[Pijaibros]

Something about doctor's and emergency care workers needing to be able to be contacted was the reason I always hear being brought up.

Though it's probably just helicopter parents.

I'm surprised someone somewhere hasn't tried making designated cell phone spots like they do with smoking. I see enough "No use Cell" signs everywhere else I go.
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[dhex]

[psiga]

Faraday cages? Bah.

Signal jammer.
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[Takashi]

Wow, a 20mW signal jammer. That's will totally block anything erm, that is right next to you. Of course, anything that can be called a real cell phone jammer can also be called a portable microwave oven, so.... I'll stick with the Faraday cages.
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low-end.net | Whimsy (soon) | Serfdom 2.0

[Lick Meth]

lol, e-mail (youths abandoning e-mail in their droves in favour of texts and/or web 2.0)

[psiga]

[Takashi]

I'd say... 2 meters. Unless you put it over the table, or are on a high place. That pretty much only covers you and your date.

Tables, bodies, floor and tissue block radiofrequency in the 900-1800 Mhz band very well. Beside that, cellphones in pre-call mode are mostly listening to the cell tower. A cell tower that is above you, and has a "line of sight" with that cellphone that most likely won't pass tru the jammer line of sight (normally, more than one tower is available in urban areas, so it will switch to one oposite to the jammed signal).

When taking a call a cellphone will boost it's power to at least 200mW, over ten times what that jammer can produce. And wave output power is a squared-law for equal medium : that means it's one hundred times less efective than a cellphone call at it's lower power.

Sure, there are working cellphone jammers, but these are at least 1W power. They are also something you don't want down your pants, if you fancy parenthood.

Also, lol 1993.
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low-end.net | Whimsy (soon) | Serfdom 2.0

[psiga]

I can't motivate myself to fact-check all of that, or compare different jammer models. If their claimed 30'-ish radius is actually 6'-ish under a table, then so be it. At this point my only argument is that a signal jammer is going to be more effective on nuisance cell phones than trying to coax an offending asshole under your handy-dandy portable 20' radius Faraday cage.

One option is illegal, dangerous, yet at least remotely practical, while the other is just a lolol dream for people who are :( about other people's cell phones.
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[Takashi]

Alot like password cracking, cellphone jamming works much better in the movies than in real life.

I'm sorry, but I guess people just have to learn how to be social and live wih each other. I mean, this discussion to me is a moot point, because despite living in a country that has more active cellphones than people to use them, there is a overlaying cellphone etiquete that settled in. This is more amazing, because we still can't convince people to stop littering the streets, or that "marked seats" isn't just a seating suggestion.
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low-end.net | Whimsy (soon) | Serfdom 2.0

[dhex]

a few israeli security companies make large, portable backpack style jammers for obvious reasons. their efficacy isn't so hot just yet, though.

it will warm hearts to know i got into a pointlessly angry and drunk version of this thread with some random drunk girl in a bar this past thurs. i was talking with my friend about some of the passport rfid stuff and did my little spiel about cell phone saturation and how fucking hard it is to find workable pay phones in jersey city (the last time i had to go find one about this time last year) and this girl wobbles up to our table and says "howwwcome you don't have a ceeeeel fffffohn?" (pronounced "seal fun") and then it became this whole thing where, well, you know when someone is so drunk all you can do is agree with them because you're afraid to get stabbed in the neck with a pen or something? it was like that but with spittle. eww.

[SplashBeats]

don't worry dhex, the government knows where you are all the time anyway :(

[dhex]

yeah, no shit man.

http://www.mediaeater.com/cameras/news.html

(i have no probs with privately owned cameras being used to monitor privately owned businesses, natch. if you're paranoid, though, congestion pricing seems like a great excuse for the gubmint to put cameras everywhere.)

but i've been told by some folks that the new rfid-enabled passports can be defeated through a very short microwaving (> 4 seconds) or just smashing them good. which would kinda worry me as well since that seems like a classic "papers please" moment, hence my interest in personal faraday cages for wallet and passport.

back to seal funs: just saw a dude drop his blackberry in the rain. lolz.

[psiga]

Now little radiation-blocking slips for wallets, that's definitely practical. Pretty much a necessity as things go along, too. I imagine that if you nuke your chip in a microwave, they'll just make you pay forty bucks to get a new one. The "oops, it's broken! ^_^" excuse will be thus discouraged.
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[BenoitRen]

[Corinth]

[dhex]