On Wed, 6 Dec 2000, Daniel L. Golding wrote:
I have worked in data centers where cell phones, FM radios, Nextel phones, etc. were banned. The theory was that the radios could somehow interfere with the equipment. This never made much sense to me. Are restrictions such as this common? Anyone have any thoughts on if this is rooted in truth or falacy? It's very hard to work on some type of network problems, where you have to console in, while using someone standing outside a data center as a "talker".
As one of the people responsible for implimenting such rule in the data center that you are referring to, I have to say that, IMHO, any device when held fairly close to my land line telephone causes loud clicking and screaching noises, or when held near a CRT makes the whole screen dance around in a pretty pattern is likely to cause problems with other electronic equipment as well. Of course I've only really experienced this with PCS band mobile phones, not with cordless phones or analog cellular, but we made it a blanket rule so as to not have to inspect each visitor's phone to determine if it was likely to cause a problem or not. Brandon Ross 404-522-5400 EVP Engineering, NetRail http://www.netrail.net AIM: BrandonNR ICQ: 2269442 Read RFC 2644!