80s' businessmen had three types of mobile phone to choose from: carphone, transportable or hand portable. Carphones were, of course, fixed to the car, but boasted a better range than handheld mobiles. This was especially important since the two mobile networks, Vodafone and Cellnet, only served London initially.

Cell phones of the 1980s were large and heavy, they had spotty coverage and reception, and they were unreliable at the best of times. They were also super expensive. Despite all of that, cell phone usage did grow substantially across the decade, and by the 90s, owning a cell phone wasn’t completely uncommon.