Two Things that are Movies, Only: I see these two actions in movie after movie, but I've never seen them in real life. Someone wants to make a cell phone call, but he can't get a...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I see these two actions in movie after movie, but I've never seen them in real life.

Someone wants to make a cell phone call, but he can't get a signal. He walks around holding his phone up in the air, trying to find a signal. Aside from the fact that we should have coverage throughout the entire country, I've never seen anyone do that.

A person is put into an ambulance or a police car. Someone on the outside taps twice on the car, indicating that the driver can get going. Does that really happen? Is it a Rule?

thumpercat2

I have done both of those actions. Sometimes where I worked in a part of a building with lead shielding in many rooms it was difficult to get a signal on a personal cell phone, but if you walked down a small hallway with your phone up in the air you could sometimes find a signal in a small space and would be able to make a call.
Didn't put too many patients into ambulances but I made sure the driver knew it was safe to take off.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

thumpercat2 wrote:

I have done both of those actions. Sometimes where I worked in a part of a building with lead shielding in many rooms it was difficult to get a signal on a personal cell phone, but if you walked down a small hallway with your phone up in the air you could sometimes find a signal in a small space and would be able to make a call.
Didn't put too many patients into ambulances but I made sure the driver knew it was safe to take off.

Thanks

Harry0 Loc: Gardena, Cal

jerryc41 wrote:

I see these two actions in movie after movie, but ... (show quote)

Kinda sorta.
Downtown LA used to be (in)famous for roaming. And their charges.
You could grab a cup of coffee, walk outside and pace maybe 10 meters.
I've done it! Seven different corps adding roaming charges.
You had to look at your phone to check it.
AAND this is LA.
My apartment building was re stuccoed. Two layers of wire mesh means NO reception on the balcony,
and wifi drops near the outside walls. Towards thee middle- excellente.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Was this real or was it in a tv show? For some reason I think it was real. Somebody was lost in a forest and had an emergency. No cell signal. They had called 911. They had the wherewithal to somehow tie the phone to a string or rope and get it high up into a tree where it got a signal, automatically dialed and help came. Am I dreaming this or did this really happen? Does somebody else remember?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

SteveR wrote:

Was this real or was it in a tv show? For some reason I think it was real. Somebody was lost in a forest and had an emergency. No cell signal. They had called 911. They had the wherewithal to somehow tie the phone to a string or rope and get it high up into a tree where it got a signal, automatically dialed and help came. Am I dreaming this or did this really happen? Does somebody else remember?

That sounds like a reach, but it could be true. Would someone be carrying that much string or rope? Would they be able to throw it high enough onto a branch? They would have to dial 911, hoist the phone up, hope the call went through, and hope the operator could trace the call.

In case you didn't know, all cell phones can dial 911, even if they are not on a phone plan. You still need a signal, of course.

EDIT: Funny. Apparently, there are special trees for making phone calls. They're called Phone Trees. 🤣

http://www.intermountainpro.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Phonetree-IP.pdf

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

I worked for AT&T in lower Manhattan, and we all had AT&T cell service. The problem was our initial coverage in NYC was spotty at best, and you would see all kinds of gymnastics as people tried to grab signal. Verizon Reps on the other hand had no problem as NY Tel/Verizon had an existing footprint in the city.

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

jerryc41 wrote:

I see these two actions in movie after movie, but ... (show quote)

If you lived in Springdale Utah, you start the day climbing the telephone pole to call your neighbor to get the latest gossip.

Canisdirus

Everyone is doing it wrong...

You put it down to your crotch area and place the phone next to your zipper.

Whether you place the phone on the outside of your pants or the inside...is a personal choice.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

alberio wrote:

If you lived in Springdale Utah, you start the day climbing the telephone pole to call your neighbor to get the latest gossip.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Canisdirus wrote:

Everyone is doing it wrong...

You put it down to your crotch area and place the phone next to your zipper.

Whether you place the phone on the outside of your pants or the inside...is a personal choice.

Maybe posting a few photos of that would make it easier to understand.

Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

This is interesting! A thing about using cell phones on tv and movies is that they often talk while holding the phone well away from their ear. Even when they are alone, so it's not about being on speaker phone.

No one needs to use the restroom unless it's part of the story line.

Also when super heroes land from way up high, they land in a 3-point crouch. Well, besides the fiction of there even being super heroes, no one would land like that.

Sounds in space. Explosions. The pew! pew! pew! of weapons, etc.

Ok, I'm done!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Mark Sturtevant wrote:

This is interesting! A thing about using cell phon... (show quote)

Cell phone: Very often you'll see that the phone is lit up, not like during a real conversation.

Yes, that three-point landing has become standard now.

How exciting would space wars be without sound? It's not real to begin with.

mindzye Loc: WV

Jerry here in the mountains of WV, or the foothills anyway, even with the towers going up everywhere there are blank spots. My wife is the librarian at a remote library on top of one of the mtns. It takes her over sometimes over an hour to go 45 mi and 1000' up.
She recounts several times that on the drive she will see people out on the flats of a hill side walking around with their phones in the air looking for a signal. Heavily wooded areas are a big impediment to signal continuity. I used to laugh until the first time I helped her at a functi

Stop it! my wife is throwing wadded up Wally World bags at me.......and laughing..... hold on.... yeah, she's got the weekend off.......Now I find out she has a 5 day weekend.......
stop - now I'm ducking, trying to write and laughing.....

ok, ....at a function ( volunteered photographer) and tried to get a signal. Had to laugh at myself then..

ok, here we goo later folks

BebuLamar

I've been to a lot of places that I lost cell signal but I don't do like they do in the movies.