NYC events and cell phones

[t byfield]

jdyson at treachery.net (Thu 09/13/01 at 02:57 PM -0700):

> > An interesting bit of information: on Tuesday afternoon, to the extend
> > that cellphones operated, GSM encryption was turned off throughout
> > Manhattan. My GSM phone would repeatedly warn me of this on every call I
> > made (or tried to make). As of Wednesday morning, things were back to
> > normal. 

this wasn't my experience. between ~noon and ~6, i didn't receive
this warning between houston st (= '0th' st) and 110th; but later 
it was *sporadically* turned off around w 110th.

> 	When the twin towers collapsed, down with them went a number of
> cellular towers.  Coverage was immediately diminished (if not blacked
> out).  As a result, the 1.9 GHz band used by GSM in the United States was
> likely inaccessible until backup or redundant towers in the area were
> reactivated.

i don't think the relationship was so clear.

however, a very limited sample did suggest that single-band (i.e.,
domestic) phones were working while, side by side, 'world' phones 
weren't. 

cheers,
t



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