London incidents

Tue Jul 12 17:51:22 UTC 2005

On 2005-07-12-12:56:42, Jim Popovitch <jimpop at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > As for the "Emergency Only" mode, the original poster said _power was  
> > cut_ to the repeaters.  Could you explain to me how this allows for  
> > 911 calls please?
> 
> The original poster quoted a news report, how may times have you seen
> technically accurate news reports?  I don't know the source of the 
> report but I do know that some people think the the whole internet is
> down when only it is their connection.  In this case (someone saying that 
> the port authority had shutdown cellphone access) there are so many 
> possible interpretations that it is impossible to really know without 
> firsthand knowledge.  Speculation as to "how", is just as bad as speculation
> as to "why" (which is why I jumped into this cat fight).

When I was in the Lincoln Tunnel yesterday, my Cingular (GSM) phone
clearly reported that it had no service, not even "SOS-only" mode.

As I understand it, cellular service in the tunnels is provided by
cells co-located in the Weehawken, NJ and New York City, NY vent
buildings, with "leaky coax" cable shared by all carriers running
inside the tubes.  Since the vent buildings are owned operated by the
NY/NJ Port Authority, it seems conceivable they could have pulled the
power if they wanted to.  Whether or not they did is best left as an
exercise for the nanog-l army of political commentators and
counter-terrorism specialists...

Hope this helps,
-a