"Bruce" wrote in message
...
...

I had a very early Vodafone mobile phone in 1986, a Motorola
with a
handset that clipped to the top of a lead/acid battery about
the size
of one on my 1150cc motorcycle. It was marketed as a "cellular
telephone" or "cell phone" for short.

There were only two UK networks at that time, Vodafone and
Cellnet.
Cellnet was of course a contraction of "cellular network".

So the term "cell phone" has been in use in the UK for more
than a
quarter of a century.

If I take out the SIM from my latest 'phone, and insert it (with
an adaptor) into my old 1990's Motorola mobile phone, it shows
the connected network as "BT Cellnet".

--
MatSav