This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Phartman: Cereal killers? Reminds of that terrible joke...
Wiki: If we're on the same page, its probably related to the reason why I much prefer pancakes for breakfast.
Seth: I'm gonna put this under Did Not Do The Research for lack of a better index.
Adam850: Is my idea of the cut landline going to be part of this, or is it separate?
Zeta: The cut landline is totally different and predates this trope by several decades, so I say it's separate.
Lale: If there's a tv equivalent of Acceptable Breaks from Reality, this would go under that index.
Jack Cain: Does that Kim Possible entry really belong here? It's obviously not a cell phone and is never used as such. It's fancy spy-tech stuff.
Big T: Agreed. Of course, Ron's phone is another story. It works in a safe.
i8246i: I'm seriously considering adding a few Truth in Television examples, which come solely from my own experiences with the "wonders" of cellphones...if not all "modern technology".
The most aggrivating example was the time my mother, sister, and I were involved in a front end collision with another vehicle. I instinctively reach for the family cell phone and dial 911...operator picks up, and the cell phone DIES BECAUSE MOM/DAD FORGOT TO RECHARGE IT. Luckily this accident occured near a big town, and lots of other people in other cars were able to call assistance to us....with *working* technology.
So yeah, go ahead and boast about the "wonders" of modern technology...and then begin to eat your own words with a heaping helpful of your own foot as your phone fails horribly when you need it the most. ("no signal"?...in St.Louis?...for an AT&T customer?)
- This troper recalls seeing that for the very first time. Watching a bit-torrented fansub that one of my friends had gotten his hands on (and with nearly two dozen other pals) we had to stop the movie and rewind back just because we were all laughing so hard that everyone missed Tifa getting her trash handed to her seconds later.
- This troper was sitting in school, on a stool roughly a foot high, arms leaning back, dropped his calculator (it was often mistaken for a cell phone) and it shattered. So this might not be too absurd.
- Meh. The number of times this troper has dropped his phone and yet still have it in perfect working order leads him to believe that most mobile phone manufacturers nowadays are smart enough to make their products extremely durable.
- That troper has a bit too much confidence in the long-term vision of corporations. Most consumer goods, including cellphones, are deliberately made less durable than they could be; the manufacturers know that if their product does fall apart, the consumer will rush out to buy a new one right away instead of just doing without.
- Perhaps justified in he is going to have to fight machines in the future so decides that any tech he needs should be easily destroyable?
- A case of The Worf Call Lost, perhaps?
- Which begs the question how the cell phone knows WHEN in time to send the call...
- The phone call is routed through San Dimas?
- Considering that in the previous film, he got a friggin' invisible car, this troper was more than willing to let a very fancy phone slide.
- Is that movie mentioned anymore? Being as it Jumped the Shark and all.
- Wasn't Casino Royale a 'reboot'? Still, Bond has the resources of the entire British Government behind his gadgets...
- Surely it was a reboot, but deliberately placed in modern days. And just for the record, This Troper has a cellphone with over 3Mbps data link. The Technology Marches On.
- This editor is fairly sure that was a satphone, even if it was on the small side for one. Still, the eaten bit stands.
- Hasn't there been Real Life cases of cell phones working while swallowed by animals? And after?
- And this troper may have trouble speaking into his cell phone for a day or two after reading that.
- This troper joked that the Doctor must have fiddled with Hitomi's pager.
- Isn't that the same thing Jean Reno does in that UPS commercial?
Conversation In The Main Page.
- ...like in the episode "Squeeze" where the killer is lurking in Scully's apartment and Mulder bursts in to save the day, even though this involves travel time, rather than simply phoning her. Granted she was relaxing and might not have answered a work call, but if he'd kept trying she would presumably have eventually gotten the idea that it was important, and the crisis could have been averted before she was attacked. Happens many other times over the course of the series, but this example is particularly egregious.
- Scully would answer a call from Mulder anyway. She might not believe him, but you answer phone calls from people who repeatedly save your life.
- Also, Mulder DID try to call Scully in "Squeeze". He tried her landline but the killer had cut the line, so it's fair to assume he tried her cell as well.
- Scully would answer a call from Mulder anyway. She might not believe him, but you answer phone calls from people who repeatedly save your life.
Well, then, it's not an example, is it?
Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: This trope contains two opposed ideas: cell phones that don't work when they ought to for plot reasons, and cell phones that work when they really shouldn't (also for plot reasons). I think it should be split.
Uriel-238: Regarding James Bond cells. Expect them to really be Q specials inside a standard commercial cell. To be sure, the CIA has an entire department to supe-up their electronics. A cell phone may actually be a satellite phone, or use multiple services and automatically encrypt everything at the source.
Neither cells nor any other radio-based signals should work underwater, though. Our current bypass technology includes submarine signal buoys and VLF sonar. Is there anything else yet?
