subject: Can Cell Phones Transmit Your Cars Remote Keyless Entry Signal? [print this page] I think by now many of us have heard this one, "Any car having a remote key-less entry system is able to be unlocked via cell phone". Sounds too good to be true doesn't it? Imagine, you're locked out of your vehicle, your keys with your key-less entry remote is locked inside your vehicle, you luckily still have your cellular phone with you and your spare remote is at home (where it should be). So you call your spouse, roomy, sibling or whomever and ask them to get your spare remote and to click the remote into their phone while you hold your cell phone towards the car and poof like magic your car door locks are open! Distance is no object, you do not have to find someone to drive your spare keys to you, you don't have to break your own car window to get into your car, I can keep on going, but...
The reason this sounds too good to be true, is because it isn't true. Come on now, you didn't really think it would work, did you? I admit it, the first time I heard of it, I too thought that it sounded interesting and sort of hoped it was true. I mean think of all the headache it would save so many of us.
Relaying your vehicles remote signal through a telephone or cell phone might work if the remote's signals were based on sound. However, they are not based on sound, what they are based on it an encrypted data stream that is sent to a receiver located inside your car via a radio frequency signal. This signal, unfortunately, cannot effectively be relayed through your cell phone. In fact in most cases RKE (Remote Keyless Entry) systems and cell phones work on different frequencies.
Luckily the majority of us will become accustom to locking and unlocking our cars, well cars that have a remote key-less entry system that is, using the remote. Therefore the likelihood of someone locking the remote in the car will go down. Losing the remote, however, is a whole different matter. I find that attaching the remote to my key ring, will eliminate that for me, since it then becomes a pretty bulky item to easily lose. Now constantly losing my cell phone on the other hand and needing to buy replacement phones every few months is something I have become all too familiar with. I did find that purchasing used or refurbished cell phones does help me to alleviate some of the cost that goes along with constantly buying new cell phones.
