[superdave1984]

I need to get me one of these.

Frazzled Urbanites Turn to Personal Cellular Jammers : Christopher Null : Yahoo! Tech

Frazzled Urbanites Turn to Personal Cellular Jammers
Sun Nov 4, 2007 3:07PM EST
See Comments (6)
It's a common enough feeling. The girl on the bus or that guy in the back of the movie theater just will not shut up and get off the phone. How many times have you wished you could push a button and silence that cell phone, if only for a moment of peace? Well, it's not so tough to get it.

Cell phone jammers are one of the worst-kept secrets in the world of technology. They've been around, available on the gray market and from overseas importers for years now. But the technology is improving, prices are falling, and people seem to have had it with Chatty Cathys, all of which is driving them to new heights of popularity.

The latest jammers, as the New York Times reminds us, are about the size of a pack of cigarettes and can jam any cell phone in a 30-foot radius, essentially ending all nearby calls at the push of a button. "Deliverance!" is the comment from one San Francisco architect who shut down a "Valley Girl" conversation during his morning commute.

Jammers are of course illegal; using one can subject you to an $11,000 fine. This may seem harsh, but the rationale is that jamming can interfere with emergency calls; someone may be sick, or criminals might use one while robbing a bank. That said, it appears no one has yet to actually be caught or punished for using such a device, even a restaurant owner who installed one semi-permanently to keep his employees from yapping away during business hours.

A little web searching (or reading the second page of the linked article) will turn up numerous sites selling jammers. $150 will get you a model that jams all American cell phone technologies. Legal or not, I have to say the technology is awfully tempting. What do you think?

[Vybuni]

I know some people in my dorm who are always talking on their cell phones and they can be quite irritating. If only I could buy one at the local Radioshack...

In other news, if you're feeling adventurous, you could build your own.
Wave Bubble

[FireFox]

I'm feeling adventurous.

[Trotter]

Too bad I don't have the dough. I'd love to mount one in the grill of my car for those idiots who would rather talk than drive...

[bobojuice]

Originally Posted by Trotter

Too bad I don't have the dough. I'd love to mount one in the grill of my car for those idiots who would rather talk than drive...

good idea.

[Saxon]

Motion carried, we are now founding the Trotter road safety campaign an we are going to take donations via pay pal to purchase trotter a device of mobile phone blockage to mount to the front of his car an a few more on his commute to work.

[superdave1984]

Originally Posted by Chris Chadwick

Motion carried, we are now founding the Trotter road safety campaign an we are going to take donations via pay pal to purchase trotter a device of mobile phone blockage to mount to the front of his car an a few more on his commute to work.

I wonder what else it jams? If it jams cell signals it must interfere with other stuff too. Hmmm....

[Saxon]

WiFi, Bluetooth, short range radio signals (as long as it's not mileritery / high end) it will jam it. I know some intelligence services use a device like this to jam mobile phone towers when they need to close down a area in a hurry when doing a raid.

One type is used in hospitals in the UK to block mobile phones as they distort some of the equipment.

[bobojuice]

Originally Posted by Chris Chadwick

Motion carried, we are now founding the Trotter road safety campaign an we are going to take donations via pay pal to purchase trotter a device of mobile phone blockage to mount to the front of his car an a few more on his commute to work.

living in miami, i probably need this more than any of you.

[Saxon]

^heh try the Knowsly express way it's one of the major routs into Liverpool 2 huge crashes one fatal in a month down to mobile phones an drivers.