I cant forget in a hurry the way we live our lives before the advent of GSM in Nigeria.Could you believe that whenever my dad would travel in those days,he would send me to his friend living about 1 kilometer away from our house to wait for him at the bus stop so he could pick him along ? This would cost just a minute call in present day.

Can we share our experiences as it relates to living without phones in those days ?

My broda, no be small thing O.

Had to trek from Aguda to orile just to check if my mom's friend is around so they can go to sunday meetin together.

I remember the agony of going from Ijesha, Surulere to Cow Lane on Lagos Island to see my then girlfriend.

Only to found out that she too had already left for Ijesha to see me. We missed each other.

After paying the NITEL bill still take a copy to their office to show that you have paid so that you line will not be disconnected. YEEPEEEE for GSM.

Remember how I used to wait 4 my girlfriends call 4 almost 2hours, even praying that the call will go thru.

wale4x35:

I remember the agony of going from Ijesha, Surulere to Cow Lane on Lagos Island to see my then girlfriend.

Only to found out that she too had already left for Ijesha to see me. We missed each other.

I remember the regular tones @ the Nitel phonebooths, ", all national trunks are currently busy"Lol

were there phonebooth in nigeria? never seen one.

is GSM the same as cell phone?

Pursuing Nitel all over the place to come and reconnect our line. And we actually knew which one was our telephone wire line out of the many lines on the pole.
Those Nitel guys were a pain in the kini that time.

TRUE TALK[img][/img]

how we used to have two whole families in our sitting room at about 2.a.m waiting for their son's international call from abroad, and how my dad used to lock the landline with a little padlock to disable us from making calls

lol >>> for me >>>  life goes on without phones cuz of a uni and its legalisms

Hmmm. . . .e nor easy those days. I used to go deliberately to Popsie's office just to make use of his office landline

remember when my bro used to send me to deliver love letters to his girlfriends quite a long distance mehhn

wale4x35:

I remember the agony of going from Ijesha, Surulere to Cow Lane on Lagos Island to see my then girlfriend.

Only to found out that she too had already left for Ijesha to see me. We missed each other.

wow dats so damn annoying

i remember too when my boss used to ask me to go and pay his bill, only to get thre and que for over an hour, at then end of the day they will tell you that there is not service

I remember my dad sending me 4am errand 2 my elder bros who lives about 4 kilometers away 4rm our house so dat i can catch up with him b4 he lives 4 work cos he goes 2 work very early 2. Imagine d amount of sleep i miss waking up 4am in d morning jus 2 drop off one or two messages on so many occasions.

I was quite young then so I didnt really feel it plus we had the NITEL land phone too.
Besides, the university I graduated from does not allow the use of phone. . .

Back then in the university all my friends that had their parents and boyfriends out of town used to call my land line at home. They will first call me and fix a particular time they will call them to speak with them. Fortunately for them, i wasnt living in the hostel.

I also remember when my parents used to lock the phone when they noticed the bills were high(not with a padlock but with some connections with NITEL i think), then we used to tap the call. If the number is 234137- To dial 2 you tap 2 times etc.

It was fun then.

I wont forget to add that i used to receive gifts from my friends boyfriends for the errand.

people still live without phones. i can live without a cell phone to be honest

Whole family sitting up for hours waiting for an international call from a relative abroad.
Chasing Nitel up and down.Nitel knotting phone lines with different colours of celophane for easy recognition and differentiation.
Walking up long distances to deliver messages to friends only to find out that the friend is not at home.

Waking up at night to make int'l calls (was the only time it went through)

Spending almost N100 (big money then) on transport to receive a 2 minute call.

KAI! it was not funnny. . .

and some people say OBJ did nothing in the 8 years he was in office! Una go talk true, Mmcheeeew! Oya next person,

and some people say OBJ did nothing in the 8 years he was in office! Una go talk true, Mmcheeeew! Oya next person,

. . . tapping our landlady's line

NITEL phone boots was something else. to make 1 minute call you have to wait for aleast 30 minutes

Those days were had. My Mother had to travel from one town to the other just to go and receive a phone call from america so that she can withdraw money via Western union. This usually takes the whole day. Thanks to not just GSM but technology in general.

armyofone:

were there phonebooth in nigeria? never seen one.

is GSM the same as cell phone?

omg, phone booths still dotted our landscape even in the late 90's, the perennial snaked queues emanating from it was enough indication.

I suppose GSM is ''global system for mobile communications and cell phone  is an electronic device used for communication. Let the experts in the house expatiate further

I used to spend hours at AMA JK Owerri where Nitel ''junk'' trunk facility is located just to place a call to my folks abroad, the in-thing then will be ''there is no dialling tone'' etc, it later became an avenue to chase girls as sweet girls will cluster waiting for their turn and guys will be picking their choose from amongst them :

This reminds me of the Phone Booth.

stayed in queues for hours at Nitel office to make three minutes international call.

Imanuelle:

how we used to have two whole families in our sitting room at about 2.a.m waiting for their son's international call from abroad, and how my dad used to lock the landline with a little padlock to disable us from making calls

travelling from ago-iwoye (school) to ijebu-ode to receive/ make international calls