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   |  | American `Cell Phone' = British `Mobile' = German `Handy'
    (Ugh!)
 Mobile(s) Sometimes Off Or Not Receiving !MOBILE MAY BE OFF IN OWN OFFICE & AT HOME etc.
      
        I prefer you first use my normal terrestrial phone number or email.No point incurring un-necessary microwave radiation to
        brain via mobile in own office.Avoiding mobiles allows a full size desk hand- set that
        can jam between head & shoulder, leaving both hands
        free for computer, or to be able to switch to desk head
        set.Android smart phone may be
        busy, not available for mere phone calls when in own
        office.I don't want any SMSs ! Exception : After Payment For : Computer Consultancy
      Business 
        Company & personal
        policy is NO Mobile Numbers Until After First Payment Received  (may be
        advance partial payment on account). We 've been in business long
        enough to know offers of work, purchase orders, &
        contracts may be nice, but only Money Talks !
       MUNICH OFFICE BLOCKS : MOBILE PHONE, SMS & EMAIL
    PROBLEMS
      If your company is not in Munich & you have difficulty
      contacting me or other of my
      company 's consultants, Please Realise: 
       
        Numerous newer Munich offices occupied by computer,
        electronic & pharmaceutical industries etc, have thin
        metal film on windows. It blocks or degrades mobile phone
        usage, including SIMs on smart phones for email. It's
        purposes /[intended?] effects might include: 
         
          To block solar gain, reduce air conditioning
          cost.Visual privacy: Obstruct industrial espionage eg
          binoculars into conference rooms.Electronic privacy: block RF transmissions from
          monitors (long supposedly a method of copying
          screens).Block mobile phones, so employees don't chat on flat
          rate to friends.Block mobile phones, so business calls can't be
          monitored by competition with a base station.Block mobile phones, so business lines can be
          monitored, including business calls from visiting
          suppliers to competitors.Block mobile phone data links, to prevent disastrous
          internet firewall back door avoidance.Look shiney/ modern to attract purchasers (office
          block purchase is very cyclical, many stood empty in
          2006, Muenchners are notoriously trendy). 
        Thus 
         
          Mobile Phone & SMS
          Communication may not work reliably or at all (depending
          on single/dual band, location, provider).Internet by company internal WiFi base station
          undoubtedly blocked by firewall etc.Internet by WiFi to external LAN base station won't
          work unless perched by open window, & finding an
          insecure external adjacent WiFi base station (fat
          chance!).Internet via GPRS & SIM card (if equipped) may
          not work reliably or at all (depending on single/dual
          band, location, provider).Internet access for email
          &/or via HTTP to remote server likely blocked by
          company firewall.Don't be surprised if you find it difficult to
          contact my company's
          consultants visiting such buildings.If such a building belongs to your customer, & my company's mobile
          consultants are visiting there on your behalf, if you
          need to make urgent contact, do it through your contact
          who is a registered permanent employee there, who has a
          terrestrial phone line &/or firewall access for email.It's hard to contacts consultants if we're working
          shifts & after an RF screened building after
          midnight; we don't hang around outside on cold wet dark
          nights to check for phone calls mails & SMS missed,
          or answer incoming mobile calls driving in the dark, both
          v. dangerous & illegal in Germany, & on arrival
          home after midnight we're not trying to avoid answering
          you, but merely about to Sleep.Sensible customers understand: If you send
          consultants to work in 3rd party customer RF screened
          buildings, with no cabled phone & internet access
          while at work, business communication Will degrade.Do NOT phone me at 3 in the
          morning ! :A Canadian multi- national had management too aggressive
          for such explanation, they repeatedly phoned at 3 in the
          morning, then evaded payment for work done, & wrote
          evil threats to evade debt brokers; We sued; They
          paid.
DRIVING CARS
      I NEVER answer mobile phones while driving a car. 
      
        
          It's long been a criminal offence in Britain & then
          in Germany too. Punishable by 
          
            (Initially ?) 60 Euro fine in Germany
            (small>(probably gone up a lot since, many speeding
            fines went up in 2021/2022).Points endorsed on driving licence in
            FlensburgIt doubtless counts as culpable for potentially
            heavy liability damages if there's an accident.It's Dangerous & Immoral: I won't put pedestrians,
        other drivers, my passengers, or myself at risk for benefit
        of your business or pleasure.I've never used a mobile phone when driving, even
        before it was a criminal offence.As passenger: I rarely am, (I'm usually a
        driver), but keep it short, or talk at motorway stops/ car
        parks: Mobiles in cars transmit at higher power to defeat
        the partial Faraday Cage of the car. How long do I want to
        irradiate my brain, & impose one sided phone chat on
        others in a car ?City Driving: Reports suggest hands free kits
        are distracting. I won't use one alone for city driving, It
        might possibly be OK for light rural traffic, but then I
        often have a passenger who can answer for me. My business
        trips tend to be short distance in heavy & aggressive
        Munich traffic, not safe for `hands free' verbal
        distraction.Longer business trips: if driving my associates
        have my mobile & can answer. Be aware a metal car is a
        semi Faraday cage, mobiles automatically increase their
        microwave transmission power. Localised warming of brain
        cells occurs at normal power (to unknown effect). Not all
        adjacent passengers or driver want to radiate their brain
        faster than normal. Keep the call Short! If I want to call,
        I often stop the car to stretch for a brief break.Petrol Stations: (American: Gas, German Benzin):
        Use Illegal. RF (Radio Frequency) pulsed energy could
        produce a spark. Leaving your phone powered up in trouser
        pocket near fumes from the fuel nozzle during tanking seems
        foolish, mobiles periodically poll for contact, & if
        your trouser leg is leaning near the Faraday cage reflector
        of the bodywork while you fill up ... ? Some petrol
        stations & some countries ban mobiles Not because of RF
        but because of the higher the risk of dropping them, &
        battery causing a spark. ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT
      
        Munich U-Bahn
        (City underground railway) : Phone use illegal. SMS legalMunich S Bahn
        (suburban trains traveling further: mobiles allowed.German National
        Trains: legal.European Planes: Illegal to power on transmitter
        device, thus no acoustic mobile phone , no SMS, (even powering up a dumb mobile
        phone to consult eg a calendar or calculator app will be
        illegal, as dumb phone will poll base stations. A smart
        phone can be switched to flight mode, after which
        calculator & other apps will be legal, so long as No
        app disables flight mode, (& no normal users have
        knowledge of their phone settings & permissions, unless
        they have rooted their smart
        phone)) PUBLIC VENUESSPORTS TRIPS: Cycling, Skiing, Mountain & Flat Land
    Walking, Wind Surfing
      
        I wont answer most of the time, unless by chance
        sitting in a cafe, or on a mountain, stopped for a
        break.Cycling: I never
        answer a phone while cycling. It would be far too
        dangerous. I go Fast. By the time I've found a safe place
        to stop, & pulled phone out, you'll have hung up, I'll
        have wasted energy, & you'll have made me late[r] than
        maybe I already was, & I'll have become extremely hot
        for lack of air cooling. So I won't answer!Skiing: Similar for
        skiing, plus also there are some situations too perilous
        for self &/or others to pull out a mobile from a
        backpack even if stationary. Plenty of ski mountains I know where coverage doesn't
        work half the time.Mountain
        walking, it depends, sometimes not convenient/
        safe.Flat land
        group walking trips I can usually receive a call
        most of time (but not phone you so easily, squinting at a
        small screen in bright day light with no shadow is a great
        way to trip over rocks, & maybe down a hill, else need
        to stop & lose group ahead, or if leading a group,
        inconvenience whole group by stopping just for you - guess
        what ? I may not answer.Wind Surfing
        Trips: Even when on dry land, mobile may already be
        in locked car, car key buried in waterproof bag, in pocket
        of swimming trunks, deep under wet suit that takes ages to
        struggle into, zip up from the back, under trapeze &
        buoyancy jacket. I don't have a half hour to de-rig, look
        up who has long hung up, phone someone back, & re-rig
        all the surf gear. |  |