Great idea! The technology is available, the market has been tested with the ring-tones... I love it!

Can this be done using a cell phones?

There are some sites functioning...they can send text messages/emails to your accounts...even to cell phones.

Great idea! Target stores used this capability for early morning wake-up calls from a favorite celebrity for shopping the day after Thanksgiving! Similar technology is used by airlines to provide flight status updates and by medical offices for appt reminders.

This service already exists

I think their needs to be an Extreme Wake Up service: A service that calls you and asks you trivia questions or does other activities until you're truly awake. If you hang up, they keep calling. If you don't answer, they send a local representative to come and pound on your door.

See http://www.wakerupper.com/.