Eli5: Would Faraday Cages block Cell Signals well enough to utilize them in a classroom setting?

Question

I.e. ‘bricking the phone’ for the students benefit

In: Engineering

Answer 1

Yes. And you can get products made for this that gets put behind the wallpaper and as thin film over the windows. There are legitimate reasons to convert a room into a faraday cage and block cell phone signals and wifi signals. However this is generally not allowed in classrooms and other places with gatherings of large numbers of people. The main reason is that people need to be able to contact emergency services. And emergency responders needs to be able to stay in radio contact with each other while responding. Converting a classroom into a faraday cage can therefore be a violation of the fire codes and other laws. In general these faraday cage rooms are built due to requirements of national security or to reduce emissions from electronic engineering labs and similar places.