Hey, quick question.

[conuly]

Is it possible for somebody to casually just, like, pick up your cell phone signals? So if, say, you call a noise complaint on them *two minutes* before they shut up and send their friends home and go inside, and they do this *every time* no matter if you call at 11 or at 3, could it be more than a really weird coincidence?

Comments

[lady-angelina.livejournal.com]

I don't know, but I've had this phenomenon happen to me when I used my landline to call the grounds security on noisy next-door neighbors. >.< Could be a coincidence, or maybe if the walls are really thin and they're just outside, they can hear you speaking over the phone. I know that when my neighbors are just outside, I can hear every word they say because the walls are paper thin.

But to answer your question, sorry, I don't really know. D: But it's irritating because then the security thinks you're just making up stuff.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Two things come to mind: thin walls or baby monitors.

If you're using baby monitors in the house, consider not doing that. You can pick up those frequencies (at least, you used to be able to). I remember going around the neighborhood with my brothers and listening to other people's homes out of curiosity when I was a kid and not quite as ethical as I now strive to be.

[conuly]

Well, we have intercoms, but this problem predates that.

[alessandriana.livejournal.com]

Maybe they know someone who works in security who warns them? Or else they have something that can pick up the walkie-talkie signal that security uses?

[conuly]

Well, I'm calling the cops. I guess there could be petty corruption, but every time? Surely sometimes their friend would be home sick?

[alessandriana.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see. For some reason-- I guess previous comments-- I thought you were calling building security or something. If it's cops, then maybe they have a police scanner?

[conuly]

No, we have our own home.

And I doubt this is on the police scanner. I call 311, and they shut up before I finish making the call. It doesn't even get sent to the local precinct until you're done calling.

[alessandriana.livejournal.com]

You've got me, then! That's really weird. You could... I dunno, spy on them back and see if you can figure out how they're doing it?

[wednes.livejournal.com]

A neighbor of mine used to have a cheap police scanner that picked up not just police radios, but nearby cordless phones as well. I was almost convicted of a crime because he was listening to me and my phone sex clients, and stealing their credit card info to boot.

[redbird]

Thin walls and/or baby monitors both seem possible. One possible test, at least for the thin walls: find a friend who would be willing to pretend to be 311 when you called, and instead of calling the city, go through the same noise complaint routine you would with them, and see if the noise stops.

That would be less likely to work if they're somehow listening in on the whole call, unless your friend answered with the 311 standard recorded message. But it seems more likely that they'd overhear you through the walls than that, in the middle of a party, they'd be listening to any more complicated spy device. (If they have a baby monitor, it's likely to be on all the time, though.)

[(Anonymous)]

May depend on your cell phone.

I doubt the thin walls issue because if they are making that much noise then how could they hear you over themselves. Other factors I know make that unlikely.

Of course they could just get louder when things are winding down and it is you who are on their schedule. A hint to that being the case is the phrasing of your question: "you call a noise complaint on them *two minutes* before they shut up..." rather than saying 'two minutes later they shut up...' all a case of cause following effect.

A smith