Yet another old toy...

[2cvbloke]

Ok, I know, why do I want a phone that is so techinically backwards that it's just pointless? Because it's there, as Kirk said in Star Trek V (although he was referring to climbing cliffs & mountains)...

Anyway, my latest toy is a Motorola GSM 7500, it looks like an analogue phone, feels like an analogue phone (well, once I get it, it'll probably feel like that!!!), but it's a GSM Digital phone, meaning it takes SIM cards (full sized!!! ) and will work on today's networks...

Can't wait to play with it...

 

[rolfw]

Does it cover all of the frequencies used nowadays? I had an early Nokia that I had to throw out, as it only worked in certain areas.

 

[2cvbloke]

Does it cover all of the frequencies used nowadays? I had an early Nokia that I had to throw out, as it only worked in certain areas.

It's single band, so only works with O2 & Vodaphone, don't know about how well it picks up their signals though...

 

[Yeshi]

Very contempary, Funny this as i was looking at buying an old phone last night off of ebay.. well i was kind of fasinated with it on deal or no deal . the price put me of in the end.... Damn you Noel Edmunds....

 

[2cvbloke]

Very contempary, Funny this as i was looking at buying an old phone last night off of ebay.. well i was kind of fasinated with it on deal or no deal . the price put me of in the end.... Damn you Noel Edmunds....

The old GPO phones are nice, but with the constant upgrading of telephone systems, they'll be incoming-only phones soon...

Here's a great old phone website, it has almost everything!!!:

_www.telephonesuk.co.uk

 

[2cvbloke]

I just got an O2 SIM to go with the phone, I just hope that a phone as old as that isn't locked to any specific network...

 

[horizon80]

Funny that you come from Pendle hill, and you like vacuum cleaners..... There used to be a lot of mother in laws working as test pilots in the broom factories there !
From an ex Pendle guy, now living in Spain
PS talking of retro phones , can anyone unlock an old Motorola MR602, cos I think they are great. ..About 20 peaple said they could, tried and failed!

 

[rolfw]

It's single band, so only works with O2 & Vodaphone, don't know about how well it picks up their signals though...

I'm pretty sure that Vodafone use two frequencies, as that was who I was with when I discovered that the old phone only worked in certain areas.

 

[T_G]

don't these old phones fry your head?? (not that it matters for 2cv)
I would not want to use them a lot...

 

[2cvbloke]

I'm pretty sure that Vodafone use two frequencies, as that was who I was with when I discovered that the old phone only worked in certain areas.

Maybe it does, I've only ever had 1 Voda sim, but never used it as I couldn't be bothered to top it up to activate it...

As for turning my brain into something that Hannibal Lecter would find tasty, it probably does, but it's not going to be used that often (I don't even use my normal mobile much, it's mostly just a "just incase" phone!!)...

Anyway, here's a pic of it in the charger, from tip of the aerial to the tip of the mouth flap (just a flap, no microphone in it) it measures at about 14 or 15 inches!!!!

 

[2cvbloke]

Looking through the manual, it works in exactly the same way as my old M3788 (long gone, probably long dead too!!!), so it shouldn't be too difficult to operate!!!

I just need to wait the 14 hours for it to charge up in the "Overnight" charger!!!

 

[2cvbloke]

Funny that you come from Pendle hill, and you like vacuum cleaners..... There used to be a lot of mother in laws working as test pilots in the broom factories there !
From an ex Pendle guy, now living in Spain
PS talking of retro phones , can anyone unlock an old Motorola MR602, cos I think they are great. ..About 20 peaple said they could, tried and failed!

Sorry, I didn't see your post earlier!!! Yes, I'm strange, but these days, what's normal?

As for unlocking a motorola, erm, personally I don't know, my 7500 has unlocking instructions in the manual (if only all mobiles did!!), but I'm not sure if it'll work on your MR602 (hehe, 602, that's the size of a 2CV6's engine, 602cc!!!), but I haven't got the manual with me at the moment...

 

[2cvbloke]

Well, I haven't got the SIM I bought just yet, but I remembered I had an O2 SIM in my old Nokia 5110 (pictured), so I carefully placed the popped-out SIM into a Virgin Mobile SIM carrier and popped it into the phone and hey presto!!! It works!!!

Although the SIM had no credit....

 

[2cvbloke]

The battery's a bit tired, it was on charge over night, but I didn't turn off the phone, so I'm not sure if it did actually charge...

But, a few cycles and it should be back to peak performance...

 

[Analoguesat]

PS talking of retro phones , can anyone unlock an old Motorola MR602, cos I think they are great. ..About 20 peaple said they could, tried and failed!

Try our sister site:

http://www.mobileexpert.co.uk/

but make sure you introduce before asking!

 

[horizon80]

Thank you...will try that.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Purely by coincidence I was given two old Nokias to try out on Friday, just in case they would be useful.

The 9110i is a keyboard internet phone , flip up aerial, and almost the size of a pocket

_http://www.prezident.de/nokia/view.php?model=9110i

Whilst they appear to be fully functional (even the batteries hold plenty of charge) unfortunately they are locked into limited bands, now only used by Vodafone, and BT Cellnet.

 

[2cvbloke]

Purely by coincidence I was given two old Nokias to try out on Friday, just in case they would be useful.

The 9110i is a keyboard internet phone , flip up aerial, and almost the size of a pocket

_http://www.prezident.de/nokia/view.php?model=9110i

Whilst they appear to be fully functional (even the batteries hold plenty of charge) unfortunately they are locked into limited bands, now only used by Vodafone, and BT Cellnet.

Nice, I remember wanting to get one of those Communicators (that's what they're called), but as the years went by, PDAs became more attractive and the Nokia Communicator series seems to have fizzled out...

As for the networks, Vodaphone and O2 (Formerly Cellnet/BTCellnet) have had the 900Mhz band since GSM came here, so just like my Motorola, they're the only 2 networks you can use it on...

I think the only way to use the other frequency, 1800Mhz, would be through physically changing some of the hardware internally, but that's something I know nothing about doing!!!

 

[rolfw]

They were nice because they had a fax function, you could both send and receive faxes.

 

[2cvbloke]

They were nice because they had a fax function, you could both send and receive faxes.

I didn't know that!!! I bet it's still handy to have these days as you get more detail in a fax than a text...