Cell phones have been manufactured as a solution to communicate with your friends, relatives, and loved ones when it is challenging or impossible to use a landline. However, extreme use of mobile phones can be pretty irritating and disturbing. In these times, blocking cell phone signals might prove to be worthwhile. Numerous devices can cause a pause in mobile phone signals, and some of them have this unique purpose. This article will mainly focus on how to block cell phone signal with magnets for this specific aim.
Cell phone signals depend on radio waves for their transmission. Cell phones will not simply work in your area if you manage to block radio waves. Magnets can create operative shielding for the radio waves that make up cell phone signals. Even though there are many products on the market for blocking cell phone signals, only some work off magnets. Most of those products are designed for shielding offices and homes.
Are you interested in some of the buzzes this topic has caused on social media and other online websites? It looks good to dig deep into the matter and attempt to piece together the mystery. Why do cell phone signals blocking magnets exist, why phone users might want to use them, and why have some countries made them illegal to use? However, later in this article, we will look into some inert and legal ways to lawfully and safely block cell phone service without FCC coming to your door.
Why use magnets to block cell phone signals?
Have you ever thought to yourself, “I do desire that there was no cell phone reception here?” Whether it is somebody interrupting a movie that you have been dying to watch since it was released in the theater or someone getting a little too informal with their loved ones over the phone as they walk through the grocery store or the airport.
It can also be someone using their cell phone in the washroom stall next to you. There appears to be no end to the distress and irritation that cell phone reception can cause in your daily life.
But more ordinary circumstances might lead one to wish that cell phone reception in your area to drop inexplicably. Let us look at some more formal situations.
- Disturbing a bus full of passengers while arguing over the cell phone
- Using your cell phone in a hospital where it is specially indicated not to talk on it
- Trying to write your award-winning novel at your preferred coffee shop while someone in the booth behind you won’t stop chattering about the girl trying to hit on her fiancé
- Trying to pay attention to your lecturer and learn instead of texting away on your cellphone
There are so many scenarios when it seems like it would be best to have a magnet to block cell phone signals so that you can drive, learn, study, or relax in peace. We live in a world that prospers on cell phone usage.
We keep the phones on hand 24/7 if we need to look something up to win an argument or receive a vital text or email. While the phones have done an excellent, they have ruined our social experiences with others.
How can you block cell phone signals using magnets?
Magnets can block cell phone signals using magnetic particles using the whole idea of electromagnetic interference. Magnetic wood could be key in the battle against noisy mobile phone users. The sophisticated material absorbs microwave radio signals that cell signals rely upon, making it difficult to use a cell phone in any place lined with it or radio. For instance, movie theatres and restaurants can stop persons using cell phones in their buildings without going for cell signal jammers.
But how do the magnets work to block cell signals? The magnetic wood so known is packed with tiny magnetic particles. A plank of wood is chosen as a preferred blocking material since it provides more natural, appealing options for interior design.
While the usual wood is apparent to radio waves, the magnetic blocks signal because it contains fine particles of a magnetic material known as nickel-zinc ferrite. When an electromagnetic radio wave hits the nickel-zinc ferrite particles, the wave’s magnetic part is absorbed, resulting in the blockage of cell signals.
The four ways of making the magnetic wood absorb radio waves (cell signals) were looked upon before the best one was hinted at. The first way was a wood coated with a ferrite powder. The other ways were designed by mixing ferrite powder with cider wood powder and inserting it into boards, soaking the wood with particles, or sandwiching wood pulp with ferrite powder between two thin wooden pieces.
Each treated wood was tested by putting collars over a short antenna that broadcasts electromagnetic waves at the usual GSM mobile phone frequencies of 900 MHz and 1.8 GHz.
The short antenna can also broadcast at signal frequencies up to 2.5 GHz, covering the range used for wireless networks like Bluetooth and the evolving IEEE 802.11 standard, known as Wi-Fi. A receiver detected the strength of the radio waves (cell signals) transmitted through each material.
Finally, it was discovered that nickel-zinc ferrite sandwiched between thin pieces of wood performed best. Additional tests showed that a 4-mm-thick sandwich absorbed the most radio wave radiation, blocking the wave’s power by 97%. Increasing the thickness of the sandwich’s outer wooden sheets increased the radio waves frequency the shield would absorb.
These signal blocking magnets are illegal in countries like the US, Britain, and Australia. In addition, signal jammers cause considerable problems since their signals can spill out of the home or office they are covering, interfering with other phone users’ calls.
Are there other ways to block cell signals?
Whereas the law forbids using a device to actively disrupt a cell phone signal, there are no regulations against passive cell phone signal blocking ways. That implies using things like building materials fixed with metal fragments to block cell phone signals from reaching inside or outside the house or office.
This article recommends the following passive approach to cell phone signal blocking;
- Place a thick steel plate between your mobile phone and the nearby tower. This method blocks the cell signal and requires to be heavy and needs to be pretty massive.
- Another best passive cell phone signal blocker is water. Although this appears like it would be challenging to create a wall of water somewhere, it has been done.
- The more apps you have running on your phone, the more bandwidth they will require. Most times, apps that are not closed and continue running in the background eat up bandwidth and block the cell signal.
- The other thing that prevents you from receiving good cell phone reception in your buildings is thick walls. If you’re planning to build a cell phone-free Movie Theater, library, or restaurant, consider your building location and materials.
Unfortunately, this route isn’t excellent if you’re looking for portable signal blockers that will provide you with a peaceful daily ride to and from work. However, these are ways to consider if you are a business owner, and it will not bring the fury of the FCC.
What materials can block the cell signals?
The maximum signal strength performance is at -50 dB (closest to network tower with no hindrances), while -110 dB signal strength would imply practically “no service” or 0 to 1 bar. Most mobile phones already have an approximately -90 dB of signal strength indoors but operate reliably even with such low signal strengths.
Materials that are poor conductors of electricity like dry wood, drywall, nylon papers, plastics, and glass will impede a cell phone signal but not block it. Good electricity conducting materials like tin, copper, iron, aluminum, and others can block your cell signals completely.
How to block cell phone signal with aluminum foil?
Wrapping a mobile phone with aluminum foil creates a Faraday cage. Since cell phone signals are electronic, the aluminum foil prevents the cell signal from reaching the mobile phone. However, wrapping some phone models in tin foil would only improve the cell’s signal rather than suppress the signal.
Bottom line
Using signal blocking magnets will give you more distress than it is worth. Whereas you might enjoy your next movie theater experience in absolute silence, the FCC is categorically clear in its statement on the legality of these magnets.
Therefore, if you’re looking for a passive way to discourage mobile phone usage within your residence, look into your surrounding structure. Are you’re planning for a new location to build your movie theater? Reflect where the closest network phone tower is, and try to place yourself somewhere obstructed by a hill, large buildings, or at least as far away from the cell tower as you can.
