BYOD in days of old? Thankfully not…
Can you imagine what BYOD would have been like…?
Most of us are comfortable with the concept of Bring Your Own Device, after all, it has been around for some time. But, not so long ago it would have seemed very strange to think that we would one day want to bring our personal devices into work rather than use company issued equipment. Can you imagine thinking about bringing your own device when they were like the ‘mobile’ in the image? It wasn’t that long ago when phones were only just portable enough to carry around with us.
“…I have no intention of nominating myself for the Darwin Awards”
This all came back to me while I was waiting on a petrol station forecourt last week with a colleague and there was someone standing by one of the pumps engaged in a rather animated mobile phone conversation. We both looked on in amazement as she was standing right next to the ‘do not use mobile phones’ warning sign. My colleague pointed out that the risk was to the instrumentation rather than any risk of explosion – not that either of us really wanted to take part in any experiment to prove the point either way. I have no intention of nominating myself for the Darwin Awards, regardless of the evidence – there are some actions that are just not sensible.
While waiting some time for a free pump the incident took me back to another memorable incident in my working life. I once had a phone that could only just qualify for the term ‘mobile’ (similar to the model in the photo). I believe it used to transmit at up to two Watts, probably sufficient power to communicate with a satellite 25,000 miles away. On reflection, using it hung around my neck like a satchel may explain some kidney problems I had for a while after – they were probably being cooked! My beautiful phone had 20 minutes talk time per battery so by carrying a second battery and adding 40% to the weight I got a total of 40 minutes of talk time with a one minute interval at half time for a battery swap. That phone has kept my Chiropractor in BMWs to this day.
And that wasn’t the only problem. If I happened to be on the phone while walking through a computer or comms room, if I got too close to the equipment all the LEDs on the kit would flash erratically – you could certainly see it was different – it could possibly have been responsible for some temporary failures. I hasten to add, at the time I didn’t know that my phone was the culprit. I actually realised the impact my mobile was having on nearby equipment when I was in a computer room in the City of London late one night. It was a dark, damp and eerie night…
Actually, it wasn’t but… I was on a customer support visit and put my phone on the floor (no mean feat lifting it over my head I can tell you). While I was engrossed working on the Zeta Communications K-Net multiplexer (I totally agree, very sad that I remember the equipment) someone called me. Just as my mobile started to ring I heard a …BANG!!! All the equipment shut down and I could hear the fire alarm sounding. The emission caused by the phone responding to the incoming call had set the Halon system off.
“We can easily be identified by some of the words we use like: relay, heel end slug, X.25, Frame Relay and Watney’s Party Seven…”
Luckily for me, there was a fault with the system which meant the gas didn’t discharge and the automatic fire service call didn’t go out. I lived to fight another day on two counts, I didn’t get caught in the gas and the customer thanked me for highlighting their system wasn’t working rather than killing me for the loss of power and Halon gas. When I did see the MD of the company, I suggested he should get some signs put up outside his computer room banning the use of mobile phones. I also suggested that he needed fixed handsets in the computer rooms for field service engineers so they could make and take calls from within the room. In fact, I warned all of my customers about my experience – better safe than sorry. I was certainly very careful where I used my mobile phone after that.
Thankfully, the demands for BYOD waited long enough for our devices to develop into something that we could actually survive the commute to work before the battery went flat. The significant reduction in emitted radiation is also a bonus for our communications networks and my kidneys. I’m not sure that I can claim responsibility for identifying mobile device emissions as a potential problem for computer and communications equipment. However, before that incident I don’t remember seeing any mobile phone warning signs in any computer rooms, and I worked in them every day all over the UK.
What I can confidently say is, that this all part of the rich tapestry of experience that gives old timers like me the upper hand in the majority of the technical ‘been there, seen it, done it’ conversations over the occasional vat of Guinness at industry events. I do realise that when you get a few of us old timers together our stories of days of old can be a bit full on. Should you wish to steer clear of us we can easily be identified by some of the words we use such as: relay, heel end slug, X.25, Frame Relay, Watney’s Party Seven, Speech Plus Telegraph, 50 Baud Quarter Speed, Stop Bits, Xon/Xoff and Tip & Ring… ah those were the days.
So, to finish on a very useful tip for anyone having the misfortune to bump into us at one of these events… we can very easily be switched into Simplex Receive Only mode with a pint of Guinness. But hold on a minute… maybe it wasn’t the mobile phone after all! Maybe it was too many of these industry events responsible for my two bouts of kidney stones!
By the way, I never did find out who called me on that dark, damp, eerie, fateful night;o)