All About Jammers - CNN

Two weeks ago, a Philadelphia man admitted to using a cell jammer on a bus.  He was annoyed by everyone’s obnoxious public calls so he knocked out their service.  We discussed this on CNN…

First things first – what the heck is a cell phone jammer? 

A cell jammer is a device that can disable anyone’s cell phone within a certain range by not allowing it to access a signal.

The best one I’ve ever seen looked like a regular Blackberry. And it’s not complicated–it only takes a touch of a button to knock out cell service.

courtesy: pinoytutorial.com

They cost anywhere from $40 – to thousands of dollars. And while you can find a ton of sites online selling them, they are most likely from stores overseas because they are illegal in the US. 

The Philly man caused cell jammers to trend on Google and the FCC stepped in and noted that the use of such device is illegal and can come with hefty fines.


And we can’t talk cell jammers without talking about SpeechJammer – also creating tech buzz this week.

Scientists from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan have invented a device to make someone stop talking.  It’s called a SpeechJammer. 

How it works - The device has a microphone and a speaker on it.  The speaker records the persons sound and fires their own voice back at them milliseconds later. This completely confuses the brain and trips them up.

Formally, this is known as delayed audio feedback.

This does not cause the speaker any discomfort and the principal concept could actually be used to help those with a stutter condition.

For now, it is still in prototype phase, but you can image the impact this could have on people giving speeches, protestors, or just anyone being loud and obnoxious on a cell phone.