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Cell phone jamming
Next time some loudmouth on the bus starts yapping on his cell phone, it's nice to know you have a few options, aside from joining the conversation or resorting to violence. Commercial cell phone jammers -- which range in price from $250 to $2,000 -- temporarily disable nearby cell phones . Neat, huh? Reminds me of the brilliant TV B-Gone device, which is designed to turn off televisions in airports and other public places. Now if only someone could create a push-button device to get rid of gigantic billboards.
Posted by carrie on 02/28/2005 | Permalink
Comments
A friend of mine keeps one of these things near the cash register in his store (most folks seem to be content on cel-yacking even when paying for goods). Looks like a regular phone and it works like a charm.
Posted by: Frank in Florida | Feb 28, 2005 3:47:53 PM
yeah that's great. I'm glad every moron with 200 bucks is going to be able to shut off my cell phone....
Hopefully, commercial jammers of Police and Emergency radio frequencies will be coming out soon. Those sirens annoy the hell out of me too....
Posted by: Normally in Complete Agreement | Feb 28, 2005 10:20:46 PM
i agree. i feel ambivalent about this myself. but hey... its definitely and interesting option sometimes...
my earlier post about this: here
Posted by: pieceoplastic | Mar 1, 2005 12:36:44 AM
yeah that's great. I'm glad every moron with 200 bucks is going to be able to shut off my cell phone....
It's not the use of celphones that's at issue...it's the use of them by idiots who don't know when to turn them off.
Posted by: Frank in Florida | Mar 1, 2005 9:40:29 AM
There's a good bit of humor in the _Post_ seeming to advocate the use of an illegal device. Reminds me of the time AutoWeek ran instructions on how to build a radar jammer. Since publishing those instructions could be actionable, they published a photo of a man holding the instructions so the schematic was visible.
Why do people discuss their love lives, medical histories, job problems, etc, in public anyway?
Posted by: ken | Mar 1, 2005 11:18:55 AM
"It's not the use of celphones that's at issue...it's the use of them by idiots who don't know when to turn them off."
Unfortunately, those jammers are going to turn off the phones of idiots and non-idiots alike.
Besides some idiots have cell phones, and some idiots have jammers. Who's gonna be able to do the most damage?
Selling these things is a really bad idea, and as soon as one of them is used in an emergency situation, people are gonna realize it.......
Posted by: Normally in Complete Agreement | Mar 1, 2005 12:16:31 PM
I'll take a dozen!
Too bad the link doesn't work anymore. Where, oh where can I get this fantastic device?
Posted by: Ashley | Mar 1, 2005 7:37:07 PM
Well, Normally in Complete Agreement , I can't disagree with you that there exists the potential for a jammer to disrupt an emergency call (for example). But I really don't think that's a likely scenerio. The more "affordable" jammers run in the more realistic price range of about $300 (and the batteries cost a bit, too) and have an effective radius of maybe 20' (some up to maybe 50' at best) depending on the environment in which it is used. The reason these things have become quasi-available is due to the backlash of people getting fed up with listening to people yak in inappropriate places. Which is to say, cel-usage often crosses the line into "rudeness"...i.e., it pisses people off. The jammer is the modern equivalent of 'pulling the plug' (so to speak). To date, I've never seen someone eating at a restaurant and having a phone-emergency at the same time. But I have seen people essentially disrupt the quite ambience of, say, a normally quiet place (like the library) with no regard to others. The jammer-things are the expected reaction to that sort of scenerio.
Posted by: Frank in Florida | Mar 1, 2005 7:42:08 PM
cellphone users yacking on roads should be illegal as they cause more accidents now than anything else out there. so until cell yacking is illegal while your car is moving you yackers need to be jammed!
Posted by: tigger | Mar 24, 2005 8:43:30 PM
Could someone send me a diagram of how to make a cell phone jammer? I understand an ordinary cell phone can be converted to a jammer without much effort. Today, was the last straw--I'm doing research in a college library and someone is yaking at high volume about nothing--I'm going to build one.
Posted by: doug frederick | Jun 15, 2005 10:43:16 AM
I'm shopping for one now. I used to enjoy riding Amtrak from NY to DC and back until cell phones became common. The typical CP talker is loud and jabbering about nothing. On my last trip some guy engaged in a speakerphone call in which he berated his Jaguar dealer service manager for being a half-hour late in returning his car after service. We got to hear both sides of that event. I finally stood in the aisle next him and echoed aloud every damn word I heard. That pissed him off but it did effectively shut down the call.
There was, for a too brief a time, a Quiet Car" on Amtrak. No phones. no bepers, no DVD players on a speaker. Too good to last. Just about the time the Amtrak on-board magazine reported an offical award to the employee who came up with the idea, the conductors stopped establishing the Quiet Car.
As soon as I get my hands on one of those things I'll re-establish the quiet car every time I travel.
Posted by: Joe Harkins | Jun 16, 2005 7:11:19 AM
There's this one site the sell's jammers (actually two and i'm sure more)
http://www.grandtrades.net
http://www.globalgadgetuk.com
Just not sure if they are legit. Anyone in the US bought one from these guys?
Or is they're a way I can find out if they're legit?
Also what are the chances if I ordered, that the government would find out? (of course not using it, but me purchasing one and on its way to my post office box, is discovered?
Posted by: Matt | Jul 9, 2005 3:46:47 AM
ACTIVE Jammers are ILLEGAL in the USA except for law enforcement & government officials (spies &tc). You cannot even possess one, even if you do not use it. I think if you are a Native American Tribal official, you can purchase and even use one - but not off of tribal lands.
Wouldn't you love to jam especially those people who have a walkie-talkie feature on their phones? Beeldebeep! Yeah. Beeldebeep! Yeah! WHAT?? Beeldebeep! Hold on. No. I'm at the restaurant. Beeldebeep! I SAID, THE RESTAURANT! Beeldebeep! Where you at? Beeldebeep! :p
Passive jammers are fine - such as if you use wallpaper that has a signal jamming feature. Some churches use this. But active jammers are a big no-no in the USA.
Posted by: Diane | Jul 19, 2005 6:31:41 PM
I bought one of the high-power jobs off of globalgadget. Bliss, bliss, I tell you.
It's not great for preventing calls, because the range is realistically only a few meters, but shutting off cell phones is easy as pie. Click the "on" switch, ten seconds later every line within about thirty feet goes dead.
It's not hard to discriminate between important calls and wastes of air, either - you don't leave the damn thing on, you just on-for-a-few-seconds, then off. No need to block people from calling.
Posted by: Kerambit | Aug 13, 2005 6:22:42 PM
I can't even imagine what could be worse than those speakerphone walkie-talkie cell phones--the latest trendy tat for the ghetto trash. Those people should all be jammed; there's no way I would confront any of them. They all look like they are headed for Riker's.
Who's going to catch you for using a jammer in New York City? I think I'll take that chance
Posted by: Nextel is the Devil | Aug 22, 2005 9:15:44 PM
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