Can You Hear Me Now?: Difference between revisions

A sub-trope of [[Plot-Sensitive Items]]. Futuristic communications not working have a [[Phlebotinum Breakdown]].

{{examples}}

* One justification for not using a cellphone was shown in an old campaign from the early 2000s by T-Mobile for their unlimited plan. This was before all companies even ''had'' unlimited plans, and had a set amount of "minutes" that you could talk on the phone for free. After that, you'd have to pay-per-minute. In these commercials, with [[Jamie Lee Curtis]] as the spokesperson, some sort of emergency would be presented and a group of people would argue over whether or not to risk wasting their minutes. This would make it a [[Justified Trope]] if the party in question isn't using their cellphone because they're out of minutes.

** Many people are still using pay-per-minute plans, as they generally don't have contracts with high early termination fees and they can work out to be cheaper than unlimited plans if you don't make many phone calls. But even on a phone with no SIM card or any minutes, as long as it has power and a signal, you can dial 911.

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[Mai-HiME]]'', when several characters are stranded in a cave.

{{quote|'''Yuuichi:''' Kanzaki-senpai!!! ''(draws out cell phone)'' Cell phones won't work either? Seriously?}}

* In ''[[The Cries of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'', there's no contact between [[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni|Hinamizawa]] and anything outside it. ''Whatsoever.'' Justified, because {{spoiler|Hinamizawa is actually in 1983, and cell phones don't exist yet.}}

** The first phone call from a truly portable handset (still the size of a brick, though) to the general phone network was made on [[Older Than They Think|April 3, 1973]], by Motorola's Martin Cooper, and by 1979 the world's first mobile network appeared in Japan, though initially only around Tokyo. So it's possible that by 1983 it reached Hinamizawa (the nationwide coverage was achieved in 1984), but it's still unlikely that modern phones (most of which are 2G systems like GSM) would work on this 1G system.

* Inverted beautifully in ''[[Phone Booth (film)|Phone Booth]]''. How else could he get help?

* On a press tour, when Robert Zemeckis, the director of ''[[Cast Away]]'', was asked what was in the parcel that Tom Hanks delivers at the end, he said it was a fully charged, activated and ready-to-use satellite phone. (He might have been just a bit tired of answering that question.) Hanks reportedly did a double-take and stared at Zemeckis for a really long time.

* Parodied in ''[[Tucker and Dale vs. Evil]]'', where one of the [[Wrong Genre Savvy]] characters smashes a cell phone because he knows it won't work in a horror movie - before even ''checking'' if it works.

* ''[[Drake and Josh]]'' are forever losing their cellphones to trap them in odd situations.

{{quote|'''Drake:''' Why don't Craig and Eric have cell phones?

* This concept is explored [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.

* Cell phones in ''[[The World Ends With You]]'' have no reception. {{spoiler|The dead can't talk to the living, after all.}} They can receive messages from the Reapers, and your in-game menu is supposedly the cellphone menu, but other than that they're powerless. When Joshua actually ''talks'' to someone on his, Neku instantly turns suspicious. ({{spoiler|Joshua's talking to Hanekoma.}})

* When the blackout hits in ''[[Devil Survivor]]'', cell service goes down as well, which the characters note as odd, because the towers shouldn't be affected ("But the phone centers have their own backup power, right? This doesn't make sense!"). Later in the game, the lack of cell service is alluded to, when someone claims to have called someone outside the lockdown; which isn't possible, of course.

* A [[Running Gag]] in [http://joker7777.info/ Cogito Ergo Sum]'s escape-the-room games is the cat Nyan being unintentionally locked out on the porch or balcony and needing to contact the dog Wan to help him. Nyan actually learns from his [http://joker7777.info/game12e.html first undignified imprisonment] and has a [http://joker7777.info/game25e.html cellphone] or [http://joker7777.info/game29e.html smartphone] with him ([[Bellisario's Maxim|don't think too hard about how a cat can use a phone in the first place]]) the next couple of times he becomes locked out...but naturally, he's unable to get any reception and has to resort to more traditional escape-the-room puzzles to contact Wan.

* Justified in the ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' story "That Which Redeems", thanks to the demons having a very poor understanding of cell phone technology.

{{quote|'''Tryka:''' What's it roaming for? Shouldn't it stay here?

* Discussed by [[The Distressed Watcher]]

* 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 -- 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''.]]

* 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.

* 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 Parents]]'' also use cell phones to make magic.

* ''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.

* ''[[Turnabout Storm]]'': [[Ace Attorney|Phoenix]] recieves a cellphone call from a "concerned friend" in the middle of his investigation. The kicker? He's in the middle of [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|Equestria]], a complete other world, which doesn't have cellphones of any kind, let alone cell towers. If this was accomplished with magic or something else entirely is unknown.

* 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 enjoy lampshading and breaking the fourth wall every so often.

* 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.

* [[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.

* 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''.

* 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.

* ''[[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.

* ''[[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.

* ''[[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.

* 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).

* 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"}}.

* 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."

* 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.

* 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?}}

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