topic Re: Motorola Startac 70 in Pay Monthly

Motorola Startac 70

Commuter23 — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 22:35:15 GMT

Can i use this cellphone on the network. This uses the whole simcard, the card and the cutout which slides into the phone from the bottom. It does use the GSM standard. Will the contacts line up properly, and is this available from the o2 store or mail order?

Thank you

Re: Motorola Startac 70

Cleoriff — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 22:47:37 GMT

Hi @Commuter23

The phone you want isn't available from O2...you will have to purchase from a third party seller who probably sells retro phones.

You can use it on the O2 network.

Re: Motorola Startac 70

Bambino — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 23:08:17 GMT

I read it as the OP is enquiring about the sim card, not the phone, @Cleoriff

@Commuter23 If you have an O2 store nearby you could call in and ask. Barring that you could call and ask customer service. https://www.o2.co.uk/contactus

Re: Motorola Startac 70

madasaf1sh — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 23:18:50 GMT

You might struggle, as there are gaps in the sim card holder,. and o2 sim cards are not credit card size either now.

Also bare in mind this is a 900Mhz device, and where o2 have refarmed to use 1800Mhz for voice you may struggle.

These and the v. phones where awesome back in the day 🙂

Re: Motorola Startac 70

Cleoriff — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 23:33:09 GMT

Although most offer sim card adaptors I noticed when I looked at sim size and Startac retailers.

I also saw a similar query on the Vodafone forum... hence my response

Re: Motorola Startac 70

Bambino — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 23:39:25 GMT

Even if the OP did get it to work, the only spectrum they would get would be 2G. I remember having one. It was a cool phone at the time. I think I still have my Motorola RAZR too.:smileywink:

Re: Motorola Startac 70

Cleoriff — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 23:40:51 GMT

@Bambino wrote:
I read it as the OP is enquiring about the sim card, not the phone, @Cleoriff
@Commuter23 If you have an O2 store nearby you could call in and ask. Barring that you could call and ask customer service. https://www.o2.co.uk/contactus

You are probably correct @Bambino, I misread it.

Oh well it's late and I'm tired so....

Re: Motorola Startac 70

Cleoriff — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 23:45:44 GMT

@Bambino wrote:
Even if the OP did get it to work, the only spectrum they would get would be 2G. I remember having one. It was a cool phone at the time. I think I still have my Motorola RAZR too.:smileywink:

Yes the query on the Voda forum was regards using it as a back up phone, in case the 'main' mobile failed

I still have my Motorola Razr and Krzr. Loved them....

Re: Motorola Startac 70

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 00:52:53 GMT

@Commuter23 wrote:
Can i use this cellphone on the network. This uses the whole simcard, the card and the cutout which slides into the phone from the bottom. It does use the GSM standard. Will the contacts line up properly, and is this available from the o2 store or mail order?

Thank your

You can use EE/Asda/Lebara and I think Three mobile whole credit card sized 4 in 1 sim cards in the Startac and the contacts do line up, if you dont pop the smaller sims out --tho that's fixable using scotch tape on the back of the sims and adapters.You can't use O2 out of the box as they don't do the 4 in 1 cc sized sim holders. Though you can pop the three in one SIM and use another cc card as an adaptertho getting a sim to fit will be the least of your problems

If the Startac is locked to any network, then things get a lot more complicated, as it won't recognise an ee SIM as being Orange say, if it was locked to Orange, even tho Orange are now part of ee, and network unlocking it will be a real challenge.

Same goes for T-Mobile and so on. Even if you get an Orange/ T-mobile Sim there is no guarantee that ee will activate it.

Also getting a battery that will hold its charge will be problematic, 'new' batteries are available, but they are usually unopened 15 year old ones, which are useless. No one is supplying new 'new' batteries any more.

As well as the band issue so you'd have to find a network still using the GSM bands your model would be happy with.

They went out of production 20 years ago, so getting one to work now will be a challenge.

Re: Motorola Startac 70

MI5 — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 06:47:56 GMT

I have 3 startac’s in my collection, a 70, 75 and 110.
They all still work on their respective networks but it isn’t possible to unlock them for any network use.
You need one of the old credit card size SIM card adapters rather than a full sized credit card sim and you need to tape your mini sim into the cut out.
They are very basic though compared to even the cheapest modern phones, esp the 70 which did not have sms facility or caller ID etc.
Great little retro phone though and still look fantastic and get admiring glances when used in public, either that or they think “what a berk” lol

Re: Motorola Startac 70

Cleoriff — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 07:01:31 GMT

@MI5 wrote:
I have 3 startac’s in my collection, a 70, 75 and 110.
They all still work on their respective networks but it isn’t possible to unlock them for any network use.
You need one of the old credit card size SIM card adapters rather than a full sized credit card sim and you need to tape your mini sim into the cut out.
They are very basic though compared to even the cheapest modern phones, esp the 70 which did not have sms facility or caller ID etc.
Great little retro phone though and still look fantastic and get admiring glances when used in public, either that or they think “what a berk” lol

They also said it couldn't be unlocked on the Voda forum (I checked last night) @MI5

I would suspect admiring glances are only from those who recognise what it is..

Particularly if it came in this colour range

Look at that aerial.....

Re: Motorola Startac 70

madasaf1sh — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 07:36:19 GMT

They only ever made startac 70 for o2 / voda for the 900mhz band so it wont work on any EE network, as it would need to be 1800mhz variant 🙂

Re: Motorola Startac 70

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 10:51:41 GMT

The Motorola StarTAC ''clamshell" or "Flip" cellular phone, named for the TAC number - the Type Allocation Code or the first 8 digits of the imie, and the Star Trek Communicator - "To be or not to beam me up Scotty" Leonard Nimoy - Shakespearean Actor.

It was in a direct line from the first handheld 'brick'( as opposed to portable) cellular phone the Motorola DynaTAC famously carried by Del Boy Trotter and many others. Followed by the Motorola MicroTAC a partial flip, which was in its later incarnations one of the first digital GSM phones, and the first to carry decorative features, like the antenna which wasn't attached to anything inside, and the flip which again in the later models just covered the keypad.

The MicroTAC was a Hollywood favourite and appeared long after it had been retired in the real world, for example on Fraiser, as it was big enough to easily to identify as a phone from a distance, but small enough to fit in the actor's jacket pockets.

The MicroTac and StarTac both had Jaguar (Car) variants which are the most valuable these days if they have the Jaguar Logo, as Jaguar built cradles into the car to fit the models. Tho again purely cosmetic the generic model would fit the cradle too. Which is why you find vintage Jaguar enthusiasts all over StarTAC auctions.

The StarTAC sold into the Six Millions worldwide and was relaunched frequently on the dead horse flogging principle, in its own righf, and which culminated in the development of the Motorola RAZR flip - the pink (metallic cerise) version of which was the amongst the first ''must have" handset to fly out of the stores based on a cosmetic feature alone.

The StarTAC is certainly a design icon, regularly in top best gadget lists, and the first handset that can be legitimately described as beautiful.