Mobile Phone News:

The germ of the idea for this blog post came when I heard a story, yesterday, from the lass who sits opposite me. A story about someone being kidnapped in our local supermarket, that immediately made me go, “Yeeeeeeeeah, oooooo-kay.”

Lo and behold, after researching it, it’s an urban myth going back to, it’s estimated, 1940’s America.

And then I thought… what urban myths exist out there about mobile phones? Are they complete toss, or is there a small shred of truth in them? So, I set about researching them thoroughly (well, I say thoroughly, it mainly involved just reading Snopes), and without further ado, here’s my guide to the top 5 mobile phone urban myths (with my opinion in red, under it)

1. The £50-per-minute mobile phone scam

Myth:
Persistent rumours float about the internet that if you receive a call from 0709-something-something-something, it will connect you to a premium rate service that charges you £50 per minute! It’s all completely legal, and there’s nothing you can do but pay it. Beware, and so forth.

Annoyingly, there are some scams that operate not entirely differently to this, but the maximum premium rate price you’ll pay in the UK is £1.50 a minute, way below the £50 this rumour would have us believe. But there are scammers out there that hang up as soon as you answer, and if you call back, you DO get connected to a premium rate number. Just not at £50. Easy way to avoid it? Don’t answer a call from a number you don’t know, and don’t call it back. If it really is someone important, they’ll text you or leave a voicemail.

Status: Kind of true-ish
Risk of being scammed: Low, just manage your calls sensibly

2. Five things you never knew your mobile phone could do!

Myth:
An email and viral message went round, sharing the list of secret things mobile phones can do, that people never knew about. Are they real, or are they bobbins?

The worldwide emergency number is 112. You can use it ANYWHERE, even when your keypads locked.
Well, ok, this bit’s kind of true, but overstated. 112 is the emergency number in the UK (can’t comment on other countries), and it does let you use another networks’ masts, if you’re not in a service area.

If you lock your keys in your car, and you have remote keyless entry, simply call home, get them to press the button on the keys as you hold the mobile phone near your car, and it will unlock.
Utter, unmitigated toss! Quite apart from the fact they work on entirely different frequencies, it just sounds stupid. It’s not like the mobile phone magically transmits microwave radiation from home to your car. If you believe this is even possible under the laws of nature, you’re delusional. And it can’t be based on sound, otherwise you could unlock your car by whistling at it…

You can unlock hidden battery power from a secret reserve in the mobile phone, by pressing *3370#. That will get you about 50% more power, and uses the power in this secret reserve.
Erm, what? Having taken a mobile phone apart, there IS no secret reserve. Besides which, that key sequence, on Nokia mobile phones, puts them in enhanced voice mode, which actually kills the battery even quicker. Confused rubbish.

Press *#06# to get a secret 15-digit code that, if your mobile phone gets stolen, you can give to your service provider and they’ll block it, so the perps can never use it. Ha, that’ll teach ‘em.
OK, granted, this one’s also kind of true. That 15-digit code is your IMEI number, and the networks CAN use that to blacklist the handset. In practice, though, that will most likely only mean it can’t be used on THAT network, and besides, criminals can flash the phone to change the IMEI. Still, anything that makes law-breaking scumbags’ lives harder is cool by me!

There exist free directory enquiry services, that don’t charge you on your mobile phone.
Well, true, they don’t charge you extra to use that service, but you’ll still have to pay for the call, and the networks will charge you for that. No such thing as a free lunch, remember!

Status: True in places, mixed with bobbins
Chances of benefitting: Debatable

3. Electrocution from your mobile phone

Myth:
Never, ever use your mobile phone when it’s charging. Never, ever use it when it’s plugged into the mains, because someone did that, got electrocuted, and nearly died after electricity freely flowed into his handset. For the love of god, never use mobile phones when they’re plugged in, or they’ll become instruments of DEATH!

Oh, come on. Did anyone seriously believe this load of old cack for one second?? Virtually the only time I ever use my mobile phone is when it’s plugged into the damn wall! If (and it’s a big if) electricity could ‘flow freely’ into the phone, the fuse in the charger would go, or the transformer would blow up, before the phone pumped electricity into your head. Message to whoever came up with this urban myth: get a job, and pack it in.

On a side note, though, always use genuine Nokia, or Sony Ericsson, or whatever, batteries, as cheap knock-off, third party batteries from Chinese sweatshops can and DO sometimes explode…

Status: Dangerous, scare-mongering rubbish.
Risk of being electrocuted: Don’t lose sleep over this one, folks…

4. You can cook an egg by putting it between two mobile phones

Myth:
If you put an egg between two mobile phones that are in ‘call’ mode, they will cook the egg. If it does that to an egg, imagine what it does to our brains! Oh noes!

Amazing, how so many people believe this when it was first published as a completely acknowledged hoax, on the Wymsey Village Web. It was then picked up by the Russian tabloid Pravda, who allegedly replicated the experiment, and proved it. Really? Do a search on Pravda, and find out how reliable they are. Think Sunday Sport, and you won’t be far wrong. Fact is, in all the experiments people have tried, to replicate this, not ONE of them could get it to work. After sitting between two mobile phones for over an hour, not only was the egg not cooked, it wasn’t even warm.

A microwave oven will make an egg explode, by making its contents heat and expand. Mobile phones put out hundreds and thousands times less microwave radiation than ovens. Yet people still claim they’re the worst threat to humanity’s health, EVER…?

Status: Utterly false, the egg is fine.
Was the egg ok after this experiment? It was lovely, I had it with soldiers.

5. Mobile phones make petrol stations explode

Myth:
If you use mobile phones in the petrol station, you run a very real and serious risk of causing a huge fire, and making the petrol station explode. All those petrol stations wouldn’t ban it if there was nothing in it!

Ooh, a controversial one! I know I’m going to get flamed to a crisp for this one (no pun intended), but there is NO evidence of mobile phones EVER having caused a fire in a petrol station. Honestly, even the BBC reported that University researchers have found that in the 273 cases where petrol station fires were attributed to mobile phones, not one of them actually was caused by it.

The argument about the batteries in phones sparking is likely rubbish, too, as they work on direct current like your car battery, but they’re much lower power. Does the petrol station explode because of the car in it? No. So how can a phone make it blow up? And if you’re worried about microwave radiation causing the petrol to ignite, bear in mind the bit in ‘The Usual Suspects’ DVD commentary, when talking about the cigarette in petrol, that wouldn’t light the petrol. Think about that. Something on fire couldn’t light the petrol trail, but a mobile phone can?

Still, I shall continue not to use my phone in petrol stations, because I might get shouted at by the mad woman behind the counter. Nevertheless, I stand by the assertion that you’re more likely to blow up a petrol station with a spark from your shellsuit than from your mobile phone.

Status: Unproven. Scientists say myth, scaremongers say true.
Will I blow up? I say no, there’s no scientific basis for saying you will. But you’ll get shouted at by the mad woman behind the counter, who’s scarier than a faceful of flaming petrol… plus, I may be wrong, and the consequences of me being wrong on this one would be you getting charbroiled to a crisp. Although, TV show Brainiac did test out whether phones could ignite petrol and found they couldn’t.

So, there you have it; the top 5 ever urban myths around mobile phones, and they show just how these things can get started. Usually by someone being damn stupid and misquoting something.

A lesson there for us all, I reckon!

Do you agree with Technical Markus? Do you think people should worry about these things actually, maybe, in fact, being true? Do you think people who believe these urban myths are dunces? Either way, leave us a comment and have your say!