I don't believe a phone cell phone can receive a call w/o a sim card....but my years of cell phone experience has yet to qualify me as an expert. My logical guess would be a previously set alarm, that had a ringtone as the buzzer.

When i had straight talk(walmart) my phone would go off every night at 3:33am saying i had a new voicemail. The voicemail would be nothing, for a second long. When i switched providers it happened again at 3:33am but only the first night with my new provider/phone.

Hi,OP here. Ive read and reread through everyones responses and some are really interesting and well thought out. Just to clarify events my friend had swapped phones 3 days previous and turned the old phone off and through laziness just put it under the sofa.There was NO sim but there was a battery inside. He says it was switched off but could have accidentally not been,we dont know!! The odd thing and the reason he panicked so much was this noise awoke him,it was dark and the middle of the night,3.55am. He his a straight laced kind of guy,not prone to BS but does have beliefs in things 'paranormal' so I can see why he would be unnerved. I personally would have answered the phone myself but he thought he would hear 'the devil himself' or such like so his immediate reaction was to rip the battery out. It was still lying there with the battery at its side when I looked. Now I thought about the alarm possibility but it was an actual call with a withheld number! Ive really no reason to question any of this and I went through it 7 times with him and once on the phone earlier and his story never wavered. I also wondered what kind of technology is out there with phones and recieving signals etc if someone wanted to use a mobile/cell phone for spying purposes and have heard they can be remotely activated etc but cant for the life of me think why my friend would be of interest to anyone official!! Hope that clears a few things up, Im not making this up, I dont think my friend is but I thought it would be of interest and showed signs of being a paranormal event if your of that mindset so thought it would be interesting!! Please ask any other questions and il relay them to him......nothing else of interest has ever happened to him as regards spooky incidents except hearing a voice before dropping to sleep at his old house,years ago(probably dreaming).

Originally posted by Fox Molder

Originally posted by Raivan31
A mobile phone can send and recieve a signal without a battery attached.
The people who 'invented' the modern 'cell' phone do not know or understand how this happens.

A little food for thought.

Makes you wonder where that technology comes from.

And you have one right there.

Wonder what else it can do.
Bet your lookin at your phone right now.

Wonder if it's lookin back

It's called the CMOS battery, it makes sure that the time and date and any contacts in your cell phone don't disappear when you take your battery and SIM card out. The phone's firmware stays intact also because of the CMOS battery. This is how your phone can send and receive signals when it is apparently turned off and the battery and SIM card are taken off.

It's not rocket science.

edit on 12-12-2011 by Fox Molder because: (no reason given)

I seriously doubt that the CMOS battery has enough power for signal transmitting.
If the battery is taken out I doubt any cellphone will make use of the antenna at all.

Originally posted by Raivan31
A mobile phone can send and recieve a signal without a battery attached.

A source please?
A normal cellphone antenna requires a powerful battery to be able to transmit a signal. The sound you hear in nearby speakers is because of the strong electromagnetic field generated under the transmission, it just can't do that without a battery.

Originally posted by Raivan31
The people who 'invented' the modern 'cell' phone do not know or understand how this happens.

This is pure speculation from your side.

It was Lawnmower Man LOL!

The fact that you said he went and hid under his covers makes me seriously doubt your story, what kind of grown man hides under bed sheets? Yes this thin piece of linen will protect us from that mean old bogey man.

First thing I would have done was answer the phone and be like WTH u doing calling at this hour, without giving the fact it had no sim card a second thought.

I have had a couple of experiences in the past. One particular one that has left a mark in my memory.

As a fire risk preventive, I turn my computer off, including the wireless and modem when I am not using it. So I was shocked to find that when I woke up one morning to find my computer on with 40 tabs opened from my bookmark's page I was shocked and surprised. The wireless button on the computer and modem were turned off. I can only think that someone has hacked into my computer overnight. Though I am a little befuddled as to how they got by the wireless being turned off. At the time I did review the history of use via my provider, there was no indication that it was in use at that time.

Could be paranormal or could be a hacker. IDK.

Did you happen to watch an unlabeled video tape about a week ago?

When I enslaved myself to a new 2 year contract with my provider, I naturally switched the sim card to my new phone. No longer needing my old phone, I turned it off. A few minutes later it turned itself back on. Can anyone explain that? This happened a couple times before I removed the battery. To my knowledge it hasn't come back on since lol.

Originally posted by tpg65
Maybe somebody has set your friend up .
Somebody could have set an alarm on his phone to go off at a certain time , using his ringtone as the alarm .....Simples .

Terry

That is honestly a really good explanation. Also, I can't understand why it would scare the OP's friend to the point where they rip the battery out and throw it. Am I the only one who would have been checking it out, trying to answer it and figure out what was going on?

On second thought, maybe it is good they did not answer it. It could have been the ring, calling to warn them that they only have 7 days to live.