Q. Someone told me that cordless phones aren't good to talk on because people with scanners can hear your private conversations. Is this true? Are there any cordless phones that are safe? What about cell phones? Can a scanner hear you on your cell phone too?
A. I will expand on the answer given by "silence.." above.
Early cordless phones used analog signals on the 49mHz band and could easily be intercepted by most scanning receivers and by some "baby monitors" that shared the same frequencies.
A little later, cordless phones came out that were on the 900mHz band but still used analog signals. A more expensive type of scanning receiver was required to listen to this band, but it could still be done.
Most newer cordless phones use digital signals and operate on much higher freqency bands. The digital signal must be "decoded" in order to be listened to and this is beyond the capabilities of the average person. While it would be possible for a highly-skilled person to intercept your call, the chances of this happening are remote.
Early cellular phones were also analog and could also be listened to using a scanning receiver, but it was much more difficult as cell signals are constantly switching between towers. You could listen to pieces of different conversations, but it was difficult to stay with any one conversation, and trying to listen to a specific person was nearly impossible.
To prevent people from listening to cell phones, Congress passed a law saying that scanning receivers had to be "blocked" so that they couldn't listen to cell frequencies. The problem with this law was that thousands of "unblocked" receivers were already in use, and that most "blocked" receivers could easily be "unblocked" by simply changing some wiring.
The good news is that, all of the newer cell phones are now digital, and like digital cordless phones, can't be listened to by the average person. There are still some analog cell phones in use (mostly in very rural areas), but effective February of 2008, these will be discontinued.
So, in the case of both the cordless phone and the cell phone, unless you are using very old equipment, you can be fairly sure that it cannot be listened to by the average person with a scanner.
How easy is it to tap someones phone?
Q. I have a friend who recently broke up with a boyfriend. He is still trying to contact her, but she tells me he seems to know unusual details of her private phone conversations and brings them up to her. How can I help her, and how would I help her find out if her phone was tapped?
A. very easy to tap a POTS (landline phone) or a VoIP phone that has been connected to your existing wiring, and the wire still goes outside of your home to the NID box...
VoIP is not easy, if not impossible to tap (illegally)
cellular is not easy if not impossible to tap..
feds can tap anything... but it usually requires connections from the telephone company office, not something the average person has access to...
if you have any 900Mhz cordless phones, throw them out.. replace your cordless phones with any technology that has DSS or FHSS (2.4,5.8, DECT)..... DECT is the best choice...
if there are any baby monitors, or wireless intercoms, or any other device that transmits sound wirelessly, remove them or turn them off..
What is the best baby monitor and car seat for newborn?
Q.
A. Car Seats:
The ones I would recomend are Britax Companion, Graco Snugride, and Graco Safeseat.
The Britax Companion is Rated #1 on Consumer reports. It is made in London and thus adhears to European standerds (they're a little bit higher then American standerds). The Car Seat can hold a child up to 22lbs or 30 inches long (whichever comes 1st). The actual carrier itself weighs about 10 lbs. The car seat has a rebound bar on it to avoid the cacooning of the child in a car accident.
The Graco Snugride is a very basic design. The carrier weighs 8 lbs and can hold a child up to 22 lbs or 29 inches long.
The Graco Safeseat just came out this year. It weighs 10 lbs but it can hold a child up to 30 lbs or 32 inches long which should get you at least through the first year (the other two will on average get you to about 9 months).
Some people like Evenflo infant car seats but I don't because I feel like the erganomic handle makes it harder to carry as the child get's heavier.
Monitor:
Avoid Fisher Price. They break a lot. I would say the Sony 900mhz 27 channel monitor. You will avoid a lot of interfearance.
Hope this info helps :-)
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