How old you are...

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Clearwater AL

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How old you are if...

You owned a beeper and if it went off you had to go find a phone. :)
 
Land line or cellphone?
 
I think the term is "older than dirt".

Seems appropriate for me.

Still have my flip top phone.

Land line long gone.

Gave my smart phone to my grand daughter.
 
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While not complete relics (contrary to my 18yr old's opinion) we still have a land line AND a second phone # for our fax machine. And no, I can't remember the last time we sent or received a fax. The phone company must love us- we are throwing free money at them monthly.

Al, my husband and I both used those pagers when we were bike couriers back in the Stone Age. He went from there straight to radio dispatch (fancy!), but my employer moved over to the still modern, but much cheaper pager that a person could phone and leave a brief message on- and the pager would relay the message automatically. Our crew would spend much of our slow time calling the pager numbers from dispatch and saying terrible things in the hopes our victim was standing in an elevator or office and had forgotten to turn the volume down. We were frequently successful.
 
Greg, beepers came before cell phones. (They were a marvel at the time... they displayed the number that was trying to reach you) Had one of the first cell phones... weighed about 2 pounds and about as big as a can of wasp spray.

I can remember when I was in the field in certain situations where I had to take pictures. I took them with a Polaroid... then I had to find a Post Office and mail them back to the office.

Thinking how we did it back then, (often hundreds of miles from the office) without cell phones, cell phones that take pictures, the Internet and lap tops now makes me smile because... we did it.
 
I used a voice pager until the early 2000’s. I still have a land line in addition to a cell phone. I’ve always been slow to embrace technology and usually have to hire a 20 y.o. to help me what I get a new device. ALS is forcing me to become more techy. I feel old, even though I’m not older than dirt.

Now, does anyone here still have a rotary phone or a manual typewriter?
 
Oh, I know pagers well. I've carried one-way display only pagers and two-way text pagers. 24x7 tech support standby.

I even installed a computer alert pager system in a server room when I worked for Intel. One-way but fully customized text ("Server temp critical at xxx", etc.) ; I was quite proud of that project.

Did you know that there's a huge difference in service levels between beeper and cellphones?
Pagers have a contracted 'guaranteed delivery within xx minutes' feature. But cellphones can lose texts without penalty.
 
I'll be 63 in August. I've had a cell phone since they came out only because I love technology. Other women buy clothes and jewelry. I buy large 4K TVs, iPads, and other gadgets. People still call me like I was tech support. Someone called me yesterday about their Roku.

I got my first computer in 1984 and took it apart to understand its hardware. I can't keep up with all the changes these days and I still have a landline. I like using it with a headset and clip so I can talk while I'm doing other things. My cell phone is used for other things or when I'm out.

I've never had a job that required a beeper.

I don't think I'm as old as dirt, but I feel like S#$t.
 
KimT;

"Old as dirt" here.

Been doing computers since 1962. Wrote my first computer code in machine language on an IBM behemoth.

That qualifies for the dirt reference.

What a ride!

Ernie
 
KimT;
Been doing computers since 1962. Wrote my first computer code in machine language on an IBM behemoth.

Ah! But did you have to work with Autocoder? Punch cards? ;-)

You've got me beat, tho!
 
In college I THOUGHT I might want to be a computer programmer but after working with Fortran, Cobol, and using code, I knew it wasn't for me. Neither was accounting but it paid the bills.
 
In college I THOUGHT I might want to be a computer programmer but after working with Fortran, Cobol, ...
I got my BSCS from OSU (No, Oregon!) in the early 80's. I asked one of my professors about COBOL. Well, Computer Science had no room for COBOL. You of thought I'd tracked dog poo into his office.
My first IT job: COBOL coder.
 
Greg... WOW! Excuse me for "Greg, beepers came before cell phones."

I should have checked your "About Me" first. :)

Golly, make me humble. Years ago I struggled just to navigate our office system.
 
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Fortran and COBOL; Scientific and business application programming; oil and water. These three pairings have a lot in common.

Back in the day they called COBOL programmers the rambling herd. Fortran programmers were called slow coders.

Did not use Autocoder but wrote code in Easycoder (Honeywell moniker).

Transition from mainframe to PC coding brought anxiety but ultimate success and no more COBOL or Fortran.

Did I mention coding by wiring an electronic accounting machine which processed punched cards?

I'm feeling like a computer history book

Ernie
 
I spent my career in engineering at Motorola. My main focus was data and voice communication. I have most of the old radios, brick phones, pagers, modems (when a 9600 modem was bigger than a shoe box). My team designed and implemented most of the world's cellular networks.
Loved being in the field! Then I became director of international engineering. That's when all the fun ended!
So, I'm old!
 
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