I bought a $150 'signal blocker' bag that did nothing but block my wallet

Got sucked into the whole 'they're tracking your cards' thing after watching too many videos. Bought this fancy Faraday pouch online, the kind that's supposed to stop all RFID and cell signals. Put my cards and phone in it, drove across town, and my toll transponder still pinged the booth. Tested it with a friend calling me, and the phone rang inside the bag. The only thing it blocked was my ability to easily grab my credit card at the store. Total waste. Has anyone actually found a product like this that works as advertised, or is it all just snake oil for the paranoid?

3 comments

3 Comments

paige5142mo ago

Do we really need to block signals that much anyway?

the_ruby2mo ago

Snake oil for the paranoid" is about right. A lot of that gear is sold on fear, not facts. I've looked into these bags for keeping a spare key fob from being cloned. The truth is, a simple metal ammo can or even wrapping things in several layers of heavy duty foil works just as well, if not better, for a few bucks. They bank on you not testing it until it's too late to return.

campbell.robin8d ago

Used to think those bags were some kind of magic shield for my stuff, but after reading stuff like this and testing a cheap one myself, I changed my mind completely. The rubber told me to try wrapping my car key fob in aluminum foil and it actually stopped the signal from reaching my car. That was a real eye opener. So now I just keep my spare fob in an old cookie tin instead of dropping cash on those fancy pouches. It's basically the same effect for pocket change.