Can You Hear Me Now?: Difference between revisions
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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.
** 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.
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** 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).
* 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]] on Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, who was prone to use the "handyphone" often.
== Super Cell Phones ==
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