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arjoll · 24th Aug 2019, 5:36 am

My first cellphone was a Motorola MicroTAC - not sure which model - which I was provided when my then-manager moved to EY's Wellington office in late 1995. It was replaced the following year with a MicroTAC Ultra Lite. Both were on Telecom's analogue AMPS network. In 1999 the Motorola was replaced with a Nokia 5120 on D-AMPS (TDMA), and then in 2002 I moved across to Telecom's then-new CDMA-1x 2G network with a Kyocera 2235.

A Sanyo 5600 was next and my first "3G" phone (EVDO), while after that my first smartphone - an HTC Libra branded as "Okta Boss" - was in 2007. Then across to another technology - Telecom's HSPA network - with an HTC Snap, then Android on a Motorola Defy (horrible thing), Samsung Ativ S, Microsoft Lumia 950, and now a Nokia 7 plus.

As you may have noticed, New Zealand's cellular networks started based on US technology - Telecom (now Spark) started in 1987 with AMPS, then D-AMPS/TDMA, then CDMA-1xRTT and EVDO. The legacy of that is UMTS/HSPA in the 800 MHz band.

GSM-based standards didn't come here until Bellsouth started in 1993 (bought out by Vodafone in 1998). Our third physical network, 2degrees, started in 2009, and turned off their GSM network this year.

24th Aug 2019, 5:36 am	#33
arjoll Dekatron Join Date: May 2006 Location: Invercargill, New Zealand Posts: 3,458	Re: My first mobile phone (1992) My first cellphone was a Motorola MicroTAC - not sure which model - which I was provided when my then-manager moved to EY's Wellington office in late 1995. It was replaced the following year with a MicroTAC Ultra Lite. Both were on Telecom's analogue AMPS network. In 1999 the Motorola was replaced with a Nokia 5120 on D-AMPS (TDMA), and then in 2002 I moved across to Telecom's then-new CDMA-1x 2G network with a Kyocera 2235. A Sanyo 5600 was next and my first "3G" phone (EVDO), while after that my first smartphone - an HTC Libra branded as "Okta Boss" - was in 2007. Then across to another technology - Telecom's HSPA network - with an HTC Snap, then Android on a Motorola Defy (horrible thing), Samsung Ativ S, Microsoft Lumia 950, and now a Nokia 7 plus. As you may have noticed, New Zealand's cellular networks started based on US technology - Telecom (now Spark) started in 1987 with AMPS, then D-AMPS/TDMA, then CDMA-1xRTT and EVDO. The legacy of that is UMTS/HSPA in the 800 MHz band. GSM-based standards didn't come here until Bellsouth started in 1993 (bought out by Vodafone in 1998). Our third physical network, 2degrees, started in 2009, and turned off their GSM network this year.