[jerseymom531]

My employer put a "cell phone jammer" in at our office. Seems like only blackberries have been affected... Any advise??

[Shao128]

That is illegal in the US. Your employer could face a fine up to $11,000 or a year in jail. Im not sure if you'd need to contact the FCC or your local law enforcement, but you could probably make a few calls to find out.


FCC: Wireless Services: Cellular Services: Operations: Blocking & Jamming

[ceb]

My employer put a "cell phone jammer" in at our office. Seems like only blackberries have been affected... Any advise??

Your employer surely didn't install a cell phone jammer and, even if they did, they wouldn't affect a specific type of device - but rather a carrier or group of carriers.

What you actually saying is that you've lost cell phone reception on your particular blackberry - check with your carrier about tower issues in your area.

If your empoyer didn't want you using cell phones then they could easily forbid bringing phones into the facility. A completely legal solution to their problem - and much cheaper.

The issue with your employer is much more than cellphones and you should try to fix that.

[ratsttam]

I can't imagine a "jammer" affecting only blackberries... I can see if it affected say only at&t/t-mobile and not verizon/sprint, or vice versa, but NOT a particular device.
And as Shao mentioned, it's illegal to use an active jamming device.

There can be other factors affecting signal strength, such as operating electrical machinery, If a remodel was done, there may have been a metal mesh (faraday cage) put into the walls [which IS legal, as it's a "passive" method, no transmitters used], to remove or minimize outside radio frequencies which may prevent phones that use certain frequencies from working, but again, this will affect on the carrier level, not a device level.

[phone9]

I know a guy who got fined $15,000 for broadcasting too strong a radio signal from his house. The FCC triangulated his position and nailed him even though he said he only broadcast at high power a couple of times for kicks to shout down his Ham buddies.

[gmkahuna]

If it gives off any type of electrical broadcast signal at all, including this five dollar jamming device that CPJ posted a picture of, it CAN be located. cb1111, you sir, are dead on correct.

[the_sandman_454]

I agree, they should be able to track it down somewhat easily if an active jammer is being used, especially considering one would have to believe the jammer has to be more powerful than the signal the phones can transmit to the towers so they can't still overpower it and be functional.

Then there are other issues like having the jammer in close proximity to yourself, which probably isn't the best for you since that's likely to emit significantly more RF radiation than your phone does...

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