Using Computer Parts

• With old computer and cell phone parts and a whole lot of technological know-how, homemade cell phones can be created that work like a Linux computer. Although they certainly won't have all the bells and whistles of a cell phone you buy from the store, it will be off-the-grid and completely unique to you. Building your phone's own mobile service allows you far greater capabilities when it comes down to what your phone can do--and how it can do it. For service with these cell phones, you will still have to call a major provider to allow you onto its network, as hacking that is illegal.
  
  

Windmill Cell Phone

• Technological wizards have discovered that hooking a fan from a desktop computer hard drive along with a small motor to your cell phone can both charge it at all times as you walk around and allow it to run. The fan blade spins using very little energy from a common 12-volt battery, yet generates more then enough to charge any cell phone and allow it to operate. The fan blade and motor are also waterproof, though the whole contraption doesn't easily fit into your pocket, making it difficult to be as mobile as you may like.
  
  

Cell Phone Range Extender

• A sixteen-year-old in New Mexico figured out how to create a range extender for cell phones, allowing people to send text messages from 1,000 feet underground and in very remote areas. It was built from a simple transmitter that works with the cell phone, wires and PVC pipe. The device sends low frequency radio waves that penetrate rock better than high frequency radio waves, in turn giving it a larger range. You can build this device with the correct technical know-how and materials, although it's quite large and difficult to move from place to place easily.