4 Things You Probably Never Knew

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Matt32AMG

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YOUR MOBILE PHONE COULD DO...

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.

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, dial112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialled 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 mobile phone: If youlock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their mobile phone from your cell phone. Hold your mobile phone about a foot from your car door and have the personat your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone ontheir end. Your car will unlock.It 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 boot).

THIRD
Hidden Battery Power

Imagine your mobile battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your mobile will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reservewill get charged when you charge your mobile 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: * # 0 6 #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 gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. Theywill then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIMcard, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phoneback, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use or sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.
 
My Step mother pinged these to me via email. I don't have key less entry on my car so I wouldn't know if it worked or not..Anyway thought it may be useful to others
 
If you have keyless go its impossible to lock the car with the key in the car

Good point, but then as Clarkson pointed out, how do you know it's locked, or is it a case of just blind faith that the technology works, as presumably if you go near the car the car unlocks itself before you can check its locked :D
 
Good point, but then as Clarkson pointed out, how do you know it's locked, or is it a case of just blind faith that the technology works, as presumably if you go near the car the car unlocks itself before you can check its locked :D

You have to physically touch the door handle lock button, to lock it and all of the buttons go down, and you have to place a finger on the handle to un lock.

Clarskson can be very silly at times with some remarks he makes :):)
 
You have to physically touch the door handle lock button, to lock it and all of the buttons go down, and you have to place a finger on the handle to un lock.

Clarskson can be very silly at times with some remarks he makes :):)

Ah thanks for clarifying that for me as I've never seen the system demonstrated, all is now clear.
And err yes, Clarkson can be a twit! (Should've known) DOH :eek:
 
YOUR MOBILE PHONE COULD DO...

:rolleyes:

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112.

Not exactly a state secret ;). The GSM standard defines 112 as an access code for emergency services. Because it is defined as part of the GSM standard, it is not guaranteed to be available on all networks, not even all mobile networks. However, as part of the European Union's telecoms regulation, the agreement is that 112 should be available on all EU networks as the universal emergency number, alongside whatever national emergency service numbers a member state uses (such as 999 in the UK). Dialling 112 simply diverts the call to whatever the national emergency number is for the country in question, so that especially roaming users don't need to know national emergency numbers.

The GSM standard also ensures that a SIM is not needed to be able to dial 112 and that the phone will be able to connect to any network in range.

Whether or not 112 can be dialled from a locked handset is a function of the handset and at the discretion of the manufacturer.

Have you locked your keys in the car?

Theoretically, this could work for those systems that use a RF that is within the range that could be picked up, encoded and compressed and then rendered accurately enough at the other end, using a mobile CODEC, with sufficient retention of the RF signal's properties. In practice, this will fail for the overall majority of systems.

<<Imagine your mobile battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your mobile will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery.>>

The things people come up with :crazy:. The *3370# sequence activates an EFR codec. This codec uses more bitrate and this results in better quality speech, provided at least that your network and the other terminal support it. There are no hidden reserve batteries in your phone that are activated by this. However, a lot of phones perform a restart to activate the codec. That can cause the battery indicator to appear to show a higher charge than before. Battery state indicators aren't exactly very accurate and the algorithms of estimating battery time are in many phones reasonably simple and inaccurate.

To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits [on your phone: * # 0 6 #A 15 digit code will appear on the screen.

Not a great secret either, I'm afraid, but at least more or less correct ;). The IMEI code is, again, part of the standard, as is the *#06# key sequence. It is a unique machine identifier that the phone uses to connect to the network. Some networks have arrangements to block phones with IMEIs that have been reported as stolen. However, on some phones the IMEIs can be changed by the same kind of people that offer you to unlock your phone on the market or in a tube station .

 
No1. I thought everybody knew this! It's actually the European emergency number for any phones.

No2. Sounds fairly impossible.

No3. Does absolutely nothing on my phone or my wifes.

No4. Your mobile operator will already know this number and there are ways round it if it has been blocked.

Other than that very interesting:D
 
No1. I thought everybody knew this! It's actually the European emergency number for any phones.

No2. Sounds fairly impossible.

No3. Does absolutely nothing on my phone or my wifes.

No4. Your mobile operator will already know this number and there are ways round it if it has been blocked.

Other than that very interesting:D

No1 Hey don't shoot the messenger
No2 Thought it might be useful
No3 Until my Phone runs flat I couldn't say
No4 Only if you have a contract phone surely? I mean I bought a new phone a few weeks back and haven't told O2 what make it is or the serial number. So how would they know :confused:

Other than that very interesting :D
 
:rolleyes:

Not exactly a state secret ;). The GSM standard defines 112 as an access code for emergency services. Because it is defined as part of the GSM standard, it is not guaranteed to be available on all networks, not even all mobile networks. However, as part of the European Union's telecoms regulation, the agreement is that 112 should be available on all EU networks as the universal emergency number, alongside whatever national emergency service numbers a member state uses (such as 999 in the UK). Dialling 112 simply diverts the call to whatever the national emergency number is for the country in question, so that especially roaming users don't need to know national emergency numbers.

The GSM standard also ensures that a SIM is not needed to be able to dial 112 and that the phone will be able to connect to any network in range.

Whether or not 112 can be dialled from a locked handset is a function of the handset and at the discretion of the manufacturer.

Are you working with these cell phone issues? I'm sure you know better but I would clarify that the 112 emergency call number actually works on all GSM (3GPP standardised) networks, UMTS or 3G included. As you say, it does not necessarily work on all networks, that could be US CDMA networks or PDC in Japan etc. For us Europeans GSM is often seen the only cell phone standard (it is close, but not exactly).

112 emergency calls without a SIM card are guaranteed by the standard but only for the cell phone leg. It would be dependent on national regulation if the cellular network operator does have to connect these calls. Many European countries have this requirement only for phones with a valid SIM. I thought UK was one, did not check.

It is a type approval requirement for phones to support emergency calls at any state, even if keypad was locked. I've never seen a phone that would not do it. Different phones do it differently though, one may not show the dialled digits until you have done 112, another one shows these (and locks the keypad if the sequence diverted from 112, or another one that the phone knows being an emergency number, from the SIM).

I guess enough for MB technology :rolleyes: back to business, the remote door opening is an urban legend. I guess the post wasn't all wrong.
 
They know you've swapped handsets

No1 Hey don't shoot the messenger
No2 Thought it might be useful
No3 Until my Phone runs flat I couldn't say
No4 Only if you have a contract phone surely? I mean I bought a new phone a few weeks back and haven't told O2 what make it is or the serial number. So how would they know :confused:

Other than that very interesting :D

The phone broadcasts the IMEI every time you make (or receive for that matter) a call. It will be with each call data record on your billing records so they will know you've changed phones. Some mobile operators even text you the correct settings for WAP, GPRS etc when you put your sim in a new handset. They know it all, big bro is alive, well and living in a network near you:devil:
 
#3 doesn't work at all (at least not as a magical battery charge increaser). It is the sequence for a piece of network wizardry that might (big might) improve call quality. It sometimes makes a phone re-boot though which, in turn may give the appearance when it comes back on that the battery has a greater charge than before.
Try switching your mobile off and then on again, you will notice the battery indicator may show higher than before you turned it off. It will rapidly go down again.
 
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The phone broadcasts the IMEI every time you make (or receive for that matter) a call. It will be with each call data record on your billing records so they will know you've changed phones. Some mobile operators even text you the correct settings for WAP, GPRS etc when you put your sim in a new handset. They know it all, big bro is alive, well and living in a network near you:devil:

...:eek: :devil: I suppose if you stop for a moment and think about it it makes sense. Never given it much thought until now. But then good job as I'm not not an RF engineer or such like! :D :D
 
Are you working with these cell phone issues?

I do engage in them professionally, yes ;).

I'm sure you know better but I would clarify that the 112 emergency call number actually works on all GSM (3GPP standardised) networks, UMTS or 3G included.

Well, that's what I thought I said ;), although I was trying to avoid dragging in extra jargon.

The point is really that the existence of 112 results from (a) a political decision of the Council to establish a universal number and (b) the fact that the technical standards cover its implementation aspects.

While GSM is really a European creation, it (and newer incarnations of it) has of course been very successful and is being used widely across the globe, outside Europe too.

Nevertheless, it is not guaranteed that on any mobile network in any country 112 will work, which is the point I was trying to make. :)

That being said, even in the Union, implementation in practice is still not fully achieved, and EENA has formally complained about this.

It would be dependent on national regulation if the cellular network operator does have to connect these calls. Many European countries have this requirement only for phones with a valid SIM. I thought UK was one, did not check.

That's not entirely true. First of all, the legal framework for 112 is one of European law, and the provisions under this EU framework are therefore defined EU-wide. The main legal instruments that establish this are the Council Decision 91/396/EEC of 29 July 1991 on the introduction of a single European emergency call number and the Directive 98/10/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 26 February 1998 on the application of open network provision (ONP) to voice telephony and on universal service for telecommunications in a competitive environment. Parts of the 2002 framework for electronic communications are also relevant to aspects of 112.

The problem with this is that EU law lacks the precision of national law (not in the least because it has to cater for quite different legal systems across member states). As a result, we find that not everywhere in the EU implementations are fully equivalent and there is ongoing debate about certain interpretations by certain member states. That is why you end up still getting slightly different versions of these things in different member states.

In addition, there have been serious problems around the abuse of the 112 number and this was particular problematic for SIM-less phones. As a result, many member states started to block 112 calls from SIM-less phones and the Commission stated (I think in 2005, probably through COCOM) that they considered this acceptable within the wording of the various Directives. The technical standard still supports SIM-less access to 112, but you are right that at the practical level many member states have taken steps to block that path.

It is a type approval requirement for phones to support emergency calls at any state, even if keypad was locked. I've never seen a phone that would not do it.

Yes, that's right, but type approval is a slightly different issue again, and again something very dependent on legislative frameworks - I do remember some older handsets that didn't support it, although I haven't looked at this in recent years and it might very well be true that these days almost all handsets do it. :)

Some handsets also allow 112 to be dialled in other ways, like holding down certain keys for a longer time, etc.
 
The phone broadcasts the IMEI every time you make (or receive for that matter) a call. It will be with each call data record on your billing records so they will know you've changed phones.

This might confuse people - authentication to a network is a function of the SIM. It's the SIM's authentication that drives billing.
 

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