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Mexican Churches Jam Mobile Phones


cappie

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Mexican churches jam mobile phone signals at Mass


Four Catholic churches in Monterrey, Mexico, are jamming mobile phone signals with with Israeli-made transmitters designed to protect embassies and presidential motorcades from bugs and bombs detonated by phone.

"These devices have solved a very big problem for us," said Gloria Cardenas Aguero, secretary at the Rosario church. "This time in church belongs to God, and you should respect it."

Hattiesburg American reports that the problem of mobile phone noise is especially acute in Mexico because so many churches are old, with stone sanctuaries that amplify sounds. Nearly two-thirds of phone users in Mexico use mobile phones.

Jamming cell phones is illegal in Mexico, but Mexico's Federal Telecommunications Commission has decided to turn a blind eye on what the churches are doing.

The $A2141 jammers are boxes about the size of walkie-talkies. As churchgoers walk into the sanctuary, the devices overwhelm the phones with electronic noise. Incoming calls don't ring, and calls are bounced to voice mail.

SOURCE
Churches' new calling: Jam cell phones (HattiesburgAmerican.com 21/9/04)/a>

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i feel like im taking crzy pills

That's cool. I mean, seriously, it's an [i]hour[/i], not a lifetime. Can't people just respect God and turn off or silence their cell phones?!?!

<_<

It's not that hard, and anything you miss will be there when you get back...

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I want to start by saying that I always switch my phone and pager to vibrate before Mass.

Now, on to the reason this type of thing would be a problem for me. I am on call at work 2 weeks out of every 3 weeks. Since I work for a hospital and am responsible for clinical computer systems that are vital to patient care, I can not be in a place that blocks the signal to my cell phone and pager. It's just not an option.

And yes, in my case an hour can make a difference...

Edited by thicke
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[quote name='Scofizzle' date='Sep 21 2004, 08:37 PM'] but thicke...you also have to think.....you are the exception to a big problem [/quote]
I realize that. I just don't think I should be the one have problems because others are inconsiderate and/or selfish.

Now this is hypothetical because as Raph said these devices are banned here in the US. But, if every parish here where I lived were to install them, I would either have to miss Mass 2/3 of the time or find a new job. The finding a new job is not easy right now either, believe me! I'm looking!

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Actually there are slighty more low - tech ways.

Insist that every turns off the cell phone

Brass mesh around the whole building.

I like the less pratical one.

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[quote name='Theoketos' date='Sep 21 2004, 09:20 PM'] Insist that every turns off the cell phone
[/quote]
Yeah, the cantors make an announcement before the start of every Mass at my parish asking people to "silence pagers and cell phones". As far as I can tell, this has stopped a lot of the interruptions, but not all.

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That's amazing! They should do that in all churches...libraries too (I can't even count how many times I've told people to turn off their phones, we even have signs all over)

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Thy Geekdom Come

[quote name='Scofizzle' date='Sep 22 2004, 01:17 AM'] morph whats the deal withyour sig? [/quote]
The IRA is a terrorist organization of "Catholics" in Northern Ireland...

<_<

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