Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cell

How can I find out if my employer is using a cell phone jamming device?

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:39:30 -0800

I suspect my employer has installed a cell phone jamming device . How do I find it if they have? At the risk of sounding like a paranoid kook - I suspect that my employer may have set up an electronic device to interfere with cell phone usage at my place of work. As of a few days ago, in a very specific area of my building radiating out of one point about 25 feet, all cell phone signals go to one bar or zero out completely. The loss/severe reduction in signal affects both CDMA and GSM phones. If you step beyond the threshold of a separating wall, the signal returns full force.

Is there a feasible way to find out if there is a cell phone jammer being used in this area?

he can't feel it kick; can he at least see it?

samsarah — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:37:07 -0800

Pre-paid/pay-as-you-go cell phone solely for picture messaging? My brother and his girlfriend are currently separated by most of the length of California. She is 6 months pregnant, and they will likely not see each other again until right before the baby is born. She would like to text him pictures of her growing belly while they are apart.

Catch: Due to ridiculous circumstances I won't go into, my brother CAN NOT get picture messages on his phone. This is not something that can be changed. At all. He also does not have a computer and will not use email. This will also never change.

So, I'd like to send him, as a gift, a pre-paid cell phone or some other relatively inexpensive device on which he can get pictures of his baby growing. I know next to nothing about these things, and after looking through the previous threads still have the following questions:

1. Are there pre-paid phones that can get picture messages? He will never need to talk on it, or even text on it. Just pictures.
2. If so, does anyone have experience with a good phone and/or carrier?
3. General information on good pay-as-you-go carriers?
4. Any other magic solution that will get pictures of that belly to my brother?

THANK YOU!

Buying Used Phone Quandry

readery — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:54:25 -0800

Can a phone used with AT&T as a service provider then be used with T-Mobile? What does unlocked even mean? I prefer buying used phones or cheaper phones for kids, as they are hard on them. It seems each week there are new features and options, but we have a plain phone plan for calls and texting.
Thanks!

Smartphones + Groupwise = What Rocks?

puritycontrol — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:45:33 -0800

I'd like your input on choosing a smartphone. The biggest priority is access to my email and calendar on Groupwise. I strongly prefer a physical keyboard, also. I've checked previous posts on smartphones, which have good advice, but don't address my biggest concern. I would like to know which platform (Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Android, etc) will allow me the easiest access to my email and calendar on Groupwise 7 (soon to be upgraded to 8). My university has BES, which I gather will sync email and calendar, so I'm curious about my other options.

I currently have an LG Vu and love having a touchscreen -- I find it more efficient to press one thing than have to scroll to get what I want. But I hate typing on it. I've actually grown to dislike typing on it more and more as time goes on. Granted, it has a rather small screen and smartphones tend to have larger screens, but I was still unimpressed when I typed on an iPhone. Therefore, I would much rather prefer to have a physical keyboard -- unless Groupwise access on an iPhone is light years better than anything out there. Then I might reconsider.

Access to email and calendar would be a huge convenience for me. I am not a power mobile emailer or texter by any means. All this talk about apps does nothing for me. Google Navigation piqued my interest but is not a necessity (already have a GPS). Web browsing would really only take place when I'm bored waiting in line or if I needed to look up the answer to a random question that pops into mind while out and about.

I'm on AT&T and I'm eligible for an upgrade in a month. My contract is up in May, so I would have to wait until then if I want to switch carriers. However, from what I gather, I'd have to pay more for our family plan on Verizon and Sprint; T-Mobile would be the same price. Therefore I would prefer to stay on AT&T because the addition of a data plan is already going to put a li'l dent in our budget.

So right now it looks like the frontrunners are the Tilt 2 and the BlackBerry Bold 9700. Because I've recently moved to a rural area, I have only been able to handle dummies of new phones. The Bold 9700 felt like velvety heaven in my hand, the DROID's keyboard was way too stiff, and I wasn't fond of the Pre's keys either. The N900 looks nice but I simply cannot afford to buy it unlocked.

Sorry for the long post -- you'd think I was asking relationship advice (I guess I am, kinda). Thanks in advance.

Dual sim chip cell phone

Juicylicious — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:08:13 -0800

Please help me figure out what brand/type of cell phone to get. I am in Qatar. I need to get a dual sim chip cell phone to use for the next year. Unfortunately, electronics here are very expensive. I would like to purchase one online and stay under $150.

I've seen quite a few dual sim phones on ebay, but they are all associated with a cell service, i.e. T Mobile. Can those phones work in Qatar? Do I just look for an "unlocked" phone that holds two sim chips?

Any recommendations on a phone with a qwerty keyboard, dual band, dual chip?

If you were a G1, and you were born today, what cell phone would you be?

Greg Nog — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:10:38 -0800

I would like to buy a nice new cell phone with a physical keyboard to replace a broken G1. Please help me with any knowledge about the Droid or the Cliq or any other suggestions you may have! So my G1 recently died a horrible death, and although I quite liked both the phone itself and the Android OS, I'm wary about getting another G1 to replace it, given the age of the product.

I liked the G1 mainly for the easy access to my gmail account, the web browsing, and the easy access to Google Maps, which I used pretty much daily and which I was utterly delighted by, whenever they added new bells and whistles to it.

I've looked into the Droid (which seems like a nicely high-tech update), but I find typing on the keyboard to be unpleasant; the keys are all flat and flush, leading me to accidentally push buttons I didn't mean to press with my GIANT APE FINGERS. Is there some way I could mod these with, like, a tiny dab of clear epoxy on the center of each key to lift and separate them? (I realize this sounds like a five-year-old's solution to the problem, but that's generally how I roll in this lifetime.)

Another alternative might be the Cliq, but if my basic research is right, it's on the earlier iteration of the Android OS, yes? Will it be updated to Android 2.0? The keyboard looks much better on the Cliq, although I don't really care about all the social apps and whatnot that it seems to excel at. And if all I want is an old iteration of Android with a comfy keyboard, wouldn't I be better off getting the cheaper G1?

I'm also receptive to a caution that I should just wait; that soon enough, some new Android device will stroll along to replace the Droid, and that it may well have a better keyboard and physical push-buttons on the front.

I'm out of my t-mobile contract now (FREE, FREE), so I'm happy to switch to any carrier that will do a nice job of being good to me.

Should I buy a mobile phone in Mexico?

Admira — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:03:03 -0800

Can I buy a mobile phone in Mexico and use it in Australia? Hi All!

I'm headed to Mexico next year and was wondering if I could pick up a phone in Mexico and use it here when I get back to Australia?

I've got no idea if they are cheaper there than here, but if so I'd be tempted. Things that worry me are network compatability, and also getting a charger for it here.

Any advice around this is much appreciated! Thanks!

My Mom won't be around forever... preparation help.

Swede78 — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:18:17 -0800

My mom was diagnosed with Small-Cell Lung Cancer about a month ago. Her prognosis is not so good... her doctor is estimating one to two years with chemo. Last night, my mom and siblings got together to discuss her wishes, wills, money, etc. Unfortunately, there are still issues that were left unresolved. In fact, I feel like we left with more questions than answers. The biggest issue that she's having a hard time deciding is what to do with her money. She was working full-time up until a few months ago when she was laid off. Work has been immensly stressful for her for the past several years. I tried many many times to get her to find something else or just stop working so much. But, she's very stubborn, and just doesn't think of herself first. I believe the stress caused the cancer, because she's not even a smoker. Anyway, my point is that she has very little income now, but managed to build up a small savings. She was contemplating using most of the money to pay into her mortgage so that she can stop paying PMI. Another reason is that she believes that by not having that money in her bank account will allow her to qualify for assistance. This is where we're kind of unsure of how it really works. I can't imagine such a loophole would exist. My siblings and I believe she should hang on to the money and use it to make her life as comfortable and stress-free as possible. But, I can understand that she wouldn't want it all sucked away by medical bills either. She isn't rich, and neither is the rest of our family, so we want to make the best financial decisions possible. I'm not sure who we can ask about this without making it obvious that we're looking for a loophole. Let me stress that she's not looking to commit fraud here, but just a way to maximize her benefits in a legal way.

So, some questions I have...

1) Should she hang on to her savings to use for living expenses, or use it to pay mortgage and remove PMI monthly payments, and possibly allow her to qualify for assistance? My thinking here is that cash is king, so hang on to it. But, would like some opinions.

2) She wishes to be cremated, and does not want a big funeral service. (She has very few friends around and only immediate family). What costs should we budget for or expect from a cremation and maybe a small funeral service?

3) Since she wants to live in her current home, what's the best way to deal with selling it? We don't know exactly how long she has, and even if we did, we don't know how fast her house would sell. My first thought is to deal with it after she passes away, so that she can be as comfortable as possible. But, not only does she worry about the burden of us selling it, but I have to admit that it worries me too in this economy. I certainly can't afford two mortgages and either can my siblings.

4) More specific to her type of cancer, what can I expect her quality of life after chemo and in the end? I assume that after her chemo (I believe 6 months of it), that she will begin to regain strength and will have a more or less normal life. But, I know the cancer will eventually catch up with her. What happens then? Is it sudden? Is it months of pain and suffering? Will she need 24/7 care? What will she not be able to do on her own?

5) I was thinking that we'd use a website like legal zoom to handle a will and living will. I hope that she can avoid paying a lawyer $400/hr for this and any other advice that we can find elsewhere. Is it a bad idea to not involve a lawyer?

6) Also, maybe a dumb question, but why can't they simply continue chemo when it does eventually come back?

Prepaid iPhone data plan in Mumbai?

jesseendahl — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:40:15 -0800

Hi, I will be living in Mumbai for 11 weeks next summer. I have an unlocked iPhone 3G. What is my best bet in terms of carrier and plan for the cheapest and most reliable data access? I plan to do local calls over the cell phone voice network and international calls via Skype on the iPhone. Thanks in advance!

Trying to flash a W595 Sony Ericsson (A2) based Phone but can't get it working

complience — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:25:21 -0800

Trying to flash a W595 Sony Ericsson (A2) based Phone but can't get it working I want to flash the preinstalled firmware on my Sony Ericsson Phone because it has some branding I don't want and some restrictions on apps I want to install (google maps)

I've tried various tools to try and achieve this:
Aerix
SeTool
D-Ultimate unlocker

I can connect to the device via usb, selecting mass storage mode, while holding down buttons 2 + 5

But all of them give me the same error regarding the boot method selected, I'm not sure if I need to start the phone in a different way to get the correct BOOT sector or if i need different software.

13:52:48 Initializing...
! 13:52:48 1. Please see the documentation first (the tab 'Info' or attached .pdf file)
! 13:52:48 2. Choose the phone model
! 13:52:48 3. Select the desired options
! 13:52:48 4. Please connect the phone either via USB while holding 2-5…
! 13:52:48 - or via a serial cable and double-click on it in the device list
13:52:56 Selected phone: W910
13:52:56 Connecting via SEMC USB Flash Device (USB2)…
13:52:56 Device driver version: 2.2.0.0
13:52:56 Device driver date: 9-18-2008
13:52:56 Connecting to the baseband CPU...
13:52:56 Entering baseband CPU service mode...
13:52:57 Detected chipset: DB3150 R2A
13:52:57 Boot mode: EROM
13:52:57 EROM version: 1200-4341 SEMCBOOT R6A013
E 13:52:57 Error: 0x889C690F
E 13:52:57 Unsupported boot mode
! 13:52:57 Please boot via ROM
E 13:52:57 Failed!

Ditch the Cell

Benzle — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:01:24 -0800

Just finally got my Google Voice account! I have been using Skype for a long time, and now with google voice I am finally ready to get rid of the cell phone all together. BUT, can anyone recommend a good piece of hardware, (The iPod Touch comes to mind) that I can use "like" a cell phone, with minimal tweaking, where wifi is available. A netbook would work, but a little big, can you hook up a mic to any Palm or anything? Thanks everyone.

best service provider in oregon

slograffiti — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:54:52 -0800

what cell phone service provider will have the best coverage in Portland, Oregon. i'm moving and my verizon plan is almost up, and i want to know if i should renew that or if other providers have better service in the area.

What does this High Pitched Noise mean? Am I a Dog?

bluefly — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:06:22 -0800

I just bought a charger for my cellphone at Target. It's not the special manufacturer's brand, but an after market one that costs half of what the Sprint store chargers cost. When I plugged it into the wall, it started making a high pitched noise. I haven't plugged the other end of the charger into my phone for fear of ruining it. Is this normal? Is my charger bad? Thanks.

Cheap cell phone plan for three months in US

Busoni — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:55:01 -0800

Looking for a cheap pay-as-you-go or pre-paid plan, to use until the end of December. I have a Motrola Razr (v3r, or something like it, as I recall), which I used to use with T-Mobile, although I'm not opposed to buying a cheap phone for the interim (although it'd have to very cheap). What are my options? I might go through the entire week without making a call, or if I'm out, maybe three calls max. I'm not interested in texting.

How many chars SMS can I send from Fido to Bell?

ImaginaryFriend — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:30:31 -0800

How long of an SMS message can I send, if my phone is on Fido, and the recipient is on Bell? 140 characters? 160? How long of an SMS message can I send, if my phone is on Fido, and the recipient is on Bell? 140 characters? 160? Does it matter what kinds of phones or accounts we have? I have a... uh.... sensitive message I want to send to someone. It's 153 characters and I don't want it to get cut off....

Am I smart to buy this dumbphone... or not?

Unicorn on the cob — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:44:42 -0800

I'm thinking about buying the Sonim XP3. Does anyone here own one or know someone that does? Asking primarily because I'll have to order it online; the only store carrying it is on back order and I can't futz with it before buying. As someone who notoriously destroys things quickly and frequently, I can't see any reason not to spend more money on a dumbphone that has an awesome warranty and is virtually indestructible. I already have a Blackberry for Web access, don't IM on the go and abhor video games of all kinds. I'm really just looking for a contract-free Unicorn-proof phone; I'm happy with my tertiary devices, but have gone through a score of cheap, crappy, annoying contract-bound phones through AT&T.

If it matters, my current contract runs out a year from now with AT&T.

Please do not try to convince me to get an iPhone; I've already had one and sold it because I hate the touch interface and already own an iPod and a Blackberry for music/browser stuff, but the GPS feature would be nice to have.

Anyone own one of these things? Personal experiences? Negatives? Positives? Thank you in advance!

Time for Iphone Funeral?

dealing away — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:30:30 -0800

So we now have 2 non-functioning Iphone 3Gs, both not working because of charging issues. What can we do with them? - # 1 Iphone 3G is not working because my 2 yr old daughter yanked the charger cable out of the phone. This cause the charging pins in the Iphone, which normally look like a straight row, to become crooked, bent or some pins missing. Needless to say, it won't charge anymore. It's past the warranty, and even when it was, I took it to the Apple store and they said it wasn't covered in the warranty anyways. What can we do with this one?

# 2 Iphone 3G is not working because it will not charge. This Iphone worked perfectly, no problems, but one day, it did not recognize the charger. At first I thought something happened to my charger, so I tried other people's chargers, but to no avail. There is no water damage. I just went over the 1 yr warranty a month ago, so no help there. I live in Maui, so the closest Apple Store is in Honolulu and I'm not going there anytime soon. I called Apple support, they said warranty is over, so no help there. I once had an Ipod that would not charge in a similar way, and I took it to the Apple Store where they did a 'potent special charge' and it brought that Ipod back to life. If that's what happened, how can I get a similar experience like that again? There is an AT&T store here, should I ask them about it? Any ideas? I miss my Iphone....

- Purchasing new/used ones is not really an option. Trying to pay off debts...

- Should we sell it? Is that a market for non-functioning Iphones?

- If we do sell it, how can we be sure that all our info that's inside the phones won't be compromised if someone somehow restores it?

Thanks in advance. We're lost here on this issue.

"Cancelled" your phone call

Jimmie — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:48:31 -0800

If someone calls my mobile, and instead of pressing a button to answer it I press the one that mutes/silence/stop their call (such as if it's vibrating or ringing, and I can't or don't want to answer it)... do they know that I've deliberately muted/silenced their call or will it keep on ringing along merrily for them until voicemail voice kicks in?

Excel: How can I decide which cell to apply to a formula, based on the runtime contents of another cell?

Flunkie — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:23:57 -0800

Excel: How can I decide which cell to apply to a formula, based on the runtime contents of another cell? For example, let's say I have column A filled with a bunch of values. In any given cell of column B, I want to display the value of the adjacent A-cell minus the value of some other A cell, a bit further down the column. But I don't know exactly how far down the column when I'm designing the spreadsheet, so I have another cell, C1, which tells me how far down.

So, if C1 has value 1, then B1 should be A1-A2, B2 should be A2-A3, and B3 should be A3-A4.

But if C1 has value 10, then B1 should be A1-A11, B2 should be A2-A12, and B3 should be B3-B13.

I'm imagining something like setting B1 to "A1-CELLATADDRESS(A, 1+$C$1))".

SMSEmail

spacefire — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 21:50:39 -0800

Is there a good, free and reliable email-SMS client that allows two way communication via SMS? I am with At&t and I already get SMS notifications for emails to my Gmail account, as well as Facebook notifications and also use Google mobile for queries. But I want to be able to send emails to people as text messages. I tried one free service, can't remember its name, but the reply feature never worked from my phone, so I canceled.

HTC Touch Pro

Zeker — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:45:12 -0800

Questions about HTC Raphael phones... My goal: I have AT&T, want to upgrade my phone and NOT renew my contract.

My interest: HTC Raphael, HTC Touch Pro, HTC PPC 6850, HTC XV6850, HTC Touch Pro T7272.

Question: Are those phones the exact same thing??! Or is it just cosmetics that differ? In other words, if I buy the Sprint version of the phone, can I unlock it and use it with AT&T, even with customized ROM? Or do I need to purchase a specific one of these?

Side notes: any suggestions on where I can get unlocked phones for cheap? Or suggestions on a phone that's about as good as this one?

Help me sell stuff knowledgably

dance — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:03:33 -0800

I'm about to start work in an electronics shop (mobile phones, hifis, computers etc) and would love some tips. I want to make the transition as smooth as possible both for myself and my trainer. I haven't kept up to date with developments in the IBM-PC hardware area for a number of years as I now a mac and therefore lost interest. My Windows and Mac software knowledge is fine. But what about all the new acronyms and developments in the HiFi, gaming, TV, home cinema worlds? Does anyone have any reference that will help me be a good salesman?

And if anyone has any general tips for working in this field I would be grateful.

Thanks!

How can I forward a call to two cell phones?

PercussivePaul — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:05:53 -0800

My new apartment's buzzer works by dialing a phone number. My girlfriend and I both live in the apartment. We each have cell phones, no land line, and the buzzer will only accept one number. What should we do? Options:
1. Get a land line for the apartment. Don't want to because it would cost money and we'd have no other use for it.

2. Route to one of our phones. This should work fine under normal circumstances but what if the chosen person is not home, and their phone is dead? We could make it work but it has the potential to be inconvenient.

3. Both our cell phones ring, and whoever picks up first answers the call. I think this is the ideal solution but I have no idea how to implement this since the system apparently can't do it on its own. There must be services out there that would let us do this. Anything reliable, cheap, and available in Vancouver BC? (Both of us have cell service from Telus and have basic simple phones.)

A good quad-band phone for Europe?

ninotchka — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:22:58 -0800

What's a good quad-band, GSM, UMTS-compatible, QWERTY-keyboard phone to take to Europe? I'm going to the Netherlands soon for nine months, and am keen to find a good phone (or rather, a shell) to take with me. The plan is to buy a Dutch Sim card upon arrival and recharge with gusto, yielding an affordable telephone solution. The basics of what I want (or at least what I, in my admitted uninformitude, *think* that I want!):

1. GSM: As you can imagine!

2. Quad band: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 mHZ bands. I'll be doing a great deal of traveling, and having all four bands would save a lot of headache later, for instance, when I come back to the States.

3. Unlocked: I'd like to be able to swap up Sim cards when I get there, as you can imagine.

4. Euro Power! Comes with a 220v/European/Eurocompatible charger: don't want to have to buy one separately.

5. No Camera: I really don't want or need a camera in my phone. If it made no real difference in price, I suppose I wouldn't care, but beyond that, a camera is not a plus for me.

6. Keyboard: It might be nice to have a small QWERTY keyboard and texting capabilities. I always prefer sending something text to calling someone, since I'm an incorrigible, irascible hermit!

7. Shape/Durability: Durability definitely matters, so nothing peculiarly fragile, but beyond that I'm not picky. As far as shape I do think I might like a 'slider' shape, but either slider or clamshell is fine. 'Bar' shaped phones are a no-go.

8. UMTS-Compatibility: Ideally, I'd like to be able to link into UMTS (3G) in Europe. However, I don't know much about whether a card that is running a bought Sim card can, well, fully access UMTS/3G (would I need to buy a special Sim?).

9. Portability Not an Issue: Weight, size and shape aren't terribly important factors to me. I currently carry a i560, which is a rubber-encased, bright yellow hockey puck (that I adore), so I'm not wedded to any particular aesthetic.

Any advice that any of you can give as to what to buy - or positive/negative experiences in Europe with phones like the one I'm hinting at above - would be great. Thanks, all!

Can you hear me now? NO I CANNOT BECAUSE I HAVE A TRACFONE.

headnsouth — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:11:53 -0800

Please hope me! The Tracfone I just bought to replace a broken AT&T phone will only allow emergency calls. My son broke the screen on his at&t phone a while back, and guys at two separate at&t stores told me I could just pick up a tracfone and switch out the sim cards no problem. So I picked up a tracfone and switched out the sim cards and the screen reads "sim lock code-1: emergency."

The phone comes with 10 minutes of setup time/support. Since I don't want to pay-as-I-go but rather use the at&t contract I'm already paying for, I don't want to register with tracfone and use those minutes. It also comes with an "activation card," with which you register that phone's serial number with tracfone. I haven't done that either, as again I don't want a tracfone account.

I've searched online but I'm frankly overwhelmed by all the technical information out there, and I'm sure that this is a simple thing that I'm just not getting. Is there an unlock code or something? How can I get this phone to work?