Why does CJ have a cell phone?

[Official General]

On 2/9/2021 at 1:21 PM, BennyGod said:

The year is 1992. CJ probably is pretty poor, not making much money from crime in Liberty City. Why does he have a cell phone? Those costed thousands in the early 90s.

 

If you watched The Introduction video that tells CJ's story before the 1992 events of San Andreas, you will see that CJ was into robbing people in streets and stealing cars for quick cash. Use your brain and work out that this could have included mobile phones too. Even if he did not steal mobile phones, with the money he made from his criminal activities he could easily afford one. 

[Ceasey]

On 2/9/2021 at 3:21 PM, BennyGod said:

The year is 1992. CJ probably is pretty poor, not making much money from crime in Liberty City. Why does he have a cell phone? Those costed thousands in the early 90s.

he prolly stole it

[.Ryan.]

I always assumed it was Tenpenny who gave it to him as a point of communication since Hernandez is one of the first people who calls him telling him not to leave.

 

Of course there’s really no way of knowing if he already had one, but that’s my guess. Either way it would’ve been nice if something more concrete was provided like how Tommy acquired his phone and we saw directly how he got it.

[universetwisters]

So he can make phonecalls without having to find a payphone

[DeltaV20]

On 2/9/2021 at 6:21 PM, BennyGod said:

The year is 1992. CJ probably is pretty poor, not making much money from crime in Liberty City. Why does he have a cell phone? Those costed thousands in the early 90s.

a gift from Joey Leone 

[Osho-II]

On 2/9/2021 at 5:21 AM, BennyGod said:

The year is 1992. CJ probably is pretty poor, not making much money from crime in Liberty City. Why does he have a cell phone? Those costed thousands in the early 90s.

OMG! CJ got the cellphone from the money his gang had gotten! Are you retarded?! Don't you ever pay attention?! God!

[KanewillyE75]

Maybe Carl robbed someone else's cell phone in liberty city

[VictorVance1239]

Did you not see that big stack of cash that Tenpenny took from him at the beginning of the game? CJ was likely making good money in Liberty City stealing cars for Joey Leone, not to mention whatever else he was doing out there. So not sure why you think he wouldn't have a phone. Ryder, Smoke and Sweet probably had one too because they're OGs. Ryder says himself that doing home invasion stuff is every day sh*t for him and the homies, so that all adds up over time. 

 

The fact that Sweet just hands Carl like $200-$500 early on to do easy stuff says it all. Getting money aint a problem for them. Not like you need it for much when you just running around stealing cars instead of buying them, and the houses are likely already fully paid for. So yeah. They ballin better than the ballas.

Edited December 16, 2021 by VictorVance1239

[Jenci]

the phone is part of the story and is used to receive calls which progress the story 

[Lioshenka]

On 9/3/2021 at 6:41 PM, Zapper said:

Prison pocket doing it's work baby

CJ: I really need that phone

[handy_fox]

I don't know about any of that but I'd say the possibilities are endless. As for how Sweet got CJ's number. I'd say that whenever after CJ did get the phone he probably kept in touch with Kendal and she gave Sweet the number at some point.

 

To take this further, why wouldn't she just call CJ and tell him their mother died. I could say a conversation between the two went something like:

 

K: Listen Sweet, we have to call and let CJ know mom died.

S: Why? So he can run from that too?

K: How long are you two going to keep this up? You are brothers. Here, I have his number. He-

S: I don't care about Mr. Big time Liverty City... [Rant a bout CJ being a busta or something...]

K: [Some Fresh Prince of Bel-air like speech before she storms out of the room.]

S: [Sweet after a short period of silence looks down at CJ's number on a table before throwing a vase or something in a fit of anger knowing his sister is right or something. I don't know I'm running out of steam.]

 

Then he calls CJ.

I've seen the introduction but it was so long ago.

 

Either way, he probably stole it.

[cant remember]

What I find strange isn't how he possibly paid or got it, but more the fact that he is using it at all culturally. CJ and Sweet in the game are extremely early adopter of new tech, they live in an empoverished hood but it's commonplace for them to call eachother on the cellphone (one of the first of its kind even) in 1992. Even in the mid 90's most middle class working people would rather be given or have a pager (I think)

 

Edited October 14, 2024 by cant remember

[Bizz913]

On 12/14/2021 at 12:01 PM, KanewillyE75 said:

Maybe Carl robbed someone else's cell phone in liberty city

In Liberty City yes, its in the short film, The Introduction or something set before events of GTA SA.

[kikons78]

On 10/14/2024 at 3:19 PM, Bizz913 said:

In Liberty City yes, its in the short film, The Introduction or something set before events of GTA SA.

That's what I thought that the answer should be in the Introduction. The first scene with CJ is the scene where he's on the phone with Joey Leone. CJ even talks about it in the Freefall mission, where he talks to Salvatore Leone:
- The name's Carl Johnson, sir. Before working with Mr. Rosenberg here, I had the pleasure of doing business with your son, Joey, back in Liberty City.
- You know my Joey? I like that. So, kid, what can I do for you?

[Silver]

Carl only robs a dude of his money in the introduction, he already had the phone beforehand as seen in the scene prior where he steals someone's car for Joey.

 

I think Joey giving him the phone makes the most sense but I don't think we're meant to think too much about it. Phone calls allow for much more meaningful conversations and important information to be shared than pagers, and since Tommy already had a cellphone in '86, Rockstar must've thought that going back to pagers would've been a step back in that regard.

[DuckMasterQuacky]

He (probably) stole it

[Carl johnsena]

On 2/9/2021 at 6:51 PM, BennyGod said:

The year is 1992. CJ probably is pretty poor, not making much money from crime in Liberty City. Why does he have a cell phone? Those costed thousands in the early 90s.

Deep inside, he was still a ganstaga. And we don't know what he did in Liberty City.

[Lioshenka]

10 hours ago, Carl johnsena said:

And we don't know what he did in Liberty City.

He did things he wasn't proud of.

[Coltrane Crowley]

Tommy also has "brick" in his 1986 year. Also he didn't charge battery. It was a immortal and timeless-durable phone. But in GTA SA phone is also waterproof. Think about it  

[lcmiracle]

The phone: he could have stolen it, but more likely it bought it from the blackmarket or was given by Joey or some other crime bosses for whom he had worked in LC. He went to LC to start a new life so no, he would not be getting much from his home in LS, instead he would have to build up his own connections in LC -- which is clearly seen from the game's intro that he had made good money for himself. To be able to make that kind of money in crime, one'd imagine he has to have ways to contacting and getting contacted for jobs, and an unmarked, possibily anomonous cell phone is best way to do so.

 

The bill: since he's a criminal, and the number should not be under his name, it's most reasonable he pays it with pre-paid cards, which was a thing (and possibly still exist somewhere in the real world). It's the cost of doing business, what you gonna do?

 

Sweet's Call: CJ's been on "the east coast" for five years, he could have gotten the phone a long time ago, maybe shortly after he arrived. Regardless, Sweet won't know CJ's number since the two were estranged, but Kindel probably got in contact with Carl years ago since they two appears to be close. Sweet could have been told by Kindel about CJ's number after Kimberly's death, which he eventually decided to call.

 

Tennpenny: he needed CJ to be reachable by him since he planned to use him. Easy. It's possible he got his number while taking CJ for a ride in the opening (time skip).

Edited April 28 by lcmiracle