% Amazing Things Your Cell Phone Can Do

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gmsboss1

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Received this email today.  Seemed too good to be true, so tried it out.

5 Things You Never Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do

For all the folks with cell phones. (This should be printed and kept in your car, purse, wallet. Good information to have with you.)


There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies.  Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival.  Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST

Emergency:  The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112.  If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly, this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked.  Try it out.

SECOND

Have you locked your keys in the car?  Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near he mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock.  Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you.  Distance is no object.  You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).



THIRD

Hidden Battery Power:  Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370#.  Your cell phone will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery.  This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell phone next time.

FOURTH

How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?  To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: *#06#.  A 15-digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe.  If your phone is stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code.  They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless.  You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either.  If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.


And Finally....

FIFTH

Free Directory Service for Cells:  Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to.  Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial: (800)FREE411, or (800)373-3411 without incurring any charge at all.  Program this into your cell phone now.

DW and I tried all of the functions except the "FIRST", and they all worked for us. :D :D

Evidently they don't work on all phones or in all areas. :mad:  Here's a link to Snopes.com so you can read their take on the validity of these claims: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/cellphones.asp

Hope they work for you and yours.

Don and Mary Ann

 
Don, did you read the Snopes article?
 
Hey Ned.

Yes, I read the Snopes page. I included it because their information is contradictory to my experience and I didn't want the Framily to expect too much..

Yes, I know that they say some functions cannot work, but all I can say is that with my cheap little NET 10 phone (Nokia), I was able to get my car door to unlock from 2 blocks away, I did get a noticeable bump in the battery power bars showing after punching in the code given, I did get the 15 digit serial number in my screen, and I've been using the free 800 number for months.

I'll bring my phone along and we'll do a demo/research test at the Texas Hill Country Rally!

Don
 
Goofy things can happen with wireless. We were in a friend's driveway when the garage door mysteriously opened, then later closed. This happened a couple of times before I realized the door was responding to me opening the trunk of my car with the remote.
 
If you got your car door to unlock from 2 miles away, that would be better proof.  2 blocks would probably have worked even without the cell phone.  Cell phones can't transmit the RF used by the RKE systems.

Some functions work on Nokia phones only and are useless on other brands.  *#06# does nothing on our LG phones and the *3370# was explained in the Snopes article as just plain wrong.  112 is used in Europe and other countries, here we use 911 and that works on any cell phone that can get a signal.  The free 411 service has been around for some time and isn't anything unique to cell phones.
 
OK. Master Research Scientist Don went out and tried to duplicate the results from the first time.

Still get 2 more power bars by inputting *3370# plus "send".

Still get "Serial no. 010783004156195" on my screen after inputting *#06#.

Still get the door to unlock within about 2 blocks of the house on my street.  Beyond that, it doesn't work, so you are no doubt right that it is the just the key fob signal bouncing off a satellite or something.........can't figure why I seem to have to be within 10 feet in most parking lots.....  Plus, the door unlock via cell phone deal doesn't work at all with Mary Ann's car.  Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Haven't tried 112  -- or 911 for that matter......

MRS Don

 
Until you actually time the battery life under the original and after using the magic code, you don't really know that it did anything useful.  I'll believe the Snopes explanation until further scientific research :)
 
To cover many of these myths

IN the United States the emergency number is 9-1-1.. Other than the number the phone will search for a compatible network (IE: My phones look for a GSM net) and make the call, no charge

2: Modern Remote door locks work on RF, the phone's electronics won't process the signal, no way,  Now it is possible that someone somewhere made a sonic  remote.  such things have existed in the past.  I've used some of them but I do not know of anyone using a sonic remote for car doors. so

3; There may be a model that has a "Reserve" feature,  I simply don't know  I used to drive a tractor that had a 'Reserve" feature on the fuel tank.. Used it once or twice to make it back to the barn

4: It is way easier than that.. Just call your Mobile service provider and give them YOUR phone number, their records have your ESN and they can turn the phone off from there as stated.  But you don't need to push any fancy key sequence that may have .. Ur,, Unintended side effects

5: Yes there are a number of free directory service companies out there.. Google, for example, has one

Note about #'s 3 and 4

I mentioned in #4 "Unintended side effects"  It is possible to do a lot of very strange things with a palm size computer such as is a cell phone..  Unless I know what a key sequence is or I"m doing so at the direction of customer support I'd not be pushing any command sequence

You could, for example, open your phone to phishing or snarfing

 
Just curious. If you dial 9-1-1 from your cell phone, which EMS spot do you get? The closest one? Or the one back in the area code of your cell? I have a feeling this could be important some day to someone, maybe even me !!

Wendy
Pismo State Beach
 
Wendy said:
Just curious. If you dial 9-1-1 from your cell phone, which EMS spot do you get? The closest one? Or the one back in the area code of your cell? I have a feeling this could be important some day to someone, maybe even me !!

With any modern phone, the built-in GPS information (based on the tower you're transmitting to/from) will automatically route you to the nearest 911 center.  As cell systems and 911 computer systems are updated, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they will be able to pinpoint your exact location.  Cell phone companies can already do this with their own customers, and will provide the info under certain emergency circumstances.
 
Wendy said:
Just curious. If you dial 9-1-1 from your cell phone, which EMS spot do you get? The closest one? Or the one back in the area code of your cell? I have a feeling this could be important some day to someone, maybe even me !!

Wendy
Pismo State Beach

The reason GPS has been incorporated into the newer cell phones is to allow a means of locating where the call originated.
 
Dave Stringham said:
On Myth Busters, they tried the opening of the door lock via cell phone and they couldnt get it to work for some reason.......all's I want my cell phone to do is receive and place clear calls so I can hear them ....  ;D

315 mhz doesn't transmit through a microphone all that well, not even one on a cell phone.

-Don-
 
There must be another reason other than loudspeaker audio to make it work, if it indeed actually does work.

  A cell phone works in the duplex-mode (not push-to-talk simplex mode), which means it can receive and transmit at the same time. If it receives an RF signal that signal it will be re-transmitted on a slightly different frequency to facilitate duplex operation.

  The "different frequency" would contain the lock code, ergo it reaches the lock receiver, if it is  near the the locks  frequency. The cell signal is certainly stronger than the small key chain transmitters, hence longer distance.

  How is that for an hypotheses?

carson FL

 
I think you missed the point, Bill.

  The incoming RF from the cell tower contains the data (voice and other data) in digital form.

In the duplex mode that same data is re-transmitted instantaneously  in digital form on some frequency. It has nothing to do with whatever comes out of the speaker in analog form/ soundwaves. The key lock on the car receives digital data only.

  Lets assume the keylock code is 67112; when the lock receives that code in digital form during the re-transmit, bingo, the lock opens. It's the carrier frequency (315Mhz or so) containing that code and being acceptable to the lock, that determines whether or not the lock will open. The receiving bandpass on those lock receivers is probably very broad.

  There is a lot of frequency sharing going on in that part of the spectrum.

Neat discussion,

carson FL


 
Wendy said:
Just curious. If you dial 9-1-1 from your cell phone, which EMS spot do you get? The closest one? Or the one back in the area code of your cell? I have a feeling this could be important some day to someone, maybe even me !!

Wendy
Pismo State Beach

In the old days you might get most anyone. .For example when AT&T near Grand Rapids overloaded. they gave the calls to me (Michigan State Police 2nd district regional dispatch, Detroit, Mi, roughly 200 miles distant (Very rounded))

Today however the Cellular providers are required to locate your phone using either GPS or triangulation means and to forward the call to one of the very nearby 9-1-1 centers and at least in Michigan the law requires that 9-1-1 centers forward to the proper 9-1-1 center as needed.

So if you are on a freeway in Detroit, depending on your cellular provider you will get either the Michigan State Police dispatch center, which happens to be in Detroit, or the Detroit police.. 

If your location is such that the provider's computer can not be sure, you get the State police (As a general rule) or the county sheriff


They do fairly well. I've gotten calls from about 1/2 mile out of the area I served.

However.. Sometimes, due to really wierd conditions (Radio Propagation conditions that is) we would get calls from .. FAR OFF (States away) but very rare on that.
 
John In Detroit said:
In the old days you might get most anyone. .For example when AT&T near Grand Rapids overloaded. they gave the calls to me (Michigan State Police 2nd district regional dispatch, Detroit, Mi, roughly 200 miles distant (Very rounded))

John,

In the old days there was no 911 and no cell phones.  :)

Phil
 
Depends on how old

There is today: Digital phones, auto-location required by law

The old days: Analog cell phones, no auto-locate ability  (been there)

The older days: No cell phones  (Done that)

The much older days: Rotary dials  (this too)

And the even older still days: "Number Please"  (When I was a child)

and the even older than that days: Here, get on your horse and run this message over to Joe.... And no.. I'm not THIS lod
 

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