Mobile Phones and Computers!?!

[KH85]

Right,

I am in college and me Lecturer tells me to turn me phone of cuz "It Damages the Computers!" i allways thought that this was a load of shit.

is this true or can they actually damage them?

links would be helpfull so i can do a read up and prove them all wrong

 

[Mark R]

I've never heard of damage, but they could potentially cause malfunction or crash.

I've had a mobile phone disrupt a modem, causing a connection to be lost - although the phone was resting on the modem at the time.

 

[Heisenberg]

The main way a phone could cause problems is from RFI. Although the chances of any damage occuring are pretty low, it could potentially cause a crash like Mark R said. But it's a pretty remote possibility. The phone would have to be in use, since modern phones hardly emit anything at all when they're just turned on. Even then, you'd have to have the phone within inches of the computer. I suppose the magnets could cause data loss on magnetic media, but again you'd have to have it basically physically touching the drive/disk or whatever. I use my phone all the time within a few feet of several machines and never have had a problem. In short, he's wrong.

 

[Mday]

Originally posted by: KHGamez
Right,

I am in college and me Lecturer tells me to turn me phone of cuz "It Damages the Computers!" i allways thought that this was a load of shit.

is this true or can they actually damage them?

links would be helpfull so i can do a read up and prove them all wrong

probably because it distracts the lecturer, and makes him spill his coffee on the computer.

the frequencies a cell phone operates at (depending on type of modulation) wont affect computers unless you tkae it and throw it at the computer itself... while it's not being protected by the case.

the wireless signal would damage the computer as much as if you point a TV remote control at it and oress the buttons.

 

[Mingon]

My old mokia 5500 is a nightmare for speaker interferance, but I cant see it damaging anything.

 

[KH85]

Thanks people i thought that was the case

 

[GoHAnSoN]

ya, maybe u can damage the computer by hammering your cell phone againt the DULL computer

 

[MrThermistor]

>i allways thought that this was a load of shit.

It is.

 

[RossGr]

Cell phones damage computers???

I was visiting with a fellow the other night who does control system development work. He plugged in his cell phone to his laptop, dialed a water treatment plant in So Cal, we were in the mid Willamette valley, Oregon, and linked up to the PLC running the plant. He was in complete control, could have messed up things big time, since only his job hinged on him not causing trouble, he just showed me the buttons and the basic structure of control system he is developing of this city.

I did not notice any damage to his computer caused by the cell phone adjacent to it.

EDIT:
I believe that you should shut off your cell as a courtesy to the prof and other students. Any interaction with computers is irrelevant.

 

[glugglug]

There is a real possibility of it causing disk corruption....

SATA (the current/first rev) uses 1.5GHz signalling.
Cell phone transmissions are around 1.7GHz, not too far from this.

Since SATA is compleletly centered around cost-reduction, don't expect the cable shielding to be that great....