In 1987 I would be more confused by the concept of a phone costing money AT ALL, let alone asking why the fuck it costs $800.
Remember, in 1987, car phones were starting to become a thing, cell phones were either not yet invented, or just barely invented. Either way, only businessmen had them, and only because they needed them for work.
99% of people had only a landline. And you didn’t buy it. It was provided by your telephone company.
So the idea of a phone costing $800 would be crazy talk.
It was provided
Sure, but the cost of it was also baked into your monthly subscription, you were renting it. And if they gave it to you “for free” they were still making tons of profits on your monthly bill
Not saying it’s not worse, but the idea that was like “when corporations were nice” also definitely isn’t true
By 1987 you no longer had to rent the phone itself.
Motorola DynaTAC from 1984 for 4k USD would like to say hello.
There were celphones in '87 but not many. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobira_Cityman_900
I mean, novelty landlines existed.
But you probably rented yours from the phone company.
