I recently bought a 90 F250. It still has a 90s style car phone in it and for some reason i want to make it work just because that would be badass. Is there anyway to do it?

 

I don't think so, not sure. They were analog if not mistaken, similar to the old bag phones. Everything today is digital. Popular with ranchers and rural folks in remote areas because they were a lot more powerful and could reach a tower more reliably.

 

You won't find a carrier that will be willing to activate it, even if it is digital. The older phones use more bandwidth. Makes them more reliable, but takes up more capacity on the towers.

 

Dang ok thanks guys. I kinda figured that but i was hoping otherwise. No point in making it work but i thought it woulda been kinda cool

 

Maybe it's still functional on the emergency 911 calls? There is some kind of mandatory operability with modern cell phones, even without a carrier or contract. All phones, though analog may simply not work anymore.

Give it a try, and report back.

 

Analog cell phone service (AMPS) is a thing of the past. It won't work any more, even for 911 service. ATT & Verizon discontinued support for analog 7+ years ago (early 2008).