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It's possible that they have their own "cell tower" that the phones connect to, that blocks all non-phone-call connections. That's not a "jammer", but would hav

It's possible that they have their own "cell tower" that the phones connect to, that blocks all non-phone-call connections. That's not a "jammer", but would have the same effect. It feels unlikely, because it seems like it would impact people outside the school, unless the whole school is effectively a faraday cage.

_cj3c 2y ago
Can a faraday cage be switched on and off? Phones work fine in the school in the morning.
- pavel_lishin 2y ago
  Maybe, but it's more likely that they're simply toggling some mode in that private cell tower to allow certain connections through or not. The faraday cage comment was more about making sure people outside of the school aren't affected - you wouldn't want strangers walking by to be unable to connect to the internet. (Or hell, maybe they don't care?)
- stop50 2y ago
  A faraday cage works passivly and can't be shut down. I would rather think that the school has a deal with the cell tower operator. since these towers are identifiable and can be triangulated i should be easy checkable where the cell tower is.
  - pavel_lishin 2y ago
    When we lived in one of our apartments, we had no cell signal, so the phone company sent us a "personal" unit - we plugged it into our router, and it received a connection to the internet, and allowed us to connect to the cell network. It was limited to only our phone numbers as well. I imagine the school is using something similar, but on a larger scale.
    - JohnFen 2y ago
      I once lived in an apartment building where there was no cell coverage unless you climbed onto the roof. I bought a little cell repeater, put up an antenna, and restored great service. Not just to myself but to everyone within a couple hundred feet of me. The entire setup cost me around $200. I wasn't examining the cell connections, but I could have. They've changed the laws since then to require you to get the cell provider's permission before doing that -- but presumably that would be a very easy thing for a school to get.

_cj3c 2y ago

Can a faraday cage be switched on and off? Phones work fine in the school in the morning.

pavel_lishin 2y ago
Maybe, but it's more likely that they're simply toggling some mode in that private cell tower to allow certain connections through or not. The faraday cage comment was more about making sure people outside of the school aren't affected - you wouldn't want strangers walking by to be unable to connect to the internet. (Or hell, maybe they don't care?)
stop50 2y ago
A faraday cage works passivly and can't be shut down. I would rather think that the school has a deal with the cell tower operator. since these towers are identifiable and can be triangulated i should be easy checkable where the cell tower is.
- pavel_lishin 2y ago
  When we lived in one of our apartments, we had no cell signal, so the phone company sent us a "personal" unit - we plugged it into our router, and it received a connection to the internet, and allowed us to connect to the cell network. It was limited to only our phone numbers as well. I imagine the school is using something similar, but on a larger scale.
  - JohnFen 2y ago
    I once lived in an apartment building where there was no cell coverage unless you climbed onto the roof. I bought a little cell repeater, put up an antenna, and restored great service. Not just to myself but to everyone within a couple hundred feet of me. The entire setup cost me around $200. I wasn't examining the cell connections, but I could have. They've changed the laws since then to require you to get the cell provider's permission before doing that -- but presumably that would be a very easy thing for a school to get.