Are there any normal devices which will block cell phone signals?

Factual Questions
1

PLEASE NO DISCUSSION OF ILLEGAL CELL PHONE BLOCKERS.

Sometimes electronic devices will interfer with each other in their normal operation. Like if I put my cell phone close to my computer speaker I will hear a buzzing. Are there any normal devices which would disable the wireless signal if placed near a cell phone? For example, a cordless phone? A router? CB Radio? etc.

Sometimes when we are having dinner the kids spend the whole time texting. I want to make sure I don’t put any devices near the dining room table that would interrupt their signal wink, wink.

This would be for T-Mobile.

PLEASE NO DISCUSSION OF ILLEGAL CELL PHONE BLOCKERS.

2

Tinfoil wallpaper. However, we have always found parental authority is an effective signal blocker.

Si

3

As si_blakely said, I think the better method is to just have the kids turn them off or leave them in their rooms. Having said that, I don’t think their is any device (that you’re going to acquire from your house) that’s going to disrupt a cell signal short of a faraday cage.

4

You could tape a rare earth magnet under the table at each of their places.

Wait, did you want the phones to work again later? Then I’ve got nothin’. . .

5

I turned off the main breaker at my house a few times. Resulting in candle light dinners, no blaring tv, and no phones (the old portables required electricity).

Had some great family conversation, went to bed early & cuddled with the wife. Good times

Can’t do it very often or you’ll get caught.

6

Dad, why’s my knife stuck to the table?

I bought a bunch of rare earth magnets a few months ago. I was carrying them in my sweatshirt pocket since that seemed like a good place to keep them out of harms way…until I walked past the kitchen table and several knives turned towards me (including the sharp one I used to open the box they came in). Didn’t do that again.

7

Seriously? You can’t just ban their phones at the dinner table? Why be passive aggressive about it?

8

This is GQ. Please leave personal insults in another forum.

9

I understand now. I’ll be on my way. Thanks for the answer.

10

You must have been within a few millimeters of the knives? Rare earth magnets are very powerful but have a very short ‘range’.

11

I fail to see the ‘personal insult’ here.

By the way, you already have a ‘device’ that will interrupt their signal. It’s your voice. Use it to say “Turn your phone OFF during dinner”.

12

I’d use a combination of Scary Dad Voice (slapping the table for emphasis)…

and bribery. “Hey, there’s ice cream for anyone who doesn’t bring their phone to the table”.

13

I’m also failing to see how that’s a personal insult. You are the parent, it’s your home and your table, off of which the children are eating your food. Simply declare “There are no cell phones allowed at the table.”, and your problem should be solved.

14

Chicken wings, sticky ribs, sugared donuts, and the food that can only be eaten messily with the fingers. After a short while, the phones will be rendered inert.

15

Come on, guys don’t add further insult to injury. It’s clear that filmore, is doing the **best he can **as a parent. Some people just aren’t cut out for being an authority figure to their kids.

16

I like this approach. Add maybe cotton candy, and eat outside after a generous application of DEET laden insect repellent to melt the plastic parts.

17

All righty then, I’ve got a question for this thread.

I have coworkers, all at equal levels to me that I have no authority over, that are using cellphones in our meetings and being disruptive. I have no authority over them, so I cannot make them leave their cellphones at their desks. Seeing as there is no one available with any authority to make people leave their cellphones, is there a legal way I can block them? Given that I do not have any authority over them because of our equal rank, they have no authority to get me in trouble for using such a device. Did I mention I have no authority to make them stop physically bringing their cellphones?

Every time someone on the Dope ignores the original question for pedantics, Cecil kills a smart person.

18

As noted above, in the US (and most other jurisdictions) active cell phone blocking is illegal, for good reasons. So there is no legal way to block the use of cell phones.

And in the case of a meeting, surely it is up the the chairperson or the person who called the meeting to manage disruptive participants. This isn’t pedantry, or avoiding the question. Inappropriate cell phone use is a social issue, not a technical one, and there are few technical solutions, and they are used rarely. For example, how should prisons prevent prisoners from using illegal cell-phones? I don’t have a problem with blockers being deployed to cover the prison, but prison staff and visitors may object on safety or personal grounds. Perhaps local cells should be installed to intercept all traffic in the environs of the prison, and block all but registered devices. However, these solutions can impact other external network users (radio networks are not clearcut and cannot be closely restricted to a specific area), and so there is considerable resistance to their use.

Si

19

The answer is: most probably not. A portable device that accidentally blocks phones is likely to be prohibited for the same reasons as a device that does it purposely.

That said. It sounds like it should be fairly simple to excel in your job, compared to your colleagues - and once thus promoted over them, the means to control the problem will be in your hands…

20

But the scenario in this situation is irrelevant. The OP doesn’t want to know other methods of controlling cellphone use, he wants to know if there is a legal device to do so. If he was looking for general ways to stop cellphone use by his kids, he’s go into IMHO and ask people what they do. He has a specific thing in mind, and that’s what his general question is. The answers about non-device ways to stop the usage are irrelevant and useless to the OP.