History JustForFun / CellPhonesCouldHaveSolvedThisPlot

JustForFun here's a laughably incomplete, not-at-all-definitive list of stories set after Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Still, before the widespread availability of cell phones, that would have been over really really quickly if cell phones had been available. For when cell phones are ostensibly available but never seem to work when they're needed the most, see CellPhonesAreUseless. For cell phones that work when they shouldn't, see SuperCellReception. [[{{CaptainObvious}} Obviously]], this is a SubTrope of TechnologyMarchesOn.

** '''What Really Happens:''' After Slappy goes insane from watching too many talk shows, Skippy has to take Slappy to a retirement home for cartoon characters. When child services learn Skippy has been living by himself, he gets dragged off to a foster home. When Skippy doesn't show up to visit Slappy like he promised, Slappy goes back to normal and demands to know where he is. The retirement home calls the house phone to let Skippy know she's back to normal, but nobody answers, which leads to Slappy breaking out of the retirement home later that night to reunite with Skippy.

** '''Alternatively,''' they order White Castle from DoorDash, meaning they never even leave their house.

** '''What Really Happens:''' King Magnifico shows Asha where he keeps the wishes, but when she harmlessly asks him if he would grant her grandfather's wish, he refuses, claiming it's "too dangerous", then snaps at her when she suggests giving them back. Unfortunately, her family doesn't believe her when she tells them about that later on.

JustForFun, here's a laughably incomplete, not-at-all-definitive list of stories set after Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, but before the widespread availability of cell phones, that would have been over really really quickly if cell phones had been available. For when cell phones are ostensibly available but never seem to work when they're needed the most, see CellPhonesAreUseless. For cell phones that work when they shouldn't, see SuperCellReception. [[{{CaptainObvious}} Obviously]], this is a SubTrope of TechnologyMarchesOn.

** '''What Really Happens:''' A family trying to get to their new home accidentally get lost near a mysterious tunnel. They explore the tunnel to find what seems to be an abandoned amusement park, they eat the food served there and turn into pigs, because those were intended for the spirits. The girl now has to save them before it's too late.

** '''What Really Happens:''' Jetybory, overly confident in her abilities, wanders into a cave without the rest of the Super Sensors and gets lost. When the other Super Sensors have to go in and get her, they use a Mamby-rope (Mamby shapeshifted into a rope) and their SuperSenses to find her. However, the villains, who were also lost in the cave, use the Mamby-rope to escape.

** '''What Really Happens''': The squad has to go to the library at lunch and look online with a boxy computer at a Sears catalogue to find the origin of a missing boot.

** '''If She Had A Cell Phone''': One quick search on Google (or the Skylands equivalent thereof) would have lead her straight to her uncle. With that done, she doesn't need the Skylanders' help, and thus she never joins the main cast and her arc never happens.

** '''What Really Happens:''' Mirabel sees the Casita cracking apart, and rushes to tell her family. But when they come back, the cracks are gone, and [[CassandraTruth her family doesn't believe that the magic is dying]].
** '''If They Had A Cell Phone:''' Mirabel could have taken a picture of the cracks in the Casita and showed her family. Then, all the Madrigals would have known that something was wrong with the magic, and would have pushed themselves even harder to keep it from disappearing. The film then mostly continues as normal.

** '''If Kayla Had A Cell Phone:''' She'd immediately head back to where she'd tossed the tape and go to the station afterwards.

** '''What Really Happens:''' When the Mogwais beg for food, Billy checks his alarm clock to see if it's not after midnight, when the Mogwais aren't supposed to be fed. It tells him that it's before midnight, so he offers them some chicken to eat. The next morning, the Mogawis are starting to mutate and Billy finds out that the cord to his alarm clock had been cut by the Mogwais.

** '''What Really Happens:''' A storm knocks out the [=McCallisters'=] power and phone lines the night before their big trip to France, causing their alarm clocks to reset and everyone to oversleep and forget to bring their young son Kevin. The power is restored in short order, but the phone lines remain down for the duration of the film (and the PoliceAreUseless and give up after a very cursory attempt to check on him, and all their friends and neighbors are either having the same phone troubles or are also out of town) so his parents have no way of getting in contact with him short of getting back home as quickly as possible given the holiday travel rush and inclement weather. Meanwhile, burglars plot to burgle their house, and Kevin resolves to defend it by any means necessary. HilarityEnsues.

* ''Film/{{Rounders}}'': This film's basic plot probably wouldn't have been much different, but it would have been a lot less visually interesting, since most of the conversations that take place in places like hole-in-the-wall bars and public bathhouses could more easily have been conducted by telephone. Not only does nobody have cell phones (not unusual for a film made and apparently set in the mid-nineties), nobody seems to have ''phones'', period (''yes'' unusual). Every time any character wants to talk to any other character, they have to figure out where that character is likely to be and physically go there. In New York City, where getting across town is ''not'' a quick or convenient prospect. The characters must spend an ungodly amount of time off-camera in taxi cabs or subways.

** '''If They'd Had a Cell Phone:''' Brad or Janet calls AAA on their cell phone to come rescue them. The rest of the movie never happens.

** '''What Really Happens:''' Three {{Drag Queen}}s drive from New York City to Los Angeles to compete in a national BeautyPageant. Early in the trip Vida takes a detour in the Philadelphia area to say hi to her parents, but gets blown off by her mother. In a fit of rage she ditches their roadmap, and Chi-Chi wonders how they'll get to LA without it. Later in the movie, their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and Chi-Chi hitches a ride to the nearest town.

** '''What Really Happens:''' Juliet fakes her death with a letter being delivered to inform Romeo about it. Romeo didn't see the letter, and commits suicide as he believes Juliet is actually dead.

** '''What Really Happens:''' The Morris family went to Zoo Gardens but they ended up getting lost. They came across a sign that led them to Horrorland, a horror themed amusement park. The Morris' went there and it gave them the fright of their lives.
** '''If They'd Had a Cell Phone:''' Mr. Morris would use Google Maps to get his family to Zoo Gardens. That way the Morris' will not go to Horrorland at all.

** '''If They'd Had a Cell Phone:''' "Sorry, mate, I've been a right prat, I have. Take me back?" (Although granted, Muggle technology had been unavailable to the characters for so long that it's likely they might have forgotten it was an option even if cell phones had been more widespread in 1997-1998, when the story was set.)

** '''If They Had A Cell Phone (well, If They Used Their Cell Phones)''': At least one audience member would have recorded the fight with their phone and posted it online. Once the video had started circulating, there would have much talk about the weapon, and Ryan would have been suspended from boxing for using a weapon, possibly banned if further investigation uncovers all the other infractions on his record. He may also be facing criminal charges for assault with a weapon.

** '''What Really Happens:''' A small city's elite STARS law enforcement agency sends their "Alpha Team" to investigate the disappearance of "Bravo Team". As soon as their chopper lands, they're attacked by zombified dogs, their pilot panics and abandons them, and they're forced to take refuge in a creepy mansion full of zombified humans and worse. Ultimately it turns out their team leader betrayed them by luring them there to help a sinister corporation gather data on their newly developed bio-weapons.

** '''What Really Happens:''' After Slappy goes insane from watching too many talk shows, Skippy has to take Slappy to a retirement home for cartoon characters. When child services learns Skippy has been living by himself, he gets dragged off to a foster home. When Skippy doesn't show up to visit Slappy like he promised, Slappy goes back to normal and demands to know where he is. The retirement home calls the house phone to let Skippy know she's back to normal, but nobody answers, which leads to Slappy breaking out of the retirement home later that night to reunite with Skippy.

** '''If They Had A Cell Phone (And [=WiFi=]/Data):''' Uniqua and Tasha could have Website/{{Google}}d the snow fort in question and known that the people inside were Mounties who just want to protect the world's biggest snowball.

** '''What Really Happens:''' Bert and Cedric travel to Jack Pine Island to find the impact site of a fallen meteorite, but after they find it, they lose track of the raft they came on and find themselves lost. To make matters worse, they didn't tell anybody else where they were going so they could be the first ones to find it, which leaves everybody else desperately trying to locate them.
** '''If They Had A Cell Phone:''' After Bert and Cedric find the meteorite and lose track of the raft, they call for a rescue on Jack Pine Island, saving everybody else some of the trouble of locating them.

* ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'' episode "The Stan Who Came To Dinner"
** '''What Really Happens''': Stan overstays his welcome at the Girls' house following a heart surgery.
** '''If They Had A Cell Phone''': "Hello, Uber? Can you take our client back to his own house?"

* ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'':

** '''Or,''' The entire family sets an alarm on their cell phones, with no more of an inconvenience than starting their vacation with a less than fully charged battery (and they would've been able to charge their phone at the airport or on the plane anyway.

** '''Or,''' The entire family sets an alarm on their cell phones, with no more of an inconvenience than starting their vacation with a less than fully charged battery.

*** Alternatively, Brad calls or messages Scott to let him know they're coming with some big news, and Scott tells them he won't be available (due to staking out Frank's castle in search of Eddie) - so they never even start their fateful trip.

*** Alternatively, the entire family sets an alarm on their cell phones, with no more of an inconvenience than starting their vacation with a less than fully charged battery.

*** Alternatively, they wake up to an alarm set on their cell phone, with no more of an inconvenience than starting your vacation with a less than fully charged cell phone.

*** Alternatively, Brad calls Scott to let him know they're coming with some big news, and Scott tells them he won't be available (due to staking out Frank's castle in search of Eddie) - so they never even start their fateful trip.

** '''If They'd Had a Cell Phone:''' A simple phone call between Juliet and Romeo could have prevented all this.

* ''Film/HomeAlone'':

** '''If The They'd Had a Cell Phone:''' Mr. Morris would use Google Maps to get his family to Zoo Gardens. That way the Morris' will not go to Horrorland at all.

* ''Franchise/HarryPotter'':

** '''What Really Happens:''' Bert and Cedric travel to Jack Pine Island to find the impact site of a fallen meteorite, but after they find it, they lose track of the raft they came on and find themselves lost. To make matters worse, they didn't tell anybody else where they were going so they could be the first ones to find it, which leaves everyone else desperately trying to locate them.

** '''What Really Happens:''' When the Mogwais beg for food, Billy checks his alarm clock to see if it's not after midnight. It tells him that it's before midnight, so he offers them some chicken to eat. The next morning, the Mogawis are starting to mutate and Billy finds out that the cord to his alarm clock had been cut.

** '''If Kevin Had Had a Cell Phone:''' "Stay put, we're going to call whoever's closest to you on ''their'' cell phone so that they can come take care of you until we can get there. And for the love of all that's holy, if any potentially murderous burglars try to break in, ''call 911'' instead of creating an obstacle course of booby traps!"

** '''What Really Happens:''' Bert and Cedric travel to Jack Pine Island to find the impact site of a fallen meteorite, but after they find it, they lose track of the raft they came on and find themselves lost. To make things worse, they neglected to tell anybody else where they were going, which leaves them desperately trying to locate them.

** '''If Bert and Cedric Had A Cell Phone:''' After Bert and Cedric find the meteorite and lose track of the raft, they call for a rescue on Jack Pine Island, saving everybody else some of the trouble of locating them.

** '''What Really Happens:''' King Randolph is completely unaware that Duchess Rowena is far too strict on his daughters behind closed doors.

** '''What Really Happens:''' Bert and Cedric travel to Jack Pine Island to find the impact site of a fallen meteorite, but after they find it, they lose track of the raft they came on and find themselves lost. It doesn't help they neglected to tell anybody else where they were going, which leaves them desperately trying to locate them.

** '''If Bert and Cedric Had Cell Phones:''' After Bert and Cedric find the meteorite and lose track of the raft, they call for a rescue on Jack Pine Island, saving everybody else some of the trouble of locating them.