It’s unheard of these days to have a life without a cell phone. In 2025, Pew Research discovered that 98% of Americans have a cell phone and 91% have a smartphone. If you are still tethered to a landline, hoping it will make a glorious comeback, it’s time to wave goodbye to the beloved antique and embrace something better and cheaper.
“The modern cell phone owes its existence to automobiles and trains, two industries that adopted wireless communication nearly a century ago. In the 1920s, German company Zugtelephonie AG developed and sold wireless telephony equipment to train operators. A couple of years later, the service was offered to first-class travelers on the route between Hamburg and Berlin.
“Then, during the Second World War, the Allied powers deployed over 130,000 units of the SCR-536 Handie-Talkie. This bulky contraption was essentially an entirely handheld two-way radio transceiver. As you’d expect from such an early technology, it suffered many drawbacks, including short battery life and a lackluster range of just one mile depending on the terrain. Still, it was more than useable, and the company behind it would eventually become the Motorola we know today.
“After the war ended, American company Bell Labs began working on an in-car system allowing users to place calls from anywhere. This led to the Mobile Telephone Service (MTS) launch in 1946, or the first-ever wireless telephony system.
“Bell Labs’ car phone equipment weighed 80 pounds in its first generation. And even with all that weight, you could only use it in major US cities and along select highways. Despite these limitations, the service quickly gained popularity. It became so popular that the service quickly reached its maximum capacity due to the limited radio channels available at each base station. Users would have to wait in line for a channel to become available.”1
The Handie-Talkie paved the way for some
forward-thinking individuals in 1947 to begin devising a portable cell phone concept. They petitioned the FCC for channels during the 50s and 60s. By 1973, the first portable cellular call was made by Motorola engineer Dr. Martin Cooper. This was only a prototype and wasn’t available for the consumer. The DynaTAC was a 2.2-pound brick-size device.1 And who was the recipient of Dr. Cooper’s call? Who knows! He dialed a wrong number!2
The first commercially produced cell phone wasn’t available until 1983. It was the Motorola DynaTac 8000X. The cost of the phone was $4,000 ($13,257.00 in today’s money4). Of course, you can make monthly payments as well as paying the monthly service fee plus 40-cents-per-minute phone calls.5 At that cost, having a cell phone was bougie! Today, it’s as common has having a ballpoint pen in your pocket.
Watching technology develop and being a part of this history has been fun. I remember agonizing over my first cell phone purchase in 1994 as I was in the Nextel office. Should I or shouldn’t I? Is it worth the cost? Am I getting in over my head to find out that this is just a passing fancy? Will I find out that this really isn’t affordable? And how will I part with my pager?!? (Yes, it’s been THAT long ago!)
Gone were the days of bag phones and now, I walked out of the Nextel dealer with a brand new Motorola flip phone feeling rather sick to my stomach, hoping I could continue to afford it, and exhilarated at the same time.
The flip phones gave way to newer models and smartphones. Now, the smartphone is back only in flip phone form. And it’s like the days of comic book detective, Dick Tracy. We can talk into our watches and make calls from them. Amazing!
While the cell phone may be the quickest way to communicate with someone in Australia, Africa, or Austria, nothing beats the speed of the Christians connection with God. Prayer still remains the fastest form of communication.
In fact, communicating with God is so fast that the Scriptures give us Isaiah 65:24. “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” While the verse is pointing to the time of the new Heavens and new Earth (v. 17), this is a forever truth. Omniscient God is never taken by surprise with our prayers.
Jeremiah 33:1-3 gives an admonition that should make us want to put our phones down and start praying more. May your week be filled with lots of talking to God. And, remember, it’s still a toll-free call!
“Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, (2) Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name; (3) Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
1https://www.androidauthority.com/history-of-cell-phones-timeline-3264425/
2https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/april-3
3https://web.archive.org/web/20160420214920/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124546835819133721
4https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/financial/inflation-calculator.php
5https://www.deseret.com/2013/4/3/20517303/first-cellphone-call-was-made-40-years-ago-on-a-3-995-phone/
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