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FCC Urges Apple to Protect Safety of Americans by Activating FM Radio Chip in iPhones [Updated]
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Except it physically cannot do it. Apple makes phones not radio receivers.
What would be next? Mandate that Apple add solar charging technology to the iPhone to charge other devices during a disaster? Because power loss is also a real thing after natural disasters.
Chairman Pai made a dumb statement without knowing the inner workings of newer iPhones, let's leave at that and not make the argument into something else.
I don't care about cheapness. I care about effectiveness and government responsibility for the safety of their citizens.
- When the United States switched from analog to digital TV broadcasts, Uncle Sam gave every family a coupon ($40?) to use for receivers. You can get a FM radio for $10. Make it a coming of age ritual. You become an adult at 18, you get a coupon for $10 to buy an FM radio.
- The Wireless Emergency Alert system is still messed up because the FCC hasn't put pressure on the carriers. Too many counties are all or nothing, where the local government has to decide whether they scare everyone for something that could be happening in a very localized area, or they alert no one. And too many times not everyone receives the alerts they should.
- The carriers are resisting adding features for emergencies. They were beaten into allowing 911 calls even if the phone has no plan. They need to be beaten again to allow alerts and SMS messages without plans in designated disaster areas. That way, people can keep their phones on low power, conserving battery, and whether they are connected to a tower or not, still receive broadcasts from mobile units (vehicles or planes) that enter the area and broadcasts messages that would be directly from the government/FEMA.
well, the cellphone companies are already doing it.. we pay them, they provide reliable service.. and they realize 'reliable service' also applies during emergencies (or even more so)..
so i don't really propose any changes since what i wish for is already in motion.. cellular service in the U.S is quite reliable today in event of emergency if compared to last decade.. and improving still.
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as far as the gov't goes.. easy & cheap?
let us use these, or similar, in event of widespread need?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-cellphone-towers-to-collect-user-data-report
The US justice department is reportedly using electronic equipment on aircraft to simulate cellphone towers so it can collect phone location and identifying information on a mass scale from users on the ground below.
The allegations, reported in the Wall Street Journal late on Thursday, suggest that the US Marshals Service has for seven years flown Cessna aircraft outfitted with “dirtbox” devices that mimic cellular towers, permitting the collection of thousands of unique IDs and location data from users.
According to the Journal the planes operate from at least five metropolitan airports, permitting a “flying range covering most of the US population”.
The allegations, reported in the Wall Street Journal late on Thursday, suggest that the US Marshals Service has for seven years flown Cessna aircraft outfitted with “dirtbox” devices that mimic cellular towers, permitting the collection of thousands of unique IDs and location data from users.
According to the Journal the planes operate from at least five metropolitan airports, permitting a “flying range covering most of the US population”.
??
but without getting into that type of stuff..
if the Gov't could please refrain from making statements about how enabling FM on phones protects the safety of Americans or, such-and-such company needs to 'step up to the plate' for Americans and our safety...
if they were truly concerned, they'd do much much more than "you're safe now!! we got Apple to make iPhones receive FM radio signals!!"
...if they could refrain from such language and guise, that'd be greatly appreciated.. (and real easy and free!
)
As if people don't get ample warning of emergencies? Carriers don't need to add more features for emergencies for 2 reasons:
1. There is ample news coverage and other ways to get alerts before natural disasters strike (don't tell me no one in Puerto Rico was warned of the hurricane)
2. After natural disaster strikes, cell towers are virtually useless. They're knocked out easily and don't come back online fast enough to be of any use.
So no, we don't need to beat any cellular network provider to add features for emergencies that don't serve a realistic purpose. When instead, the government should be focusing on better disaster response and relief efforts. Like lifting outdated regulations that hinder supplies from reaching affected areas in a timely manner.
As if disasters only occur in hurricane prone areas. You don't have an exclusive on disasters.
Do you carry a radio in your pocket at all times or your car on your back? Everything is on our phones these days for a reason.....because we always have them with us unlike most anything else.
There was a day around 11 years ago when people in the Apple world said Apple didn't make phones either, yet it happened. Apple can make phones with working FM radios if they want. It's not difficult.
Hahahahahaha no FM chips on the iPhone
so along side the 100 year old headphone jack(I'm all in for that), they also removed the 100 year old FM chip
On this, I have to say Apple has made a wrong move... in no way would a medical ID be more benifical than FM... what if you are stranded at the time of the disaster? No network, no data connection, there's no use for emergency dial. It's only at this point we would require the FM radio, to know if there's any rescue on the way...
I pity Mr. Ajit..
Ajit- "Hey Tim, please enable the FM chips on the iPhones"
Tim - "Umm... I'm sorry Ajit, we removed the FM chips from our latest iPhones only, so no one bothers us to enable them. Instead, why don't you use the medical ID and emergency dial from the lock screen?"
Ajit- but what happens you don't have any network or data connection, and when there's an earthquake, and no one's there to aid you?
Tim- Our team is working very hard to find the best solution for that.
so along side the 100 year old headphone jack(I'm all in for that), they also removed the 100 year old FM chip
On this, I have to say Apple has made a wrong move... in no way would a medical ID be more benifical than FM... what if you are stranded at the time of the disaster? No network, no data connection, there's no use for emergency dial. It's only at this point we would require the FM radio, to know if there's any rescue on the way...
I pity Mr. Ajit..
Ajit- "Hey Tim, please enable the FM chips on the iPhones"
Tim - "Umm... I'm sorry Ajit, we removed the FM chips from our latest iPhones only, so no one bothers us to enable them. Instead, why don't you use the medical ID and emergency dial from the lock screen?"
Ajit- but what happens you don't have any network or data connection, and when there's an earthquake, and no one's there to aid you?
Tim- Our team is working very hard to find the best solution for that.
Why is the government trying to mandate only Apple add FM reception to the iPhone? Why not all mobile phones, and TV’s, and computers, and (fill in any other idea that isn’t a battery powered radio). Its for safety and lives after all, everyone should be happy to be mandated to buy batteries and a portable radio. I’m thinking it would be more effective and reliable than adding the feature to an iPhone.
Its pretty silly. They could have just said that they don't have the antennas in place to support it which is true. Every phone I know of with the FM radio enabled required the use of a headphone cable to act as the antenna. I don't think a lightning cable will be able to replicate that functionality and we don't have headphone jacks anymore...
Breaking News: Government is now mandating all new iPhones come with 5 days worth of food and water for emergencies.
1. I’ve lived, primarily, on the west coast, so emergencies (earthquakes) can develop without warning. And I currently live in Japan (earthquakes, missiles, melt downs). Effective alerts are worth their weight in gold.
2. You don’t need a cell tower to broadcast. Mobile cell units can be used to send and receive signals. Much more effective and efficient.
I agree the government is dropping the ball on logistics (Puerto Rico for example) and issuing waivers.
Figures. I agree with him *, but his speech was really annoying.
* Well, unless this really is true. Conflicts everything he said.
As far as I can tell, there are hardware issues involved, different issues on various phones, but hardware nonetheless. The best proof we have, absent a clearer statement from Apple, is that no jailbreak mod ever managed it.
There is no possibility of a software upgrade modifying the hardware.
There is no switch to flip.
Now if the FCC wants to mandate that all cellphones capable of FM reception (via software updates) that are currently disabled, should now have this capability enabled, they can do that. They can also mandate that any new phones sold after some future date have this capability.
But you can’t mandate the flipping of a non-existent switch. I guess you can advocate for it for reasons unknown, but it doesn’t do anyone any good.
The FCC has plenty of capable engineers who could bust Apple if they’re lying; I’m sure we’ll see who is right about this “switch.” But there are always those on MacRumors with the knee jerk “cuz Apple is evil or greedy or insert your perjorative here)” mantra, ready to spout off with no facts in hand.
There is no possibility of a software upgrade modifying the hardware.
There is no switch to flip.
Now if the FCC wants to mandate that all cellphones capable of FM reception (via software updates) that are currently disabled, should now have this capability enabled, they can do that. They can also mandate that any new phones sold after some future date have this capability.
But you can’t mandate the flipping of a non-existent switch. I guess you can advocate for it for reasons unknown, but it doesn’t do anyone any good.
The FCC has plenty of capable engineers who could bust Apple if they’re lying; I’m sure we’ll see who is right about this “switch.” But there are always those on MacRumors with the knee jerk “cuz Apple is evil or greedy or insert your perjorative here)” mantra, ready to spout off with no facts in hand.
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How about no. I don't need the government to have access to more information by exploiting these devices.
iPhone 6, 6s, and SE have it. Also, fm antenna is a wire, so the charger cable, unplugged, can function as one.
this guy from techcrunch recently posted:
https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/28/whose-fcc-is-this/
The response from Apple came in earlier today but I still had some questions about this so I did some poking around. The chips that Apple uses for its radio comms are actually fairly easy to identify once you’ve opened the case. That has made it easy for those who do teardowns to figure out what parts from Intel or Broadcom or whoever Apple is using in iPhone 8. Running purely off of that information it could be easy to assume that a certain part number is identical to other parts that are used in phones like the Samsung Galaxy S8.
But that’s not true at all in the case of Apple. Even if a part seems to be the spitting image, for instance, of a Broadcom BCM4357, it is assuredly not. Apple does not buy off the shelf parts and never has. It works closely with manufacturers to get the exact specifications it needs based on the capabilities it wants. Even though parts may appear very, very similar to those used in other phones, they are usually not.
The FM block is simply not there in current iPhone radio chips. It may look the same but it’s not on the chip at all. Broadcom would need to re-spin the chip to add the stuff Apple would need back in. They’d also need, of course, to connect it up (which it never was even in the older phones) and[...]
..you'll also notice via your link, the original identifiers of the chip who state there's FM on board.. "Broadcom BCM4357 is the 5G Wi-Fi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 5.0 wireless combo IC. It also supports FM radio (Apple may and disable this function in the iPhone). We have depotted the BCM4357 and see the die marks: BCM43572. We think that the “2” may represent a revision number"But that’s not true at all in the case of Apple. Even if a part seems to be the spitting image, for instance, of a Broadcom BCM4357, it is assuredly not. Apple does not buy off the shelf parts and never has. It works closely with manufacturers to get the exact specifications it needs based on the capabilities it wants. Even though parts may appear very, very similar to those used in other phones, they are usually not.
The FM block is simply not there in current iPhone radio chips. It may look the same but it’s not on the chip at all. Broadcom would need to re-spin the chip to add the stuff Apple would need back in. They’d also need, of course, to connect it up (which it never was even in the older phones) and[...]
ie- the chip is uniquely identified and they aren't actually familiar with the exact chip in the iphone8 though they think it's the same one as in Samsung S8.
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anyway.. i'm about 80% positive this isn't the last we're going to be hearing about this..
tomorrow&weekend, the internet will be abuzz "OMG -- did Schiller lie about the chip??!!?" etc... and we're all going to be sitting around here arguing about a Broadcom chip that none of us know anything about
gonna be fun.
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My town on the Hudson was hit hard with super storm Sandy. For days, The entire town didn't have power, and cell phone signal was close to none, barely any calls let alone data. For days there was a curfew as we were trapped in our homes with no clue what's going on, unless you had a radio.
So yea, FM radio is vital for emergency.
Solution: Get a radio.
Personally, I have any manner of radios, including am/fm, sw, police/fire, refinery, ham... that's me, and I'm an extreme case. But a phone is not a proper replacement for a radio. Even if your phone has it, a real radio is superior.
I see visions in my head of people in the throes of an emergency standing there trying to get an FM signal on their iPhones so they can figure out what to do next! Ridiculous in ANY circumstance. Can you imagine for a moment what that would look like!
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heh.. Sandy is still affecting NYC..
the L is about to shut down, for 15months, btw Brooklyn & Manhattan..
and my shop is in Williamsburg
.(translation-- the train closest to my work isn't going to run for over a year due to repairs of Hurricane Sandy damage-- the entire tunnel going under the East River flooded with salt water).
that said, cell service was pretty good here during Sandy.. it took out about 1 of 5 towers.. (and my service in my exact location was totally fine).. i think parts of Long Island lost the entire grid..
still, it was pretty good and i do believe it's improving today.. another Sandy and we may see only, say, 10% outages in nyc.
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[edit] well, according to this:
http://www.npr.org/sections/alltech...y-questions-linger-over-cellphone-reliability
25% of the network went down..
some relevant-to-this-thread info at that link though.
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Pai is just trying to divert attention away from this administration's appalling response to hurricane Maria. Seriously, what good would FM in an iPhone have done? Inform the people of Puerto Rico that aid is STILL NOT on the way? I think the residents on the ground there figured that out already without the need of an FM ready smart phone.
"Apple cares deeply about the safety of our users, especially during times of crisis and that's why we have engineered modern safety solutions into our products. Users can dial emergency services and access Medical ID card information directly from the Lock Screen, and we enable government emergency notifications, ranging from Weather Advisories to AMBER alerts. iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models do not have FM radio chips in them nor do they have antennas designed to support FM signals, so it is not possible to enable FM reception in these products."
So if Apple cares "deeply", how can't apple with 100 billions cash make it possible? They can do things that go beyond tech possibility like FaceID but it is not possible to have iphone 7/8 built with FM chip? If they really care, they could have done it long ago.
or Tim Cook is too busy with politics.
So if Apple cares "deeply", how can't apple with 100 billions cash make it possible? They can do things that go beyond tech possibility like FaceID but it is not possible to have iphone 7/8 built with FM chip? If they really care, they could have done it long ago.
or Tim Cook is too busy with politics.
Lol... all of a sudden FM receivers are the pinnacle of customer safety..
Get real, please
