Mobile Phone Blockers/Jammers for the cinema

User45701

http://blog.scifi.com/tech/archives/2007/08/28/cell_phone_bloc.html

I didnt think they where that cheap, only 36 euro for a 40 foot range blocker, not bad and would do the job and make sure noone sitting neer you was doing that talk on the phone thing. im sure it would have other used as well besides in the cinema

Ph3n0m

and what about people who legitimately would need their phone on - doctors? people expecting the death of a loved one?

FrostyJack

Afaik they are illegal, I heard of restaurants using them, and a court order had them removed. Possibly even being sued, not sure if it was in Ireland or England though.

Mitch Connor

it has been looked into, but you need something that can allow emergency calls through at the very least - plus as mentioned above, some people need to have their mobiles on.

Personally, i don't mind people having their mobiles with them and on in the cinema, but they should be on silent/vibrate and if they go off, and ht eperson wants to check it, they should leave the cinema to do so.

It is the people who take their phones out to check the time etc that get on my nerves. I ate sitting in a movie, and then having my attention distracted by the sudden light coming from the phone.

senordingdong

Ph3n0m wrote:

and what about people who legitimately would need their phone on - doctors? people expecting the death of a loved one?

Then perhaps they shouldn't go place where their phone would be a nuisance.

Mitch Connor

senordingdong wrote:

Then perhaps they shouldn't go place where their phone would be a nuisance.

I think that is a bit unfair - some surgens in Ireland are on call pretty much24/7/365. Should they have their social life ruined by the fact they are good at what they do, which is potentially life saving.

big b

senordingdong wrote:

Then perhaps they shouldn't go place where their phone would be a nuisance.

+1

humanji

FrostyJack wrote:

Afaik they are illegal, I heard of restaurants using them, and a court order had them removed. Possibly even being sued, not sure if it was in Ireland or England though.

They just don't have to tell anyone they have them installed. Problem solved

mickoneill30

Tauren wrote:

I think that is a bit unfair - some surgens in Ireland are on call pretty much24/7/365. Should they have their social life ruined by the fact they are good at what they do, which is potentially life saving.

I've never heard a surgeon talking in a cinema beside me. The kind of calls I normally hear are some twat onto his / her other half or describing the film.

If they're on call that much they need to look at a different job. I'm not a surgeon. I'm on call every so often and my social life does get altered to suit the on call. That's why I get paid more for being on call.

senordingdong

No surgeon is on call all day every day. Never. Just no.

And no, I'm not saying these people should sacrifice their social lives.
I'm saying they shouldn't be in the cinema or wherever else, when they are expecting important calls.

User45701

Well i was more thinking it would b a very funny thing to do to annoying scumbags on the bus with that annoying whinging/whining voice shouting down there phone you could just reach into your bag and turn it on then they would shut up.

It has been a while since anyone has bothered me with a phone in the cinema i just thought it would be a good topic of discussion tho i should have added a poll

FrostyJack

I'm saying they shouldn't be in the cinema or wherever else, when they are expecting important calls.

I don't remember any surgeons answering their phone in the cinema, but I do see loads of clowns running to the toilet, should people stay away from the cinema if they are expecting to use the bathroom that day?

mickoneill30

FrostyJack wrote:

I don't remember any surgeons answering their phone in the cinema, but I do see loads of clowns running to the toilet, should people stay away from the cinema if they are expecting to use the bathroom that day?

Does someone getting up and going to the toilet annoy you in the cinema? You don't have much of a choice about going to the toilet.

Does someone answering a call and having a chat beside you annoy you in the cinema? You definitely have a choice about answering your phone. I don't mind people answering the phone. I've done it myself if I was on call (on vibrate) but I've always walked out before talking. It's not a hard thing to do but it's beyond some people.

Not really the same things are they?

Mitch Connor

mickoneill30 wrote:

I've never heard a surgeon talking in a cinema beside me. The kind of calls I normally hear are some twat onto his / her other half or describing the film.

If they're on call that much they need to look at a different job. I'm not a surgeon. I'm on call every so often and my social life does get altered to suit the on call. That's why I get paid more for being on call.

Yes, i would love to block the phones of the odious little oiks that take their phone out and have a chat with a mate or something, but how can you bloke their phone and not everyones?

@ senordingdong

I know for a fact there are surgeons that can be on call most of the time, simply because they are the best/only surgeon in the regoin that can perform certain procedures. The odds of them being actually being in the cinema on the night that they get called in might be slim, but they can not afford to unreacable should the need arise - and if someone was to die, or suffer undue lasting damage, becuase a cinema had blocked their phone you can be sure that there would be hell to pay.

I turn my phone off when i go to the cinema, cause i know any call i miss can be followed up without problems (though missing the GF ringing me after she had got mugged didn't go down too well...) but there are people in this world that do have important jobs, and do need to be contactable pretty much all the time. I'm not saying they should be standing up and shouting down the phone "I'M IN THE CINEMA, I'LL BE THERE AS SOON AS I CAN", but I do think they should be able to recieve calls/pages on a device that will simply vibrate to notify them - that way they can leave the cinema to check who was looking for them and for what. Them leaving the cinema in those circumstances are no worse then the people who get up to go to the toilet during a movie - so i see no reason why they should not be allowed the pleasure of going to cinema just because they just might get an important call.

Its the chavs, oiks and skangers that take their phones out to ring/text a friend that should get chucked out.

~Rebel~

I remember hearing on Matt Cooper's show that some hotels got in trouble over this, they used blockers so the people staying would have to use the ultra-expensive room landline. Like a fox! Not sure how they got nabbed.

Ph3n0m

Tauren wrote:

Its the chavs, oiks and skangers that take their phones out to ring/text a friend that should get chucked out.

Indeed

senordingdong

Tauren wrote:

I know for a fact there are surgeons that can be on call most of the time, .

'Most of the time' is not what was being debated.
The person I was talking to was trying to suggest a surgeon being on call 7 days a week, 52 weeks of the year.

Mitch Connor

senordingdong wrote:

'Most of the time' is not what was being debated.
The person I was talking to was trying to suggest a surgeon being on call 7 days a week, 52 weeks of the year.

Yeah - it was me.

I know of surgeons who would only not really be on call on their holidays - i know of surgeons, who work in dublin hospitals that could be called to do a surgery pretty much anytime, day or night, weekday or weekend. They may not technically be on call, but their skill set is such that there are certain cases that they would be called on first to operate within a particular region. These cases are rare, obviously, but they do happen - and i'd prefer them to be able to receive that call, even if they only get it once a year.

Peyton Manning

Well 99% of surgeons on call are alerted through a pager. Does this affect pagers as well?

afatbollix

id love for these to be installed... i work in a cinema and well 90% of times when i go into a screen someone is looking or on there phone.... i ask all of them to turn it off... i ussally get a smart reply back and a **** off... lucky we have security 24/7 when ever i go to see a film i tell people to turn it off... word of advice tell the staff... they will then give a warning to the person and if you go out again they will throw them out... always tell staff

Karl Hungus

I see absolutely no reason why mobile phone blockers should be used. It's down to the management/staff not enforcing rules, and chucking out scumbags who are on their phones, making a nuisance.

Hire a few nightclub bouncers I say, and have them just eject disruptive people. The problem would soon go away.

humanji

Karl Hungus wrote:

I see absolutely no reason why mobile phone blockers should be used. It's down to the management/staff not enforcing rules, and chucking out scumbags who are on their phones, making a nuisance.

Hire a few nightclub bouncers I say, and have them just eject disruptive people. The problem would soon go away.

But if they do that, then you'll be missing parts of the film as guys come in telling people to turn off their phones and are then told to f*ck off and a big argument starts. Prevention is better than cure.

mickoneill30

humanji wrote:

But if they do that, then you'll be missing parts of the film as guys come in telling people to turn off their phones and are then told to f*ck off and a big argument starts. Prevention is better than cure.

Nah. There'd be a couple of arguments to start with but if people got the message that if they were having a chat on their phone in the cinema that they'd be told (not asked) to leave then they'd stop answering their phones or at least walk out to the entrance.

senordingdong

mickoneill30 wrote:

Nah. There'd be a couple of arguments to start with but if people got the message that if they were having a chat on their phone in the cinema that they'd be told (not asked) to leave then they'd stop answering their phones or at least walk out to the entrance.

This would only sink in for regular cinema goers...none of the people I see on their phones during films seem to be regular cinema goers.

faceman

there was discussions held with the mobile operators in ireland about this and they rejected it obviously. The cinema chain in question didnt bother pursuing it after that.

Dacelonid

I work for a Telecoms company and we submitted a patent that would basically detect that you were in a cinema and if so wouldn't allow you to receive calls. It was rejected because it is against the law to interfere with frequencies licenced to another company. All frequency blockers/jammers etc are against the law, so too is broadcasting on a frequency that someone else has the licence for. Hence the discussions and debates about iTrip and the like.

What the cinemas should do, is have people in the cinema and if someone answers their phone and talks away, then throw them out. Give them their money back if need be. People would soon stop bringing their phones in

User45701

Dacelonid wrote:

I work for a Telecoms company and we submitted a patent that would basically detect that you were in a cinema and if so wouldn't allow you to receive calls. It was rejected because it is against the law to interfere with frequencies licenced to another company. All frequency blockers/jammers etc are against the law, so too is broadcasting on a frequency that someone else has the licence for. Hence the discussions and debates about iTrip and the like.

What the cinemas should do, is have people in the cinema and if someone answers their phone and talks away, then throw them out. Give them their money back if need be. People would soon stop bringing their phones in

why give them there money back?

mickoneill30

Here's a definite use for them

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20070905/turn-off-cell-phones-in-hospital-rooms?src=RSS_PUBLIC

In test mobiles caused incidents in many machines.

The 999 excuse or needing a surgeon to be on call is irrelevant as it's in a hospital. They've land lines and paging tannoys everywhere.

Gillo

mickoneill30 wrote:

The 999 excuse or needing a surgeon to be on call is irrelevant as it's in a hospital. They've land lines and paging tannoys everywhere.

Which is fine if the surgeon is in hospital, but not if they are "out & about". A surgeon is one example of people on call, Mountain Rescue, RNLI and (alot of the) Fire Service are on call 24/7/365.

I never turn my phone off when I go into the cinema; why? simple I have a 5 year old daughter, I don't think you'll find any parents here who do turn off their phones either. I simply put the phone on silent, if someone call's I discretly take it out and see who is calling if it's the babysitter, I go outside and then answer the call, if it's someone else I simply reject the call.

It's not far or practical to put a blanket block of mobile.

mickoneill30

gillo wrote:

Which is fine if the surgeon is in hospital, but not if they are "out & about". A surgeon is one example of people on call, Mountain Rescue, RNLI and (alot of the) Fire Service are on call 24/7/365.

If the blockers in the hospital and the surgeons out and about he won't be in range of the blocker will he?

Gillo

We are not talking about blockers in hospitals, but in cinema's.

mickoneill30

The post you replied to above was talking about a hospital.

BlitzKrieg

Hold up?

Can someone explain to me how its possible to make a 999 phonecall with 0 credit?


Cause if mobile phones are able to distinguish between the two services when one has no credit, then surely it must be possible to design a device that enforces a similer restriction when in a cinema?

The Bollox

gillo wrote:

I simply put the phone on silent, if someone call's I discretly take it out and see who is calling if it's the babysitter, I go outside and then answer the call, if it's someone else I simply reject the call

that's what I do as well. I don't turn off my phone just encase I do recieve an important call / text and if I do recieve an important call I leave the screen and answer the call

Karl Hungus

humanji wrote:

But if they do that, then you'll be missing parts of the film as guys come in telling people to turn off their phones and are then told to f*ck off and a big argument starts. Prevention is better than cure.

I'd disagree completely, because there's far more trouble at cinemas than people answering their phones. Get a preventative measure like mobile phone jammers, and we've still many nuisance cases like scumbags who love to make noise, throw stuff, and generally bother people.

Getting in a few bouncers to kick out troublemakers would be the only logical recourse in my opinion. Hell, if it's going to be so disruptive, stop the projector, bring up the house lights, and resume the film when the disruptive parties have been ejected from the premesis.

User45701

ye, i suppose but hiring bouncers for the cinemas with 17 odd screans would have a bit of a cost, thank god for my unlimited card

humanji

Karl Hungus wrote:

I'd disagree completely, because there's far more trouble at cinemas than people answering their phones. Get a preventative measure like mobile phone jammers, and we've still many nuisance cases like scumbags who love to make noise, throw stuff, and generally bother people.

But that's a different problem. There's also the sticky floors, the uncomfortable seats, dodgy sound in some screens, or out of focus projectors. All these sorts of things have to be sorted out to have a fully enjoyable time (and we'll just assume you're watching a good film too ). I was just saying that some sort of blocker would stop one problem, not that it'll stamp out all of them.

senordingdong

Yeah, Bouncers ftw.

Ishmael

mickoneill30 wrote:

Here's a definite use for them

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20070905/turn-off-cell-phones-in-hospital-rooms?src=RSS_PUBLIC

In test mobiles caused incidents in many machines.

Are you suggesting that they put them into hospitals? If the Mobile phones are affecting the machines due to EM signals then these things will more than likely affect them too and probably cause more problems than they'd solve.

mickoneill30

Ishmael wrote:

Are you suggesting that they put them into hospitals? If the Mobile phones are affecting the machines due to EM signals then these things will more than likely affect them too and probably cause more problems than they'd solve.

I'd presume they'd do this magical mystical procedure called testing.

Karl Hungus

humanji wrote:

But that's a different problem. There's also the sticky floors, the uncomfortable seats, dodgy sound in some screens, or out of focus projectors. All these sorts of things have to be sorted out to have a fully enjoyable time (and we'll just assume you're watching a good film too ). I was just saying that some sort of blocker would stop one problem, not that it'll stamp out all of them.

You see, I think it's the same problem. Someone who'd chat away on their phone in the cinema would be the same kind of jerk who'd be chatting away with their mates in the middle of the film, make some kind of running commentary, and annoy the **** out of everyone. It's all a case of disruptive people in the audience, and all of it would be sorted out if the cinema ejected those people.

Comparing the problem of disruptive patrons to sticky floors, or an out of focus projector is just being superfluous. Those are vastly different issues, wheras a disruptive patron is a disruptive patron, whether he's being a muppet on the phone, or a muppet off the phone, he's still a muppet, and still being disruptive.

Mitch Connor

Karl Hungus wrote:

I'd disagree completely, because there's far more trouble at cinemas than people answering their phones. Get a preventative measure like mobile phone jammers, and we've still many nuisance cases like scumbags who love to make noise, throw stuff, and generally bother people.

Getting in a few bouncers to kick out troublemakers would be the only logical recourse in my opinion. Hell, if it's going to be so disruptive, stop the projector, bring up the house lights, and resume the film when the disruptive parties have been ejected from the premesis.

My GF used to work in a cinema, and that is kinda what she used to do! The was a group of spannish students in one time, and they took seats that were not assigned to them, when the GF confronted the 'leader' over it he refused to move. So she stood in front of him and announced the movie would not go on until the people who had sat in seats that were not assigned to them had moved. It worked.

Karl Hungus

Tauren wrote:

My GF used to work in a cinema, and that is kinda what she used to do! The was a group of spannish students in one time, and they took seats that were not assigned to them, when the GF confronted the 'leader' over it he refused to move. So she stood in front of him and announced the movie would not go on until the people who had sat in seats that were not assigned to them had moved. It worked.

Excellent. I respect your girlfriend for doing that, and if more people working in cinemas and management took that approach, we wouldn't see half the problems that plague them.

Eoin

BlitzKrieg wrote:

Hold up?

Can someone explain to me how its possible to make a 999 phonecall with 0 credit?


Cause if mobile phones are able to distinguish between the two services when one has no credit, then surely it must be possible to design a device that enforces a similer restriction when in a cinema?

I think that mobiles have 112 and 999 programmed into them (and presumably 911 in the States etc) as emergency numbers, so they know not to worry about credit when dialing. Designing a phone that knows you're in a cinema could be harder.

As Dacelonid says there are legal issues with this, so it's not even the cinema's call whether or not to introduce it. While it would be good for a cinema, it would set a worrying precedent on where it would be considered OK to block a mobile phone. If restaurants, cafes etc introduced it then it could be a serious problem for many people who are on call, even if they're not "life and death" situations.

senordingdong

Karl Hungus wrote:

Excellent. I respect your girlfriend for doing that, and if more people working in cinemas and management took that approach, we wouldn't see half the problems that plague them.

I really don't mean to be part of the problem...but unfortunatly, your run of the mill cinema worker just doesn't care enough to go that extra mile half of the time.
I have to say that with an undertone of guilt because I used to work in a cinema myself.