though, the original was black. Then when in high school I had my alt lifestyle phase and had a neon green faceplate on it (I say phase despite still kind of being into that stuff) and now it has a candy apple red with metallic bits like car paint. I love it.

I walked around the mall today and a cell phone repair shop had some vintage phones there, and mine was on display as "vintage". lol So I pulled mine out to show still working, they got a kick out of it and weren't even aware they could still get service for the time being (maybe a year or 2 left, no idea).

Voicemail icon fixed itself on the Nokia with Mint. Maybe it was a fluke.

"Nokia" 5110 was one of the 1st phones to have chaning covers.