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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* 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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=== Films -- Animation ===
* Lampshaded in the ''[[Curious George]]'' movie. Ted's phone go off in the depths of Africa and he comments about the "strong signal" before answering it. Then again, the movie seems to
=== Films -- Live Action ===
* In the 2006 remake of ''[[Casino Royale]]'', Bond is issued a super-awesome [[Product Placement|Sony]] [[Stuck on Band-Aid Brand|Ericsson]] phone that could make calls from the most isolated places in the world, browse the Internet like it was plugged in with a 1024 kbps data link, with a GPS map that could follow tracker bugs. It follows in the tradition of Bond's obscenely advanced gadgets.
** In the sequel ''[[Quantum of Solace]]'', the phone is able to transmit tons of high-res, multi-angle headshots from the Austrian Opera theatre to London MI:5 almost instantaneously.
* ''[[Jurassic Park III]]'' has a satellite phone working perfectly quite some time after being eaten by a dino.
** ''The Lost World'' novel has sat phones that are explicitly extra-durable and specifically made for the island.
*** Early in the film Dr. Ian Malcolm is trying to contact some one with a satellite phone, he can't and several reason are suggest why it won't work ending with "or she could have turned it off"
* 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 the Center of the 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}}.
** It also has a cell phone that {{spoiler|works inside a guy. Inside a prison cell. It arms a bomb. Boom.}}
* The 2008 ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]'' movie has the title's hero's cell wired through his armor. Maybe the armor is Bluetooth compatible.
** Then there's the video chat on the non-armor-based cell phone in the middle of Afghanistan at the start of the movie.
** In the sequel, the phone gets an upgrade to be able to instantaneously access projection screens. It also appears to be as big and transparent as a piece of plexiglass.
* The Jami Gertz character in ''[[Twister]]'' had a cell phone which was immune to atmospheric conditions, such as ''giant tornadoes''.
* In ''Three Kings'', one character manages to make a phone call to his wife, on a cell phone, in the middle of Iraq just after the First Gulf War, from ''inside a fortified bunker''.
* In the 2009 film ''Moon'', Sam is able to make video cell-phone calls from the Moon to Earth {{spoiler|once he gets past the signal jammers, at least}}
* Empire Magazine's review of ''[[2012]]'' includes this response to Emmerich's "[[Did Not Do the Research|wilfully ignoring science]] [[Rule of Drama|to keep the plot boiling]]": "For future reference, sudden continental drift probably will affect your cellphone reception." And even if it doesn't, good luck getting through when ''literally the whole world'' is trying to call someone.
* During the finale of the 4th season of ''[[Lost]]'' {{spoiler|Keamy is wearing a heart rate monitor set to transmit a signal to detonate C4 back on his ship should he die. When he dies far undrground at the Orchid station, somehow the transmitter is capable of transmitting through dozens of feet of earth and out to sea to trigger the detonator.}}
=== Literature ===
* [[Artemis Fowl]] once received a text message in the Arctic. Sent from a laptop ''inside the Earth''. One could speculate that the fairies have set up underground Internet and cell phone service providers... but it was Artemis' own laptop, so it probably ran on a plain old human-run ISP. Then again, it was [[Gadgeteer Genius]] Foaly at the keyboard.
** Artemis himself notes that it should have been impossible for him to receive the message. The story adheres more to actual physics when, asked if they can send a reply, Artemis nonchalantly quips, "Certainly. Just give me six months, some specialized equipment and [[American Customary Measurements|three miles]] of steel girder." Foaly ''himself'' mentions how hard it was to patch into the human networks.
=== Live Action TV ===
* In one episode of ''[[The X-Files]]'', Mulder makes a cell phone call, while stranded in the middle of a desert inside a boxcar buried underground.
* ''[[24]]'s'' cell phones can do anything. ''Anything''.
** Subverted for humor in a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMLH_QyPTYM parody video] that claimed to be the "lost pilot" of ''24'' from 1994:
{{quote|'''Jack:''' Chloe, can you send the schematic to my cell phone?
'''Chloe:''' ... No. }}
* In ''[[Charmed]]'', cellphones work in the underworld, which is a different dimension. Good reception.
* ''[[The Mighty Boosh]]'' had one character receiving a phone call on an expedition somewhere in the arctic. We can safely suspend our belief to include it, considering that at the time the expedition, comprised of two zoo-keepers, was trying to defrost the frozen last words of an explorer killed by Jack Frost.
* 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]]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.
** The school basement ''is'' clearly established as a place where the laws of reality [[A Wizard Did It|don't quite work right]].
** Cordelia had a cell phone in the very first episode (which we never saw again), and Buffy had a pager in one other first season episode.
** The Initiative used pagers to alert their agents; shortly after Buffy joins, she brings a bunch of soldiers to the Bronze, and all their pagers go off at once.
* In the first [[Story Arc]] of the second season of ''[[Read All About It]]'', the characters have a portable communicator created by an eccentric inventor that's bulky and transmits only text, but has an astounding range that can transmit not only over vast distances, but also into different time periods. It's a handy function to have when you've been whisked to 1812 and you are desperate to contact the coach house in 1983.
* The students, crew, and passengers about the ''S.S. Tipton'' in ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody|The Suite Life on Deck]]'' all seem to have phones that get reception anywhere in the world (including remote locations in developing countries and at sea), are standard models that aren't at all bulky or complex (as one would expect from a satellite phone with such capabilities), and never incur any sort of roaming charges.
* ''[[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.
=== Tabletop Games ===
* One of the Relics in the [[Scion]] Companion book is the iGjallahar, based on the ancient horn that can summons allies or something. It's a special cell phone that get a signal anywhere because it transmits to a tower in the Overworld.
=== 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—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.
*** ''Before Crisis,'' the other ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' prequel which seems to be mired somewhere between [[No Export for You]] and [[Development Hell]] as far as an international release is concerned, lets you use your own cellphone to make materia in the game via snapping pictures. The dominant color determines the element and grade of the materia - for example, a majority yellow picture produces Thunder materia.
* ''[[City of Heroes]]'' cuts both ways. On the one hand, you can get a signal in the sewers, or [[Another Dimension|alternate dimensions]], or ancient Rome (this one's [[Handwaved]] as being [[A Wizard Did It|something the Midnight Squad set up]]). Inside a mission - even one in an outside area of Paragon City - your phone is useless. And there are plenty of times where you have to go talk to someone whose phone number you have, but nooooo, you have to go see them in person - which is sometimes justified as needing to deliver something to them or the person being paranoid and wanting to meet face to face, sometimes not. Conversely, sometimes a [[McGuffin]] is given to you over your cellphone.
* In ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'', the Queen of the Underworld makes a phone call to the King of Mario's-equivalent-to-Heaven. That's not a normal phone whichever way you look at it.
* ''[[Scarface the World Is Yours]]''. Having one of the very first sattelite phones ever, stolen from a rival crimelord, is vital to the plot and many of the gameplay mechanics. It always works, from inside any building to remote island dirt roads. Possibly handwaved in that if you're a millionaire drug kingpin, you can afford the best.
* In [[Pokémon Gold and Silver|Pokemon Heartgold and Soulsilver]], the Pokegear's phone can receive or make calls anywhere. Including deep inside Mount Silver, an area so remote that there are only three people in it and the route leading to it, one of whom is the nurse in the Pokemon Center.
** God forbid you enter a battle, conversatio or even a building while your phone is ringing though. Your signal will be instantly cut. It's also seems to cut if you look in your bag, at your Pokemon or Pokedex or save your game.
=== Web Comics ===
* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' has featured the doctor getting phone reception ''while traveling through space''. He didn't lose his connection until he started atmospheric re-entry.
** Made <s>worse</s> [[Rule of Cool|better]] (as commented by the author in alt text) that the other end of the call was in a submarine.
* ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]'': [http://gigaville.com/comic.php?id=443 "I oversee military technology development for the United States. I can get cellphone reception on a submarine."]
=== Western Animation ===
* ''[[Kim Possible]]'''s Kimmunicator has never once failed due to signal interference, unless it was deliberately jammed. It works anywhere on Earth or in near-orbit space, even deep underground. According to Wade, it has its ''own satellite''. She has, however, lost it a few times, and when the writers got sick of that plot, they gave her a compact wrist-mounted version.
** At one point, the Kimmunicator sprouts ''wheels'' in order to get Kim.
*** At another, the Kimmunicator was entered in a ''robot fighting competition''.
** In the [[Christmas Episode]], Drakken's cell phone was able to make calls from the North Pole.
* In ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]''; the title characters use Candace's cell phone in prehistoric times and on Mars. Candace lampshades this in "Unfair Science Fair Redux" by asking "How is it we have bars here?" on ''Mars''.
** In "Candace Disconnected", Candace's new cell phone is broken and her mother wouldn't buy her a new one because she's already lost so many of them. The last one bought couldn't be used for anything other than making and receiving calls. Phineas and Ferb then built one that could even be used as a teleporting device.
* Double subverted in ''[[Transformers Prime]].'' When the kids are stranded in another dimension, they try using a cell phone to call for help, and while the call reaches the Autobots, there's too much interference for it to be legible. They try to get around this problem by sending a text message, which works.
* The candlestick phone [[Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines|Dick Dastardly]] used to communicate with the General had to be cellular. It appeared in the air sans landline and even as far as Arabia.
=== Real Life ===
* There are special systems for miners which allow to them make calls from deep mines; however they consist of not only the phone itself, but also a set of "picocells", or routing relays placed all over the mine. Many cities have installed similar devices in metro systems and traffic tunnels to ensure continuous cell phone coverage during their citizens' commutes.
* Normal-looking phones communicating with a mobile satellite relay (e.g. on a van).
* 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 ==
=== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===
* In ''[[Code Geass]]'', the use of cell phones is somewhat prevalent, which makes sense since many characters are High School students. There were several instances in which Shirley was unable to call Lelouch. However, rather than being a technical problem, {{spoiler|Lelouch was hiding from the Britannian Army, and thus his ringing phone gave his position away}}. Naturally, he hangs up his phone as soon as he can (during that incident and when Rivalz tried to call him during the hotel jacking). Suzaku also tries to call Lelouch once (on Shirley's behalf). Cell phones pop up occasionally throughout the series afterwards. One memorable incident, {{spoiler|right after the Euphinator incident}}, had Lelouch answer his phone only to find Euphie's number on the caller ID. {{spoiler|Suzaku had used the phone to call Lelouch, suspecting him to be Zero.}} And the effect was ''chilling''. In season call phones made other occasional appearances, such as when {{spoiler|Nunnally talked to Lelouch before she became viceroy}}. The trope is played with in episode 13. But, instead of the phone not working, {{spoiler|Shirley was already beyond saving due to blood loss, with Lelouch having attempted to use her phone to call 911}}. In the episode following {{spoiler|F.L.E.I.J.A., Rivalz calls Lelouch one last time, before Lelouch attempts to "drag the Emperor into Hell with him"}}.
=== Comic 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."
=== Film ===
* The movie ''[[Cellular]]'' is all about the advantages and limitations of a cell phone as it is used to track down a hostage victim.
* In ''[[Dead Snow]]'', the characters are stuck high in the mountains in Norway, and when they DO manage to get reception, the emergency dispatcher thinks they're kidding.
* In ''The Hills Run Red''(2009), not only does the cell phone work, but one of the characters mentions that it gets better reception than in the city (makes sense since there are no metal buildings). This unfortunately ends up backfiring when the villain gets a hold of a cell phone and uses it to call one of the other characters.
* In ''[[Buried]]'', Ryan Reynolds character manages to make calls to the USA with a mobile phone, while [[Buried Alive|buried in a wooden coffin]]. In Iraq! He only loses one or two calls to a bad signal, and the battery manages to last the entirety of the film. Of course, since the action never leaves the coffin, he has to be able to call people, otherwise we'd be treated to an hour and half of him gibbering to himself in a pine box.
=== Literature ===
* Published well into the mobile phone era, Geoph Essex's ''Lovely Assistant'' manages to avoid losing, breaking, or generally disabling the cell phones of any characters, who use them for regular communication (and texting, naturally!) like any of us on a daily basis. The lack of non-functionality even puts them into the familiar position of avoiding phone calls from people they don't want to talk to as long as they can, then [[Fake Static|claiming]] not to be [[I Can't Hear You|able to talk]]. The only instance in the story of a cell phone being "out of commission" is a deliberate choice by the main character, who's seen too many [[Law and Order]] episodes and gets paranoid about the [[Police Procedural|police tracking her call]]. Of course, {{spoiler|Jenny's phone is later confiscated by [[The Dragon]], but what else would you do when you capture the hero?}}
----
...good!
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Did Not Do the Research]]
[[Category:Discredited Trope]]
[[Category:Phone Tropes]]
[[Category:Can You Hear Me Now]]
[[Category:The Newest Ones in the Book]]
[[Category:A Failure to Communicate]]
[[Category:This Index Asked You a Question]]
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