Who cares? Maybe the guy who had a heart attack, or the people trapped by a fire, or the police officer who is trying to deal with a disturbance and needs backup NOW.
Are telephones in a theater such a big deal in the US? Here in the UK, I’ve been in countless movies and have never encountered a single telephone ringing.
You’ve got it totally ass-backwards.
Basically, what you’re telling me is that you’re coming into my place of business EXPECTING to be able to talk on your phone.
You can naturally come into a building I own and take your own personal phone calls?
That’s the NORM, and if the situation is otherwise, then I need to notify you, or my ass is yours?
I wondered how the OP came up with that “self-absorbed putz” line?
You don’t own the airwaves. They’re public property, administered by the FCC for the public’s benefit.
If you don’t like people with cell phones, you are free to eject them, and their dollars, from your property.
Yes, as a matter of fact I do expect to take personal calls within a business/building you own.
Now while I agree that talking on the telephone in a movie theater, concert hall, or other entertainment venue is rude, crass and the people who do this should have a phonal lobotomy, I think talking on a cell phone in Malls, restaurants, parks, bars, and other such places is perfectly acceptable. If it’s a place where personal conversation is acceptable, then I feel a cell phone conversation is equally acceptable.
If the theater is on fire, most likely the room with the jammer in it burned away. 
Easy. Landlines, or turn the thing off in an emergency. How often does the scenario you suggested actually happen to an individual theater? Every few years?
Most people don’t want to take the risk of making things even worse than they are. I’ve see that happen personally. Your experiences aren’t everyone else’s. That being said, going to the management/usher is always a viable option if one feels like direct confrontation won’t work.
That is, of course, assuming they’d do anything. Heh. For me, it’s just case by case and I would never assume that the person “didn’t have the balls”.
Seriously. Does no one realize the irony in the commotion made in order to tell someone to shut the fuck up?
That wouldn’t work. Landlines are not a replacement for a radio. The EMT may need to use radio telemetry or talk to a doctor at an emergency medical center. The police officer needs to be in constant contact with his dispatcher and other officers. Turning it off only works if the people affected know they are being jammed and there is always a responsible person on the scene who can immediately shut it off.
Just because something’s over the airwaves doesn’t mean you can just do it any place you want. You can’t take a radio into a restaurant just because the FCC controls the airwaves. Even if it’s at a conversational level.
And the problem is, GunsNSpot believes that the default case is that he should have service in my place of business, and if he doesn’t he’s going to goose me, or anal rape me, or whatever the fuck he means by “your ass is mine.”
If I owned a bar, yeah, I might allow people to talk on cel phones in it, but you all are acting like that’s just the default scenario “I can talk on my phone anywhere, and you better warn me if I can’t”. It shows just how damn far the self-absorption has spread.
Like I said, how often does this situation you describe actually happen? I would hope a manager would be able to go flip off a switch in event of emergency. If not, giving them the ability to do so would solve the problem.
Yeah, I blame the cell phone companies myself (“can you hear me now” POS). Verizon maded me super pissed when I saw that commerical when the guy was taking an elevator. Cells CANNOT work within an elevator shaft unless there’s a repeater in place (and if there’s a repeater just for the shaft, you’re going to get a perfect signal!)
I’d love it if business operators started removing cell repeaters inside their buildings. I don’t use my cell in “do or die” situations and neither should anyone else unless you’re willing to pay for a missed call (or 10).
Not to mention all the fucking radiowaves bouncing all over the place.
<shudder>
How often would you like it to happen?
Fires are relatively rare, but we have fire codes, fire inspectors, alarm systems, and other things to try to prevent them and limit damage to property and loss of life.
Deaths from heart attacks are not rare, and many of them occur in public places. I’ve seen several of them myself while out in public.
My point is to assess the actual impact of the jammer. You could tell me how Godzilla would come wreck the place, and no one could ever get in touch with the authorities, but I want actual numbers. I think these situations are few and far between.
I did some rough calculations, and about 1300 people suffer a heart attack while watching a movie in a theater per year in the USA. About half of those will die. So about four a day.
Sure, there are twits out there who take cellphone calls and speak loudly in places they shouldn’t be. But why should you cut off my cellphone service because of these turkeys?
If someone calls me when I’m in the theater, you’ll never even know about it. The phone will quietly vibrate on my belt. I’ll look at the caller ID to see if it’s on my short list of people I’d interrupt the movie for. If so, I’ll go to the back of the room (I always sit on an aisle because of my long legs anyway) and listen to the voice mail. Again, nobody can hear this, because I don’t have to say anything. If the voice mail sounds urgent, I’ll go out in the lobby and call back. And I’m perfectly capable of talking on the cellphone quietly.
What right do you have to take that ability away from me just because some other person behaved rudely?
I listen to people squawk about cellphones in restaurants, too, and I just don’t get it. Everybody is talking in the restaurant. Some of them are loud, and should be asked to quiet down. Others are speaking in a normal voice. Why does it bother you if they’re speaking into a phone, a headset, or to the person across from them. Sheesh. Get a life.
Um, I know you worked for a telecom, but my cell works in my university’s elevator shafts just fine. And I know the state didn’t spring for repeaters to be installed. Moreover, my phone works fine in the malls near me, the retail establishments around here (even mine, which I know for a fact doesn’t have a repeater), and pretty much everywhere else, so I am questioning the source of your assertion. In fact, the only place I go regularly without cell service is a specific building on my campus – this building has 1-foot-thick concrete walls and 2-foot-thick concrete ceilings/floors, and is partially sunk into the ground. The phone doesn’t work in any of the rooms, but in the hallways with windows it works fine. My phone even worked fine on the mezzanine levels of most train stations in Manhattan, so maybe you have outdated information?
As to the legal status of these jammers, I refer y’all to my post earlier today on the topic: