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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(→‎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"]}}
|'''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|Cell Phones]]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 -- butzombies—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 -- maybelife—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.]]
 
Note that, during widespread disasters such as the London bombings or 9/11, cell networks often fail, for several reasons: Overload due to everyone trying to reach each other, cell towers being damaged, and civilian phones being locked out to let emergency personnel have all the capacity. However, in many situations where this trope takes place, the problem is far more localized; being lost in the werewolf-infested woods isn't a national emergency.
 
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 -- suchshould—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 the advertisements for Verizon Wireless circa 2010, where some employee is [[Walking the Earth]] constantly saying the trope name into his cell phone in order to confirm he could be heard over it. (Such people exist in [[Real Life]], but the test phrases they use are far more improbable.)
 
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 &and Manga ===
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[MaiMy-HiME]]'', when several characters are stranded in a cave.
{{quote|'''Yuuichi:''' Kanzaki-senpai!!! ''(draws out cell phone)'' Cell phones won't work either? Seriously?}}
* ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]: Advent Children'' uses phones as a metaphor for emotional contact. The result of this is that Cloud and Vincent's reluctance to use phones (Cloud only uses his voicemail, and Vincent doesn't own one at all) is a symbol of their inability to integrate themselves into normal life, and so when Cloud refuses to call for back-up it's all right, because it's all a metaphor. Tifa lectures Cloud about how not getting rid of his cell phone shows he still cares about people deep down, and Vincent later announcing his surprise arrival to help the heroes out after all with the line "[[Anvilicious|where can I buy a phone]]?" At the end, Vincent buys a phone and Cloud starts using his again properly.
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** Also, the funniest moment in the entire film: after a long fight, Tifa defeats Loz, and the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' victory music is faintly heard. [[Theme Tune Cameo|It's Loz's]] ''[[Theme Tune Cameo|ringtone]]''!
* Cell phones are only used ''once'' in ''[[Shakugan no Shana]] II'', by an odd pair of villains, with the normal-looking one trying to coordinate activities over it and complaining about the terrible signal, only to find out the the problem was that his partner had turned its phone off. (Well, can't expect a ''centipede with a flaming skull on top'' to have much appreciation for modern technology, anyway.) The good guys use spell charms to communicate, but the one dangerous occasion where everyone thinks to carry one before hand, they all get disabled in their enemy's first attack.
* In ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'', Izumi gets her cell phone [https://web.archive.org/web/20100721234632/http://www.onemanga.com/Hayate_the_Combat_Butler/137/08/ stolen] in a scene that doesn't seem to have any effect on the overall storyline. She ends up getting lost on a class hiking trip and unable to call anyone because of it, which then leads to her own arc.
* It seems ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'' was specifically set in 1983 to avoid this trope. If any of the kids had cell phones (as most all Japanese schoolkids do) then there would have been no way for {{spoiler|the Yamainu to isolate Hinamizawa and sterilize the village without someone from the outside finding out.}}
** However, one arc of ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'' (Yoigoshi) did need to mess around with cellphones, being set a couple of decades into a [[Bad Future]]. It's a pretty typical case of no reception followed by broken cell phone. {{spoiler|It's messed around with a bit, however. The character who had the cell phone only pretended that he didn't have coverage and then broke his own cell phone because he was afraid of someone finding him (He'd gone to Hinamizawa in a suicide attempt that he'd chickened out of)}}.
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* ''[[Erin Brockovich]]''. Whilst in a late-night diner Erin comes across a rather creepy man who seems to be making overtures, though it turns out he has access to crucial documents that could help the case. When Erin steps out to her car to call her boss for advice she finds her cellphone isn't working, so she makes a rush for a nearby payphone instead.
* The trope explanation above links to a montage illustrating just how [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIZVcRccCx0 fickle, fragile, and generally unreliable] cell phones are on the silver screen, particularly in horror movies.
* Realistically treated in ''[[The Host (2006 film)||The Host]]'', where Hyun-seo is trapped in the sewer without a recharger and with terrible reception. She's able to get one call through, which is what starts off much of the plot.
* In ''[[Panic Room]]'', the heroine and her daughter are trapped in the panic room while the house is being robbed. They immediately go for the land line, only to remember that she never hooked it up, thinking it was unnecessary. In a suspenseful trip outside the room, she manages to get a cellphone, only to find there's no reception in the steel-plated walls.
* In ''Shrooms'', a bunch of teenagers go into the wilderness to eat shrooms and do wacky teen stuff. Then people start dying and they want to call the cops. And all of a sudden all their phones are missing. {{spoiler|Turns out the killer hid all of them right before starting the killing spree.}}
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* [[Angel]] is really bad at using phones, and there were several occasions in the series where he had let the charge run down, just forgot he had one with him, or couldn't [[For Inconvenience Press One|work out the intercom]].
{{quote|'''Angel:''' These things were definitely cooked up by a bored warlock.}}
* A very silly plotline on ''[[Studio 60 Onon the Sunset Strip]]'' called for Danny and Jordan to get locked on the studio's roof so that they'd be forced to discuss their relationship. [[Aaron Sorkin]] does find it within himself to pay lip service to the idea that they could just call someone to unlock the door... by having them wander around holding their phones aloft, complaining that they can't get a signal. On a roof. In the middle of L.A. For no reason.
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'': In one episode a character loses his communicator. He finds another person's communicator, but can't use it to call for help, because the communicator will only work for its owner. Meanwhile, back in the 21st century, all mobile phones can be used to call the emergency number, even without SIM cards.
* ''[[Burn Notice]]'' loves this, though it's good about [[Justified Trope|justifying]] it; anyone meant to be incommunicado will have their cell phone jammed, taken away, or secretly sabotaged. The villains are usually portrayed as pretty [[Genre Savvy]] about this as well, further justifying the trope.
* In the ''[[NCIS]]'' episode "Boxed In", Tony and Ziva are trapped in a shipping container and try desperately to get signal on their cell phone - [[Justified Trope|justified]] here, as the container would act as a Faraday Cage.
* Once the murders start in ''[[Harpers Island|Harper's Island]]'', both the [[Cut Phone Lines|landlines]] and cell phones all stop working. In the associated web series ''Harper's Globe'', we find that the internet isn't working properly either.
* An episode of ''[[Community]]'' had the group trapped in an 'spacecraft simulator' which was actually an old RV fully covered in metal. They are sealed in, the RV is being towed and they can't get cellphone reception from inside (Faraday Cage?). However, there is a short wave radio connected to an outside antenna so they can communicate with 'mission control' once they get it working.
* In ''[[Smallville]],'' Lois' phone runs out of batteries when something nasty is going down and she needs to make a call. She even says "Really?!" when it happens, as if disbelieving that such a cliche could happen to her.
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=== Literature ===
* This concept is explored [https://web.archive.org/web/20110604050726/http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2006/10/6norvig.html here]; basically, [[Romeo and Juliet]] would have had a much happier ending if the two of them had had cell phones.
* In the ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' book ''New Moon'' Edward conveniently smashes his phone in grief because he thinks Bella is dead, thus enabling a dramatic flight to Italy solely to demonstrate that she is, in fact, still alive.
* [[Ciaphas Cain]], '''HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!''', deals with this problem on a regular basis. However, it's justified: due to his origin <ref>A hive world, aka an extremely overcrowded planet</ref> he is very competent at orientation in closed spaces and thus constantly gets assigned to missions that deal with such spaces. Such as tunnels or caves. Which are, you know, underground, so it's hard to keep contact. In ''For the Emperor'', for example, it was a major plot point, since he managed to find out the true reason behind the conflict and must find his way to the surface as soon as possible to prevent a large-scale war, since he can't just tell that over the radio.
* In ''[[Good Omens]]'', Crowley and two Dukes of Hell describe what they have done to aid the spread of evil that day. One Duke corrupted a politician. The other tempted a priest. Crowley disabled every cell tower in Central London for 45 minutes... during lunch hour.
** The other demons don't understand. Crowley figures that spreading low-level frustration to thousands of people on a regular basis is much more efficient in the corruption of souls than the one-on-one approach -- aapproach—a thousand grouchy people spread a lot more misery around than one awful person.
* Justified example in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'': magic [[Walking Techbane|screws up advanced technology like computers and cell phones]], thus ruining cell phone reception whenever a wizard is around. The effect worsens exponentially when when a wizard (or other magic user) is actively casting magic, and that's not even taking into account "hexing", which is a direct magical attack with the intent of destroying technology. Dresden himself compares cell phones to a canary in a coal mine or "[[Red Shirt|those guys in the red shirts on Star Trek]]" because they die the instant trouble hits.
 
 
=== Video Games ===
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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|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 ===
* Played with in a ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' episode where Danny and his mother gets stranded in the middle of a forest. Off ALL the techno gizmo she has with her, the only thing she doesn't have: a cellphone -- becausecellphone—because you can't fight ghosts with a cellphone, ''silly''. Danny doesn't have his cellphone with him either (for no apparent reason), so he and his mother have to survive alone against the big, spooky forest (and Vlad).
** Danny obviously forgot his phone. [[Running Gag|Like he forgot his wallet in ''Masters of All Time'', and that ring from ''Flirting With Disaster''.]]
* In ''[[Code Lyoko]]'', the main characters all have cell phones, and never have any problem with reception or anything. Usually their phones would be broken while fighting on Earth. (Strangely, they always have a new cell phone by the next episode, even if no one pressed the reset button. They never seem to complain about having to buy new cell phones so frequently, though...)
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* The [[Freaky Friday Flip]] of ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' had Flash (in Lex's body) attempting to contact the rest of the League through a cell phone, only to find that there's no service.
* Parodied in ''[[Dan Vs.]]'' "Technology." Chris attempts to call for help after crashing in the woods, only for his cell phone to explode in his hand as he dials.
* In ''[[What's New, Scooby -Doo?]]'' episode "There's no Business Like Snow Business", a journalist was having trouble with her cell phone while ranting about audience, which made the gang regard her as a suspect while all Fred pointed out was that he thought cell phones worked well in that area. At first, it seemed he was [[Completely Missing the Point]], but it turned out to be a [[Chekhov's Gun]], as the [[Monster of the Week]] was a machine radio-controlled by the [[Villain of the Week]], whose radio signs were causing interference on the cell phones.
* In ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]'', when Batman wants to call the mayor and warn him of a plot, he is told there is no phone, and Bat's won't work either - the host is a scientist who chose a dead zone for his experiments so as not to be disturbed.
 
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* British comedienne Jocelyn Jee Esien plays a "chav" schoolgirl who in every sketch is shown sitting on a bus screaming "CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?" into her phone, despite no one making noise near her and no obvious reason for communication failure.
** That's eerily similar to a recurring gag from the British series ''Trigger Happy TV'', where a cell phone ring would be heard before a man with a comically large phone (something the size of an old boombox) stood up and started screaming into it, usually while in a movie theatre or a restaurant.
** The central idea here is much older, and generally expressed with the phrase, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110820024700/http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/buzz/stories/s1266824.htm I'M ON THE TRAIN!]"
* Despite what any communications company might say to the contrary, there are still plenty of coverage blind spots in the twenty-first century, ''in suburbia, California'' let alone rural areas, virgin wilderness or exotic locales. Hence faulty cells and cheap networks remain available plot devices alongside:
** Old lithium batteries that don't hold a charge.
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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.
*** Jamming is often set up by bomb-squads (though it's illegal in some countries), since bombs may be radio-triggered (no word on whether anyone's ever set off a bomb ''by the jamming interrupting a signal'', but it'd be a hell of a nasty [[Xanatos Gambit]]). Also, the "turn off all radio transmitters" on construction blasting sites exists for a reason.)
** A later form of jamming can still allow emergency calls through (operating at the level of the call-out call-in signals, rather than just jamming the frequencies), so allowing this sort of jamming would not have some of the disadvantages that jamming all signals brings, hence calls to allow it. Easier said than done, as it would require putting up a bogus mobile base station and misdirecting traffic there instead of to the real network.
** 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 &and Manga ===
* 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 Odd ParentsOddParents]]'' also use cell phones to make magic.
* ''[[Vision of Escaflowne]]'' has a pager (remember those?) that works on an ''invisible moon'' orbiting the Earth. This is debatably justified via [[Your Mind Makes It Real]] (or that could just be [[Fan Wank]]), but this still resulted in a lot of jokes.
* In the ''[[To Love LOVE-Ru]]'' anime, Lala uses what looks like a cellphone to summon various useful items from somewhere, even items like a tree-sized stylized octopus robot that sucks up the Mooks that have been chasing her.
** The phone also appears in the manga, with the same uses. Her two sisters also have cell phones they can use to summon plants and animals.
* ''[[Voices of a Distant Star]]'' is all about a mecha pilot and her boyfriend keeping in touch via SMS messages, which take longer and longer to reach the farther from Earth she travels. She eventually travels outside our solar system, and is still able to send the messages. That's some pretty amazing reception.
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=== ComicsComic Books ===
* ''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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* Most people took issue with how one of the main characters could use his cell phone in the subway station in ''[[Cloverfield]]''. This, however, was a savvy case of [[Truth in Television]], since the MTA is actively wiring subway platforms for cell service, specifically so riders can use their phones during emergencies.
** After much of Manhattan had been smashed into oblivion, the subway station might be ''the only'' place where you can still get cellphone service.
* The 2008 film ''[[Journey to Thethe Center of Thethe Earth]]'' had a cellphone that ''works at the center of the Earth''. Worse yet, not only is it just a joke that's not essential to the plot, but there was a scene in the same movie where a cell phone won't work inside of a normal cave.
* In ''[[Enchanted]]'', Nancy gets cellphone reception in a ''magical fairytale kingdom'', the bizarreness of this is [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] right before she [[Cutting the Electronic Leash|destroys the cell phone]].
* ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' has {{spoiler|sonar emitting phones}}.
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* Some [[Super Sentai]] (and, by extension, ''[[Power Rangers]]'') series have had cell phones as the [[Transformation Trinket]], and it seems handheld devices with keypads are being used instead of the more wristwatch-like devices of the past more and more. (If you wanna get technical, we've explicitly had phones in ''[[Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger|Gaoranger]]''/''[[Power Rangers Wild Force|Wild Force]]'' and ''[[Mahou Sentai Magiranger|Magiranger]]''/''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force|Mystic Force]]'' and phone-like devices in ''[[Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger|Dekaranger]]''/''[[Power Rangers SPD|SPD]]'', ''[[Go Go Sentai Boukenger|Boukenger]]''/''[[Power Rangers Operation Overdrive|Operation Overdrive]]'' and ''[[Engine Sentai Go-onger|Go-onger]]''/''[[Power Rangers RPM|RPM]]'')
** Note that on ''Go-onger''/''RPM'', "an Engine Cell" is [[I Am Not Shazam|not the morpher]], it's the small card-thingy that goes ''in'' the morpher and half of the ''other'' gadgets the team uses.
* ''[[Kamen Rider Faiz]]'' also has cell phones as [[Transformation Trinket|Transformation Trinkets]]s, but with the additional function of [[Energy Weapons|energy guns]].
* Naturally, the communicators in ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' came before cell phones, but they look much like them (having arguably inspired their modern look), and were often subject to both ends of this trope.
* The writers of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' purposefully avoided using cell phones, as it would ruin too many of the plots. For the first episode of season 7, they broke down and let Buffy get herself and Dawn cell phones, which work ''in the school basement'' (Dawn at least makes an enthusiastic comment). It seems Sunnydale [[Word of God|finally got a tower]] ([[Retcon|which nobody complained about before]]). The phones are rarely seen again.
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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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=== Video Games ===
* ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' had a PHS (Party Hensei System, a pun on Personal Handiphone System) which allowed you to summon your comrades from anywhere -- inanywhere—in the middle of the desert, on a mountain, in a cave or underneath a giant metal plate. However, it didn't seem so much cellular as [[Save Point]]-ular, and only worked when on one.
** This was also used occasionally as part of the plot: When a character who had lines was not in your party during a scene, you'd hear a ringtone, and then they'd literally phone it in to Cloud.
** In ''Crisis Core,'' Zack has access to a far better phone as a member of SOLDIER which allows him to recieve e-mail and shop online and - apparently - ''fuse materia.'' And it even continues to work as if the game's four year [[Time Skip]] never happened even though Zack himself was out of commission.
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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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=== ComicsComic Books ===
* 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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[[Category:The Newest Ones in the Book]]
[[Category:A Failure to Communicate]]
[[Category:This Index Asked You a Question]]