Can You Hear Me Now?: Difference between revisions
→Real Life: Noted sat support in some cell phones (Versus Sat Phones that look like normal cell phones, which is already mentioned)
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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"The widespread adoption of mobile phones must be one of the worst things to ever happen to horror movies, since now ''every'' movie now has to include a bullshit explanation for why they can't use their phone, like losing their battery or their signal. It's become a laughable cliche."''
|'''Mathew''', ''[[Bad Movie Beatdown]]'' on [http://blip.tv/film-brain/bad-movie-beatdown-christmas-special-while-she-was-out-4489242 "While She was Out"]{{broken link}}}}
With the advent of the computer age, writers still don't quite know how to work [[Cell Phone]]s into a story. It used to be all you had to do for a survival adventure story was plop a bunch of people away from electricity to completely strand them at the mercy of wild animals''/''[[Ax Crazy|serial killers]]''/''zombies—but cell phones are making that [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH2B9F-GPm0 harder and harder for writers to do believably]. Even in comedy situations, there are some plotlines (such as [[Locked in a Room]]) that only work if the characters don't have cellphones. This means that cellphones are [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIZVcRccCx0 lost, broken, stolen, and run out of power far more than they should ]. The range of cellphones are also ridiculously reduced from what they are in real life—maybe writers are confusing them with two-way radios, or don't realise that most modern phones allow long-distance and international calls. Or, you know, maybe they're deliberately using [[Artistic License]] to artificially [[Drama-Preserving Handicap|preserve the drama.]]
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Some writers go to the other extreme, using cell phones in place of crazy [[James Bond]]-esque communication devices. Except when the plot demands, they work in places that no cellphone should—such as in a [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer|sewer]], a [[Beneath the Earth|cave system]], or ''Antarctica'' (unless it's a very expensive and very large satellite phone), and come equipped with [[Crystal Clear Picture|flawless webcams]].
The trope name comes from
Often watching older sitcoms, from the early days of cellphone use (80s-90s), the time of the cellphone's primitive ancestor, the car phone (60s-70s) and the days when mobile phones were not available (50s and before - early mobile phones existed as far back as the 40s, but were not available for civilian use) you may suffer many a facepalm as you count how many situations could have been prevented with just having a cellphone ([[Larry David]] and others have commented on how prevalent this is in [[Seinfeld]] - the plots of almost half of the episodes in the series simply wouldn't work if the characters had cell phones). You can even make a [[Drinking Game]] out of it. Note that sometimes it was justified, as in the early days, cell phones were hideously expensive to own and to use, had next to no battery life (and those batteries were nickel-cadmium, a type of rechargeable that gets screwed up if it isn't charged and discharged all the way), very little coverage, and were very bulky (if they existed at all).
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=== Anime
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[My-HiME]]'', when several characters are stranded in a cave.
{{quote|'''Yuuichi:''' Kanzaki-senpai!!! ''(draws out cell phone)'' Cell phones won't work either? Seriously?}}
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** Justified again in the "bROKEN" story, when the Fate Spider's Apprentice intentionally makes Torg forget to charge his cell phone, forcing him to leave it off when communication would have been vitally important.
* In ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', Nanase is unable to call for help during a wizard attack on a school in [http://egscomics.com/?date=2009-06-06 this strip.] As for why, [[A Wizard Did It]], literally
** Happened again during the New Year party. Of course, as Rhea noted, one doesn't need magic to jam cell phone signals or wireless internet — just the right equipment and a disregard for law and order… and at this point, the latter is safe to assume. Or mind control and knowledge where to find someone with said equipment, for that matter.
* In ''[[Silent Hill: Promise]]'', Vanessa's cell phone hasn't worked correctly yet.
=== Web Original ===
* Discussed by [[The Distressed Watcher]]
{{quote|Horror movies were better before they always had to figure out a reason to explain why the main character can’t just use their cell phone to call for outside help. Now every movie has to come up with some clever excuse: "Oh, the vampires stole all the phones in the night!" Or, ”this is a dead zone”, or “the government blocked all the cell signals to cover this whole event up”. Or, [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|“we’re all Amish!”]]}}
* We see <s>cell phone</s> scroll signal failures several times in Volume 2 of ''[[RWBY]]'', due either to distance from a relay station or because their user was underground at the time. And the failure of ''international'' wireless communications becomes a plot point starting at the end of Volume 3.
=== Western Animation ===
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** Poorly written applications (Java, Flash Lite, iOS, Android, etc.) that interfere with normal phone operation.
** Badly designed antennas that weaken the signal when you hold your iPhone 4 wrong.
** Terrestrial obstacles. There are huge mobile dead spots in the Rocky Mountains, and forget about using the mobile on The Tube unless there's a mobile base station in the subway/métro station.
** Phone batteries that are so sensitive to moisture that walking through a rainstorm with a phone in your pocket can fry them, let alone if they actually get immersed in water.
* Since cell phones rely on radio, some pieces of the trope are [[Older Than They Think]]. One of the first bits of information that amateur (and many professional) radio operators exchange is a signal report, or [[wikipedia:RST code|RST]], Readability, Signal, and Tone. This is very important information in poor radio conditions; skilled operators can still get the message through if they know what they're up against. "Bars" are a way to abstract this for mass-market phones.
* Also, since cell phones rely on radio, ''they can be jammed and blocked,'' by both natural (see above about thunderstorms) and artificial means. In fact, in many countries (though not the USA), [http://www.phonejammer.com/home.php cell phone jammers] can be legally purchased and used; some churches and movie theaters use them to prevent interruptions. A villain who doesn't want his victims to be able to call for help could arrange to jam his victims' phones.
** If a wi-fi connection is used to "tether" a laptop PC to a mobile phone's data connection, that link is also subject to jamming. Marriott was caught doing this on the convention floor of one of their US hotels; the [[Media Watchdog|Federal Communications Commission]] was not amused and they received a heavy fine.
** Jails and prisons might be tempted to engage in this sort of manipulation to prevent cellphones from becoming, well, cell phones. Of course, there's nothing guaranteeing that the interference will stop at the prison walls and gates; unless there are terrestrial obstructions in the path, the interfering signal continues to drop off gradually on a 1 / radius.squared basis.
** Police have been caught using fraudulent mobile base stations as a tracking device, impersonating the network to steal location data or other personally identifying info from handsets. These are commonly known as "stingray" after one manufacturer's trademark name for the device. If the cops give the judge some other pretextual excuse as to where the information came from, instead of owning up to using the device when the targets are put on trial for whatever alleged misdeed, that's called "parallel construction". And yes, these may interfere with calls from other bystanders.
** A lot of schools put up cell phone jammers in an attempt to stop kids texting during class.
** A [[wikipedia:Faraday cage|Faraday cage]] can severely hamper or eliminate radio (and thus cellular) communications. These doesn't have to be sophisticated or even deliberate - a metal building such as a warehouse can act like one.
*** A tinfoil hat actually ''can'' form a Faraday cage, which means crazy conspiracy theorists are slightly less delusional than they seem. About the tinfoil. The transmitters in their heads still aren't real. [[Or Was It a Dream?|Or are they?]]
*** Actually, the tinfoil hats are trackable by the international dark conspiracy – as they act as a reflector, they readily reflect radar signals back to the [[Black Helicopter]]s. Much like [[wikipedia:The Thing (listening device)|The Thing (listening device)]] in Soviet-era espionage, it's a nominally passive device. Usually it's only deployed because the Deep State is out to get all of the paranoid people. Oh, and now that I've told you this, [[I Shall Have To Kill You Too]].
** [[wikipedia:Mapimí Silent Zone|Zona del Silencio]] in Durango. It's not the only one, and such areas are called "skip zones".
* In the UK, there are still rural areas that have patchy coverage at best. The construction of new masts tends to be [[Not in My Back Yard|opposed in anyone's back yard]], especially when near a site of natural beauty, or a school. Even in more populated areas, it's possible to have to walk to the other side of a building in order to get a reception.
** The Meteor network was notorious for this when they first started providing their service. If you lived outside of Dublin, you could generally expect to get only one bar of signal if you were lucky and this tended to go if you happened to move four inches to the left. Thankfully, this has been remedied.
* In Australia the major mobile phone providers claim to provide coverage to 97% of the population, not 97% of the country. Beyond the highy populated south east corner (Between Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne-Adelaide) coverage is very sparse indeed. As [http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/networks/coverage/state.html\] this map proves
** Canada is more of the same rubbish once one leaves the beaten path, to the point that the Newfoundland government will lend a limited-capability satellite telephone to motorists taking the Trans-Labrador Highway (as the only way to call police for roadside assistance after a breakdown).
* There are some spots where signal is deliberately not provided, such as the [[wikipedia:Radio Quiet Zone|Radio Quiet Zone]] around a few major radiotelescope observatories. In the US, a wide National Radio Quiet Zone in rural Green Bank, West Virginia protects the National Radio Astronomy Observatory from interference; similar zones exist in Australia (for the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory) and Brazil (for the Itapetinga Radio Observatory).
* There are also remote areas, such as logging roads, which may have no coverage. The logging trucks are likely to use [[Citizens Band radio|CB]], FRS or similar self-contained two-way radios to communicate their position, ensuring that two huge trucks don't meet on a primitive road too narrow for more than one to pass.
* Oh, and the "Can you hear me now?" slogan? That became a running joke quickly after Edward Snowden revealed the extent to which the US government was snooping on callers, most often with the full collusion of Verizon or other major carriers. They were even caught [[Exact Eavesdropping|eavesdropping]] on Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, who was prone to use the "handyphone" often.
== Super Cell Phones ==
=== Anime
* In the anime series ''[[Gate Keepers]] 21'', many characters use specially designed cell phones to activate "Gates", the source of the series' [[Functional Magic|magic-like abilities]].
** The Pixies of ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'' also use cell phones to make magic.
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===
* ''I Can't Believe it's not the [[Justice League of America|Justice League]]!'' has the Super Buddies sent by [[Booster Gold]] to 'the deepest, darkest pits of Hell! (muahahaha!)' and are able to call their headquarters. It's [[Lampshaded]] when Max Lord immediately demands to know what service they have.
* Operatives on the [[Global Frequency]] had ''really'' cool phones that appeared to use their own satellite network and give users access to any electronic resource Aleph could hack into. They also had audio/video capabilities that were terribly advanced when the graphic novels came out, but in late 2009 seem roughly on par with high-end iPhones and the like.
** Which proves that writers don't need to bypass cell phones to create tension; ''these'' geeks '''kick''' '''''ass''''', but they still get into trouble the phones can't gimmick them out of.
* In ''[[Planetary]]'', the Drummer receives a cell call while on the Authority's extradimensional spaceship/headquarters. Possibly justified in that the Drummer's superpower is control over information and information transmission.
* This trope is just barely [[Older Than Television]] considering that ''[[Dick Tracy]]'''s first and most famous gadget is his Two-Way Wrist Radio, first used in the 1940s. Thus, the detective had a wrist communicator that was incredibly small and powerful for its day and the strip took maximum advantage of it for the heroes to get themselves out of sticky situations.▼
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* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' occasionally used the Sonic Screwdriver or other alien tech to give a phone Universal Roaming, allowing them to make a call from anywhere, anywhen to anywhere, anywhen. Without any special dialling code or anything. Possibly justified if they were modified to relay from the TARDIS, which is a sentient, telepathic time machine... in a phone box. Only interference either from [[Satan]] or the nearby black hole in "The Impossible Planet" was able to put it out of range.
* Any cell phone can be used to summon [[The Devil]] in [[Reaper]], provided that you know his personal cell number. [[Justified]] though, as a magic ritual is involved in this procedure. The phone is merely the conduit.
=== Newspaper Comics ===
▲* This trope is just barely [[Older Than Television]] considering that ''[[Dick Tracy]]'''s first and most famous gadget is his Two-Way Wrist Radio, first used in the 1940s. Thus, the detective had a wrist communicator that was incredibly small and powerful for its day and the strip took maximum advantage of it for the heroes to get themselves out of sticky situations.
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* External mobile phone antennas and modded internal antennas may extend range significantly.
* There are satellite phones small enough to almost pass for ordinary cellphones these days. Of course they are expensive and their sound quality isn't very good compared to an ordinary cellphone, but you can use them practically anywhere out of doors.
* There are normal cell phones being sold with satellite communication support.
** Apple iPhone 14 and onward can communicate with an emergency satellite service in an emergency, though it is limited to text communications.
** Several companies are working on products that streamline satellite communications for Android headsets, often including non-emergency use in their capabilities.
== Aversions ==
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===
* In ''[[Arkham Asylum: Living Hell]]'', the asylum's guards have barricaded themselves in a security room. They try to call for backup and begin to panic as "The phone lines have been cut!" The warden calmly asks if any of them have a cellphone. When one of the guards hands him one: "Idiots."
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