Recently it has come to my attention that a phenomenon which I thought was common, apparently is not. Starting about 2 years ago, an electronic popping noise would come from my cell phone right before it rang. I didnt think much of it. I also noticed that the electronic popping noise would occur before my home phone would ring. Now this noise is still occurring in my house, but it comes from all sorts of electronics and does not necessarily precede a ringing phone, it just occurs randomly for no apparent reason. My alarm clock, lap top, and stereo have all made this noise. Recently, it has started to emanate, very loudly i might add, from the television. My roommate commented on it, asked why it was doing that, and said she had heard that noise before in my room. I have mentioned it to some of my friends and they don’t know what I am talking about. I would hope this noise is not happening only to me. It has occurred in both my mom’s house when I am there and the house I live in. I thought maybe it had something to do with my wireless provider (Cingular Wireless). What causes this noise? Why doesnt everyone experience it?
Do you live beneath power lines? I’m thinking of an electrical field created building up until a ground path is created but I really don’t know what I’m talking about and I’m only keeping your question bumped until somebody who knows what he/she’s talking about shows up.
By the way, welcome to the SDMB. May everybody else her be more helpful than I. 
Thanks for the welcome dropzone. No, there arent any powerlines above my house, but thanks for the guess. I want to get to the bottom of this mytery, because frankly its starting to freak me out! A note to other posters, if you cant explain this, but at least know what I’m talking about, please respond… so at least I don’t feel like i’m going crazy! 
Cell phones can and do produce this type of audible interference in various types of electronic devices, most particularly, those with audio circuitry. Most of the time, you’ll notice these sounds just before the phone rings. The reason this happens is aprtly due to the way the cellular network works. When someone calls you, the cellular network goes to work tracking you down. Without going into the boring details, suffice it to say that the towers in your area send out a signal to your phone, telling it that a call is incoming. Before ringing, the phone sends an acknowledgement signal back to the nearest tower(s), in effect saying “here I am!”. It is this acknowledgement signal that you usually hear coming through the speakers of the affected electronics nearby. The network also periodically sends out “where are you?” signals to the phones, and each one that receives it sends back a “here I am!” reply, that you might also hear from the affected devices. Some phones, particularly analog phones, or those in weak-signal areas, send a fairly strong signal out that can even affect devices with no audio circuitry. Worst of all are certain phones with two-way direct transmitting capability, like Nextel™ phones. The output from these in operation can even affect the picture on a TV or computer monitor at close range.
Almost definitely mobile (cell) phone interference.
Someone near your house has a “noisy” phone. When I lived on a busy road I’d get it constantly from passing traffic. You could go to the window and see people hunting for their phone in their cars as it rang.
Clicks, pops, and chirps in electronic equipment caused by cell phones are quite common. Amplified computer speakers are particularly vulnerable. You’ll find several threads on this topic if you do a search.
Have you ever noticed a change in the brightness of your lights corresponding with any of these pops? Sometimes you’ll get glitches as the power company switches things on and off the line.
Electronics also have a tendency to act as “accidental” radio receivers. You think popping noises are bad? Some people actually hear voices out of their computer speakers and clock radios.
Can cell phones affect an ice maker in the refrigerator? Mine makes those popping noises, usually in the morning. The weird thing is that when I go to investigate the noise stops, only to start up again when I leave the room. The noises are not ice dropping into the ice bucket, as I easily recognize that particular sound.
And TVs do pick up signals from other electronic equipment nearby. It’s rather odd to be watching TV and suddenly have it annouce, “You are cleared for takeoff!”
When our refrigerator makes popping noises, it is the auto-defrost cycle kicking in. “Frost free” refrigerators still frost up, it’s just that the frost is kept in areas where you can’t see it. Heaters melt off the frost, and popping noises (and sometimes hissing) ensue.