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Beer Fridge Caught Interfering With Cellular Network

Posted by Unknown on from the upgrade-to-the-faraday-fridge dept.

aesoteric writes "A man's backyard beer fridge in Australia has been busted interfering with the cellular network of major carrier Telstra. Engineers used an internally-developed software 'robot' to crawl log files from the network and sent a field team out to pinpoint the cause of the interference."

23 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. Respect Your Elders, Telstra! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Incidentally, Australian beer fridges have the honor of being among the first commercially successful applications of refrigeration technology(the principles and some early prototypes were developed elsewhere; but Australia's not-exactly-robust ice-harvesting industry didn't imperil the cost effectiveness of the systems in the way that it did in places that actually have ice). Telstra should turn down whatever RF 'noise' the kids are listening too these days and let Grandpop play what he wants!

    Irrelevant history aside, what kind of dodgy does a motor have to be to generate enough RF to degrade a cell system in the course of performing relatively modest compression duties for a small refrigerator?

    1. Re:Respect Your Elders, Telstra! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      A good lawyer could probably claim that this is a clear cut case of the cellular network being a form of hacking the refridgerator technology, since the fridge tech was around first and therefore has claims to do whatever the cell signals should "work around". If this case were in the US, the lawyer could even pull in the DMCA, 'cause the DMCA specifically destroys any technology made to circumvent an older tech. This cell network is definitely attempting to circumvent the fridge owners right to his technology. Therefore, the cell network should pay $1,000,000 for damages and the CEO should spend a year in prison and have a permanent record for all this hacking of fridge's & then trying to blame the fridges for getting in the way. I don't even care if this is a case of hactivism on the part of the cell network(s) involved, this is unacceptable. UNACCEPTABLE!!

    2. Re:Respect Your Elders, Telstra! by Lehk228 · · Score: 4, Informative

      one with a bad connection turning it into an arc gap transmitter.

      it could have caught fire too so it's good the fault was found

      --
      Snowden and Manning are heroes.
    3. Re:Respect Your Elders, Telstra! by mjwx · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Irrelevant history aside, what kind of dodgy does a motor have to be to generate enough RF to degrade a cell system in the course of performing relatively modest compression duties for a small refrigerator?

      It just has to be dodgy enough to interfere with a very specific set of frequencies. In Hellstra's case this is 824â"849 and 869â"894 MHz.

      This is why you are asked to turn off your phone on aircraft, this is what a malfunctioning fridge can do to mobile reception, think about the interference a malfunctioning phone will cause to communications and navigation equipment (which operate on similar frequency ranges to mobile phones).

      But TFA glossed over a very important part of the story, after the offending fridge was deactivated... How did the owner keep his beer cold?

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    4. Re:Respect Your Elders, Telstra! by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Informative

      Irrelevant history aside, what kind of dodgy does a motor have to be to generate enough RF to degrade a cell system in the course of performing relatively modest compression duties for a small refrigerator?

      It doesn't. Any electrical device can emit RF over a broad range of frequencies. Your computer can radiate anywhere from DC to over 5GHz. Your car, especially if it's an electric hybrid, can radiate large amounts of EMR at lower frequencies (not connect it to anything. They would wait up to a year before actually using it, because invariably every single thing that was already pre-existing in the area would be blamed on it, from poor TV reception to baby monitors fuzzing out, etc. The FCC of course investigates these things, and it's become common practice amongst amateur radio operators to simply lead them around to the back of the house and point out the disconnected (inert) antenna, because it's easier than going through the formal process of discovery, and there's a small chance of a false positive and resulting bankrupcy due to fines if that happens.

      It sounds like the problem in Austria is that it's version of 'Part 16' is broken if they're threatening fines over a defective beer fridge. Here in the United States, as long as it's been certified by the FCC, as long as the owner uses it as intended and has not modified it, there is no legal liability that I'm aware of. In this case, such an enforcement action by a mobile phone company would require they prove the owner maliciously is trying to cause interference, or has, through modification or non-intended uses of an otherwise certified device, caused interference, before any fines could be levied. The solution then is for the license holder to work with the owner of the device to come up with a solution.

      Or put another way: The mobile phone company would buy this gentleman a new beer fridge, and haul away the old one for disposal. But it sounds like, in Australia at least, even innocent people who bought a device commercially and used it as intended can be caught in a legal snare that could ruin their lives. Stay classy, Australia.

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    5. Re:Respect Your Elders, Telstra! by tlhIngan · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm just surprised because a brushed motor, which I was assuming this was, acts as a feeble arc gap under normal operation; but presumably had to pass regulatory muster when first manufactured, as well as remaining efficient enough to keep the fridge running, within the power budget provided by a domestic breaker while also putting out enough RF noise to escape(usually sealed to keep the refrigerant in) coolant loop and disrupt the cell towers.

      I would have expected one perturbed enough to be a regulatory issue to have popped a breaker, caught fire, or just stopped cooling beer before getting to that point.

      Just a hint at how much RF you need - your cellphone (GSM) typically has a 1W transmitter. Usually, it operates at less than 250mW, and most will probably never ever exceed 500mW. That's all it takes to contact the tower.

      Hell, hams have been able to hit their local repeaters with handhelds that rarely go above 5W, and most cell towers are lot closer. It doesn't take a lot of power to flood the receiver of the tower.

      Anyhow, a 240V 13A socket provides over 3kW of power. The fridge motor really only needs under 1kW. A bad motor can easily drag in another 1kW and still not pop the breaker.

      All one really needs to do is to enclose the motor in some fine mesh which shields the spark gap

      And modern day ITU regulations prohibit operation of a spark gap transmitter because they are very wideband and interfere with lots of communications. This actually proved to be a problem when they wanted to resurrect the transmitters similar to the kind used on the Titanic - the required huge faraday cages to minimize interference.

  2. Re:G'DAY MATE by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 5, Funny

    You're joking, right? We export that crap so we don't have to drink it.

    Want a good Australian beer, try something from Malt Shovel, Cascade or Mountain Goat.

    --
    Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
  3. Re:G'DAY MATE by capt_mulch · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sorry, no-one in Australia drinks Fosters anymore. We're all boutique these days - except for Queenslanders, who only drink Fourex (XXXX) - and the reason it's called XXXX is because they can't spell 'beer'.

  4. tough decision!!! by johnnybogosity · · Score: 5, Funny

    You want reliable network performance or ice cold beer? That's a tough question.

    1. Re: tough decision!!! by Mabhatter · · Score: 5, Funny

      After 5pm work can't reach you... THAT is a feature for a Beer Fridge!

  5. More pertinent information on beer fridge by RyoShin · · Score: 5, Informative

    The linked article is far more about the internal 'robot' and very little about the beer fridge. While perhaps the intent of the /. post, I was far more interested in how the beer fridge could have caused such an issue. Thankfully, TFA has a link to another, far more interesting, FA:

    Telstra engineers say any electric spark of a large enough magnitude can generate radio frequency noise that is wide enough to create blackouts on the 850mHz spectrum that carries our mobile voice calls and internet data.

    Engineers said the motor in the beer fridge was causing the interference.

    It includes an image of said fridge, which looks like something from the 50s/60s (maybe? I don't know, I still have people yelling at me to get off their lawns.) More modern models probably have much better, efficient motors that don't cause this kind of issue.

    Mr Halley said Telstra was increasing its black-spot detectors as Australians flocked to smartphones, and the rapid expansion of services revealed some very odd "ghosts in the machine". [...] These included faulty automatic teller machines, lights and illegal phone and TV antenna boosters.

    No mention of the resolution, but I assume it involved unplugging the fridge. (I wouldn't be surprised if he paid more in electricity for that thing per year than just buying a new, medium-sized fridge.)

    1. Re:More pertinent information on beer fridge by mysidia · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's not his fault their network is impacted by a completely unrelated device.

      Once he's been informed of the disturbance his device is creating; he becomes liable if he fails to make it stop.

      Same as if you have a fridge that makes insanely loud noises and creates a disturbance in the neighborhood, or a fridge that shoots fireballs at the neighbor's property.

      The person operating the fridge is liable for the damage, and responsible for the repairs or to cease operation and dispose of their misbehaving equipment.

  6. Software robot? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Engineers used an internally-developed software 'robot' to crawl log files from the network.

    Seriously? I know it's actually stated that way in TFA, but are people that stupid that they can't simply say "program"? In all likelihood, it's probably a 10-line Perl script. (Said as Perl fan, myself.)

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  7. That explains it by frovingslosh · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now I understand why, after I have 20 or 30 beers, why I have such a hard time finding my way home.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
    1. Re:That explains it by snspdaarf · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh, come on. I have known for years that beer jams my inertial navigation system. And, it encrypts my communications, too!

      --
      Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
  8. Re:G'DAY MATE by cold+fjord · · Score: 4, Funny

    You're joking, right? We export that crap so we don't have to drink it.

    Given that Fosters has something like a 45% share of the Australian market, some combination of this must be true: it still has fans, remains a guilty pleasure that isn't admitted to, or nobody can find enough export victims. At least it has some snappy advertising to help.

    Frankly, I have no idea what can be done about vegemite. People have been warned.

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
  9. Re:G'DAY MATE by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 4, Informative

    That's the name of the brewing company that makes cat piss such as Victoria Bitter, Carlton Draught, Crown Lager etc.

    Foster's Lager, the beer, was bought out by foreign investment a couple of decades ago and is no longer brewed here.

  10. Re:G'DAY MATE by batkiwi · · Score: 4, Informative

    Foster's group has 45% share, not the beer called "Foster's", which is actually quite hard to find inside of Australia.

    Given they're owned by SABMiller, you should really argue that "miller" is the bestselling beer in Australia if you're going to say that the owner == the brand (which is obviously incorrect).

    Foster's commercials are not shown in Australia.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foster's_Group#Beers_and_Breweries

    Most important in that list are VB (probably the best selling beer in Australia), Cascade, Matilda Bay, and Carlton.

  11. Re:G'DAY MATE by Macgrrl · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Vegemite is awesome, lightly spread of hot toasted light rye so that it's salty and chewy at the same time.

    The mistake most foreigners make is slathering it on like peanut butter. It's a strong taste and you don't need much.

    --
    Sara
    Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
  12. Re:G'DAY MATE by stox · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Fosters we get in the States is brewed by Oil Can Breweries, Fort Worth, TX, which I suspect is a front for recycling refinery waste.

    --
    "To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
  13. Re:G'DAY MATE by realityimpaired · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dos Equis is named for the blend... it contains the piss from two horses.....

    (yes, I'm aware the Latin is spelled slightly differently...)

  14. Re:G'DAY MATE by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Funny

    So it's only half as bad as XXXX?

  15. Re:G'DAY MATE by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    We had beer fridges interfere with our work for 20 years and we don't even had internet.