Adults Can't Hear New Ring Tone - 'Mosquito' Originally Marketed To Stores
WASHINGTON -- There's a new cell phone ring tone that's hot with kids. If you're an adult, you probably haven't heard it.

It's called the "mosquito," a super-high-pitched buzz originally marketed to convenience stores and other places plagued by loitering youngsters. Adult ears generally can't hear the tone.
Broadcast the mosquito over a loudspeaker system, and kids buzz off.

But it didn't take kids long to turn the technology to their advantage. Now, the stealthy ring tone has gone global, and Welsh inventor Howard Stapleton is turning a tidy profit.

There's my device I took to chase them away from shops, and now they've nabbed this device and they're using it as a method of receiving text messages and phone calls within the classrooms ... without teachers being aware that they've even got their phones ringing," Stapleton said.

At one Washington deli, students daily stow their cell phones to keep them from being confiscated at school.

"I just love my phone, my phone is like my best friend," said student Cynthia Omekam.
But now youngsters may have a new secret weapon -- what began as a teen repellent has teens hoping parents and teachers will turn a deaf ear.

Author -
Publication NBC
Date 14 June 2006
Link www.nbc.com