London theatergoers: "Jam our phones"
Losing reception can be a downright nerve-wracking experience for some of us, but if there's one place no one wants to hear a ring -- much less take a call -- we have to believe it's in live theater. It really comes as no surprise then that a recent poll conducted among theatergoers in London suggests that a full 72 percent would like to see jamming equipment installed to prevent calls from interrupting performances (if anything, we're surprised it's not higher). For the record, said equipment is currently illegal in the UK, but support is growing to legalize it for these kinds of environments. If it can all go down without jeopardizing legit signals, we suspect they'd find support for similar measures virtually everywhere in the world.[Via Techdirt]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
cros @ Sep 10th 2006 12:44PM
noobs just need to learn to put their damn phones on vibrate. I'd hate to miss an important business/emergency phone call because my signal is being jammed.
greg @ Sep 10th 2006 12:49PM
i agree with post #1 but also the jammers may intefere with wireless microphones (if the show uses them)because some operate at about 800mhz which is a common cell frequency
Michael @ Sep 10th 2006 6:16PM
I am all for jamming the phones. If it's a true emergency, then we will fall back on the days of old and use a land line to contact the theater and have them come to our seats and escort us out instead of having a phone ring. Heck a theater can have a dedicated line setup for emergencies only, and just come to our seats. It wouldn't be hard to quickly change the phone message before taking your seat to say call this number in an emergency have them escort me out of seat XX. Then when you get out, you could use your phone to make the call, and then return to your seat at intermission.
For any performance this would be great, wouldn't disturb the rest of the audience, and wouldn't bother the actors. I say got for it, and hopefully people in the US would do the same. I hate going to a live performance to have someone in the audience receive a call, and either let it ring until voicemail happens, or actually answer it and have a conversation.
I also think emergency situations are unique, as I was called while in a theater (phone was on vibrate), and had to leave the theater to go to the hospital to find out my uncle had been killed (his son was with me at the movie as well). This type of circumstance is where I wouldn't want to see it happen, but with the ease of changing voicemail messages, you just tell them the number at the theater, and in that type of emergency, an employee could come in and get you, or turn off the blocker and call you themselves to let you know when you don't have assigned seats.
If they think this through, it could work, and still allow for emergency situations to come through. For business calls, you either shouldn't be at the theater (live or movies) when "on call", or if so, the people that need to get a hold of you should have the number that they need to reach. A little thought in this could block the 95% of calls at a theater and still allow the ones that come in to make it with a simple turning off of the blocker...
Martin @ Sep 10th 2006 10:23PM
Ok I definitely think Michael is an ignorant idiot. I mean come on. Change your voicemail message real fast...seat numbers...are you kidding. Theatres don't even use seat numbers. And how would the person know specifically which showing of the movie you're in or what you even look like. Not only that, but some people HAVE to be on call 24/7. So does that mean they can't go see movies?
I think EVERYONE needs to be a little less selfish. That includes the people with the cell phones. For god sakes mute your d*$m cell phone. In general I think people are better about muting them nowadays. But while jamming cell phones IS a bad idea. I see law suits in the making and innocent bystanders getting caught in the crossfire.
drsilverworm @ Sep 10th 2006 11:07PM
Martin, stop talking. This story concerns THEATRE, which pertains to PLAYS which are LIVE PERFORMANCES. Virtually every single theatre perfromance has seat numbers, and assigned seats. We are not talking about movie theaters. Have you ever even attended a play? The seat number is right on your freaking ticket.
Martin @ Sep 11th 2006 3:35AM
Well, w/e, my point remains minus the seat number part.
PEZ @ Sep 11th 2006 6:20AM
You are all idiots. Anyone who goes to a play with a cellphone is a complete jackass.
Otherwise, shut up. There is no need for electrical equipment anyway. There are technologies out there that will block signals completely - think "faraday cage".. then when yo pick your brain up off of the floor. Google it.
teo @ Sep 11th 2006 7:46AM
Pez,
You want to retro fit 200+ year-old theater houses with Faraday cages? Are you insane or just have the billions required to do just London?
Tracy L @ Sep 11th 2006 11:13AM
Feels like I wandered into alt.flame.cellphonejammers or something.
Michael: Your solution would work, but it kinda feels like a Rube Goldberg. (overly complex solution for a simple problem)
PEZ: Your "faraday cage" solution is less practical than Michael's, so you can climb off that high horse of yours.
Martin: Hopefully when you get your drivers license that cell phone won't be so super important that you can't sit through a 2-hour movie without it.
The ideal solution is for people to not be rude. What about the people that insist on bringing crying babies into movie theaters? The last time that happened to me the person sat as absolutely far away from the exit as she could get. So not only did the baby cry for 15 minutes before enough nasty looks and comments made her leave, but then we all got to watch her meander down all the steps to the exit. In truth I would much rather hear a cell phone ring because I at least know that'll shut up in less than a minute.
But we know people won't improve so we're left looking for a technological solution. And the simple one is this device. I say install them and turn them on! Can't sit through a movie because you're on call 24/7? Tough. You don't get to go camping in BFE where there's no signal do you? If being on call interferes with your lifestyle too much then get a different job.
Michael @ Sep 11th 2006 2:56PM
Tracy, Martin, my solution was not an end all solution. I mearly made a suggestion, and said in the last paragraph, "If they think this through, it could work". I spent no more than 10 minutes thinking about this, but if they are going to implement something like this, they need to think it through, and plan out the emegency situations.
I agree, someone with 24/7 calling needs will need to find a different outlet, and I also agree it's a matter of just good faith to put the phone on vibrate, but there are some people who just don't do it, no matter how many signs or just asking them directly, it just doesn't happen 100% of the time, or heck people put it on vibrate, and yet a button get's pressed and it turns off of vibrate. Either way, 100% of the time it just doesn't happen. When in a live performance it's not only disturbing to the people that have paid for the tickets (sometimes upwards of $200/seat), but also the performers.
Each area that would block the signal would have to have specific ways to get an emergency situation resolved, but one thing we all forget, there was a time, not to long ago we didn't have mobiles, we couldn't be reached when at a movie, or theater, and we all got along then. 2 hours without phone signals could be a good thing, and we could all live without it, and if you can't, then you don't go to those performances or movies.
If everyone in this world did what they were suppose to do in this situation, then 70+% wouldn't be asking for it to be blocked, but it just doesn't happen, and when you are disturbing potentially a 100+ people, including the actors on stage, I think it's something that you can do without for an hour, or till intermission, and if you didn't want to change your message, or tell your family members where you were, then they would leave a message, the same way that if you didn't have any signal all together.
Everyone will have their opinion on this, and not every theather will block signals, and you will be notified before entering the theater (movie or performance), and you can deal with it then, or choose to go to a different place without a block of signal. I for one would seek out places with a block, just for the fact that it's one less interruption your could have, minus the crying babies, "loud" lovers in the back row, and noisy talkers that always sit three seats away. That's whats great about the world, we have choices, and you could choose to go to a theater with blockers, or one without.
Colin @ Sep 11th 2006 5:45PM
Never punish the masses for the errors of the few.
As a federal law enforcement officer who sets his smart phone on vibrate, I'd like to be notified by text message/email/phonecall in case of an emergency. And you should want me to be notified too. To ask me to limit my social life in addition to everything else I do for this country is just absurd.
As silly as it is, we need to have patience here. Phone technology is still young and we as a people are still learning/adapting. It will take time, but we'll get to where people turn off their ringers before entering certain public places. I hope.
Grant @ Sep 11th 2006 9:47PM
Well what I think they need is for their to be a device that signals phones to automatically tune to vibrate when its in range.
Obviously it couldn't happen immediately with current phones but if they had boxes like the jammers that sent out a signal that was universally recognized as a "force vibrate or silent only" mode and the cell companies incorporated that into their phones then it would make everyone happy. I'd be willing to bet that MOST phones get replaced every couple of years so if they started you'd have a pretty high level of saturation failry quickly.
David McMann @ Sep 12th 2006 3:18PM
perhaps escorting people out and not allowing them to reenter the show is a solution. (ofcourse managers would need to explain this before the show)I think most people would thoroughly check their phone before the show to make sure it is off. But thats just a quick idea. (You could even reimburse them and it would still be effective).
Ed W @ Sep 13th 2006 6:15PM
Well - this one's certainly emotive! I work in an environment when I'm frequently on call for emergencies. I also am a parent, and would like to be able to leave a simple message for a babysitter as it's better for all involved. If there's an issue then a text'll be sent; if it's an emergency, it's a call. I always remember to put the phone on vibrate.
If a theatre wants to jam signals, then they should notify it at the time of booking and see how people vote with their feet or don't as the case may be.
Personally - I think mute covers the bases and perhaps an announcement wouldn't go amiss to remind those who forget.