Five Things You Never Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do

[namelesstwo]

Hey peeps, got this from another Forum. Though you might be interested in knowing about them. Here they are:

Five Things You Never Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do

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?
If your car has 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 you have a spare remote keyless entry at home, then call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone, and have the person there to get the spare keyless entry unit. Then hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and ask the person at home to hold the keyless entry unit near their mobile phone, and press the unlock button. Your car will unlock. Distance is no object, this can be done even if you are hundreds of miles away. If you have a relative or spouse that has a cell phone, who also carries with them a spare of your car remote unit, you can do the same thing. You can have them unlock you car doors (or the trunk) in the same fashion, no matter where they happen to be.

THIRD - Hidden Reserved 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.
You first need to know your Mobile phone's serial number. To find it, 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 gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them that code. They will then be able to block your handset so your phone will be totally useless, even if the thief changes the SIM card. 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.

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. This is sponsered by MacDonalds.

[carpediem]

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. This is sponsered by MacDonalds.

I've mentioned this before but there is another free 411 service from Google.

1-800-GOOG-411 (4664-411)

You can also get information by sending texts to:

GOOGL (46645)

[lightstream]

outstanding stuff!

a cookie for both of you 

[os2k]

I am not sure if this is a bad April 1st joke, or just misinformation. However, some of the content of the posting is just plain wrong.

read more here http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/business/a/cellphone_tips.htm

[Jouten]

It's true that a lot of the information is false.  Had to deal with all this in junk spam mail from peers at work and already did the 'urban legends' thing.  I am so tired of seeing this crap.

[Izzmo]

I personally like Microsofts free 411 swrvice better: CALL 411

[markman219]

damn i got excited about some of the stuff there but then read that most of its fake.

[werdgo]

actually the cell phone thing + remote car does work... ive used it before...

the battery thing sounds stupid and the serial number is retarded cuz all you have to do is call your provider and tell them your number, but the other stuff works

[markman219]

oh cool cause that was the main thing i was excited about.

[nunya]

this was taken from a quiz on the aol homepage on saturday.

the rebuttal:
112 works... except in the US
there is no spare battery power. but you can reduce your phone usage if you go into low power mode. sure, the lights are dim and the web moves at 15k a minute instead of 150k a second, not to mention the poor sound quality and low volume of calls. but your battery will last.

i won't even go through the entire list, but you get the general idea

[namelesstwo]

I am not sure if this is a bad April 1st joke, or just misinformation. However, some of the content of the posting is just plain wrong.

read more here http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/business/a/cellphone_tips.htm

When I first read the post in another forum, I thought the same thing, a bad April Fool's joke. But when I saw the last one on the list, I though that maybe all of it could also be correct, so I decided to share with you all in here, and in the LG-VU forum.

I got some flak over there and several rebuttals, here's one of them and my answers:

Quote
1. The worldwide emergency number for cell phones is 112.
Not quite. Throughout most of Europe and a few countries outside of the EU, dialing 112 will connect users to local emergency services. However, the number won't work in North America, nor most of Asia and Africa. Many, but not all, cell phone models will allow special emergency numbers to be dialed even if the phone lacks a SIM card or the keypad is locked.

My reply:
Ok this is from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-1-2
"In 1991, the European Union established 112 as the universal emergency number for all its member states. All EU countries have already implemented 112 and the number can be dialled free of charge from any telephone or any mobile phone. The GSM mobile phone standard designates 112 as an emergency number, so it will work on GSM phones EVEN IN NORTH AMERICA where GSM system redirects emergency calls to 911, or Australia where emergency calls are redirected to 000. It is one of two numbers (the other being 911) that can be dialed on most GSM phones even if the phone is locked."


Quote
2. Unlock a car door with your cell phone and a spare remote key.
False. Cell phones and remote keyless entry systems work on entirely different radio frequencies. Therefore, cell phones are incapable of re-transmitting the signal from a remote key to unlock a car door.

My reply:
Well you may be totally right and totally wrong. Check this out:
http://buyanauto.blogspot.com/2007/04/remote-keyless-entry-unlock-doors-via.html
Also another interesting test:
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/06/01/video-keyless-entry-remote-not-working-use-your-head-silly/

Still I'd like to find out for myself, so today I'm planning to test it in my 1994 Buick Regal at 100 ft away (enough to be totally out of range). I'll have a friend with her cell phone next to my car, and I'll be 100 ft away with my remote and cell phone. I'll post the true results in my next post.


Quote
3. Press *3370# to access 'reserve battery power.'
False. On some Nokia phones, users can punch in special codes and toggle between speech codec modes to 1) enhance voice transmission quality at the cost of diminished battery performance, or 2) enhance battery performance by decreasing voice quality. Apparently, some users have misconstrued the latter as "tapping into reserve battery power."

My reply:
On this one it seems that it's a Nokia proprietary thing and it probably won't work with other brands of cell phones. Go here for more info:
http://www.jamiiforums.com/technology-science-forum/24189-hidden-battery-power.html


Quote
4. Press *#06# to disable a stolen cell phone.
Not exactly. On some cell phone models, but not all, pressing *#06# will cause the phone's 15-digit International Mobile Equipment Identity to be displayed. Some service providers, but not all, can use that information to deactivate the handset. In any case, it isn't necessary to supply an IMEI number to cancel your cellular account in the event of theft; simply call your provider, give them the appropriate account information, and tell them the phone was stolen.

My reply:
It's correct that if you lose your phone or it gets stolen, all you have to do is call your service provider and give them your name and cel number, and they'll deactivate the phone. You really don't need the phone's ID #. Besides, on the LG Vu, you don't need to remember any special code. Just tap Main Menu/Settings/More/Handset Information, and you'll get the phone ID# and other info.
But there are more security issues than just a phone being stolen. Check this one out: http://www2.cit.cornell.edu/cellphone/security.html


Quote
5. Make 411 calls on your cell phone without charge by dialing (800) FREE 411.
Basically true

My reply:
I've known this to be true for a while, so there's nothing to say except, that when you call you may have to listen to some ads and commercials, before you get an answer.

And I agree that the Google411 (800-466-4411) is a better deal.

name -2

[CamaroZ28c]

Mythbusters tackled the locked door thing and they called it busted.  I also gave it a shot with my alarm since it is a long range radio frequency remote, not a typical 100 ft range type and it still didn't work.  I call BS on that one! 

[sadiesykes]

most, if not all, are fake.
especially 2.