atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Telecom Service & Providers Brick Cell Phones

Getting back to the original post, I don't believe that you can retrofit a analog brick phone to make it into a digital phone. I have been a agent and warranty center for cellular phones for over 23 years

Well, you can certainly put new guts into the chassis of an old brick. Here is an old Motorola 3300 with modern MicroTac innards. Sadly, the one shown is a dual-band GSM 900/1800. I didn't realize this until I read more closely. Perhaps you could request that one be retrofitted with a U.S. supported 850/1900 variety instead.

After checking several GSM maps , it appears that these old phones will still work in most of Europe, the Americas and Australia...just not here.

bag phone is a good term. Back in the day when there were car phones, there were also bag phones. They were the same hardware, except instead of being installed in a car, a bag phone could go from car to car or even mobile. It was pretty bulky and heavy and contained a lead acid battery.

Some pictures:

https://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=motorola+bag+phone.