I know I rarely, if ever, leave home without my cell phone.  It has the numbers I use most programmed into it.  In an emergency, it’s right at my side to call for help.  But to be honest, one of the best things about having a cell phone is the convenience of communication.  You can get a hold of someone, and they can get a hold of you at nearly any time, any place.  Unfortunately, what’s convenient for the person on the phone can be downright rude to everyone around them.  A whopping 9 out of 10 people in a recent AP-AOL-Pew poll say they’ve been annoyed by the way other people use their phones in public.

      It seems people are becoming increasingly comfortable chatting away on cell phones in grocery stores, restaurants, and movie theatres.  Ringing cell phones are even a problem in some schools and churches.  So for this special report, we set out to find out how you can get people to “Shut the Cell Up.” 

      Devices commonly called cell phone jammers do just that.  When you activate a jammer it sends a signal over the same frequency as cell phones in its vicinity.  When you try to make a call, your cell phone signal collides with the signal from the jammer.  The signals cancel each other out- and you lose your service. 

      In other countries, ordinary citizens can buy a jammer and use it wherever they deem cell phone use to be annoying.  But in the U.S., cell phone jammers are legal only for use by federal government agencies.

      I went to Schaumburg, Illinois, to meet with the heads of Antenna Systems and Solutions, Inc.  This is one of a handful of companies in the United States that manufactures jammers for the government.  They showed me how a basic jammer works.  But they also told me about more advanced models that the military uses for security in Iraq.  Jammers can prevent terrorists from detonating explosive devices with a cell phone trigger.  Cutting off cell phone communication between members of opposing forces also makes them unorganized and hinders their ability to attack.  Prisons can also use cell phone jammers for security.  Inmates can’t use cell phones smuggled in from the outside to continue their criminal activity or organize an uprising or escape.

      In spite of the laws, it doesn’t appear to be hard to an ordinary American to get their hands on a jammer.  I was surprised to see how many companies overseas make these devices available to Americans online.  Phonejammer.com, for instance, says that the customer is responsible for making sure his or her actions are legal.  But it will also ship products anywhere in the world, and all of its prices are in American dollars.  There are even testimonials from allegedly American customers raving about their purchases.

      If you use a cell phone jammer illegally, you could be fined $11,000 for each violation.  But the F-C-C investigates complaints.  Chances are if your signal is being jammed you don’t know it.  I know if I lose a call, I figure I’m in a “dead-zone” or in a building constructed with a lot of steel.  People could very well could be using these devices in a number of places. Maybe they just haven’t been caught.

      Some American companies are marketing products that would have the same effect of a cell phone jammer without breaking the law.  A company called Natural Nano is working on a way to put tiny copper fragments in paint.  When a room is painted, the walls prevent a cell phone signal from passing through to the tower.  Doing this is a passive way of blocking a signal instead of actively jamming a frequency, so its legal.

      Of course, the technology I’m talking about is controversial.  People argue that since they’re paying for their cell phone service, they should be able to use it as they please.  The F-C-C agrees.  Others say jammers could cause major problems by blocking emergency phone calls.

      So call me old fashioned, but you could always just ask the loudmouth next to you on the bus to keep the noise down.  And if you need some help breaking the ice, a Chicago design firm thinks you should join SHHH.  That’s the Society for Hand-Held Hushing.  You can check out its website atwww.coudal.com/shhh.php, and download a set of handy cards with a subtle (or not-so-subtle) message.  My favorite: “We are aware that your conversation about (fill in the blank) is very important to you, but we thought you’d like to know that it doesn’t interest us in the least.  In fact, your babbling disregard for others is more than a little annoying.”