Serving the
communities of
Oak Park
, Illinois,
Forest
Park
, Illinois
River Forest
, Illinois
Elmwood Park,
Illinois Berwyn, Illinois
Since 1999.
Five Things You Never Knew Your
Cellular 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. Check out the things that you can do
with it (with commentary courtesy of SOP reader Lynn Miraglia
(Thanks Lynn!) and
Snopes:
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!
"Calling 112 on your cell phone will (in some parts of the world, primarily Europe) connect you to local emergency services, even if you are outside your provider's service area (i.e., even if you are not authorized to relay signals through the cell tower that handles your call), and many cell phones allow the user to place 112 calls even if the phone lacks a SIM
card or its keypad is locked. However, the 112 number does
not have (as is sometimes claimed) special properties that
enable callers to use it in areas where all cellular signals
are blocked (or otherwise unavailable)."
Unlock You Car 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 cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and
the spare keys are at home; call someone at home on their cell
phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot
from your car door and have the person at your home press the
unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end.
Your car will unlock. 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 trunk).
"Cars with remote keyless entry (RKE) systems cannot be unlocked by relaying a key fob transmitter signal via a cellular telephone. RKE systems and cell phones utilize different types of signals and transmit them at different frequencies."
Activate Hidden Battery Power
Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate hidden
battery power in your cell phone, press the keys * 3370#. Your
cell 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 next time.
"The claim that pressing the sequence *3370# will unleash "hidden battery power" in a cell phone seems to be a misunderstanding of an option available on some brands of cell phone (such as Nokia) for Half Rate Codec, which provides about 30% more talk time on a battery charge at the expense of lower sound quality. However, this option is enabled by pressing the sequence *#4720# — the sequence *3370# actually enables Enhanced Full Rate Codec, which provides better sound quality at the expense of
shorter battery life."
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. The 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. They will then be able to block your handset so even if
the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally
useless. 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!
"Entering the sequence *#06# into a cell phone may display a 15-digit identification string, but that function only works with some types of cell phones, and the efficacy of reporting the ID number to a cellular service provider to head off unauthorized use of a lost or stolen phone is limited."
Free Directory Service for Cell Phones
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) FREE 411, or (800)
373-3411 without incurring any charge at all.
"Some business outfits such as (800) FREE-411 do provide free directory assistance services to cell phone customers. However, users should note that the service is "free" in the sense that FREE-411 provides directory information to callers at no charge, but cellular service providers may still assess charges related to placing such calls."
