Major cellphone outage reported in New York

Reuters ^ | 8/10/06 | Reuters

[Sleeping Freeper]

New York police reported a major outage of cellular phone service in the borough of Queens on Thursday.

"It's just an FYI. It has nothing to do with anything else. It's not criminal," a police spokesman said.

Two of New York's major airports -- JFK and LaGuardia -- are in the borough of Queens. Airport security was intensified after British police said they had foiled a plot to blow up several aircraft flying between Britain and the United States.

[quack]

How close is the Empire State building to Queens?

"They want to build an empire," Ahmadinejad said of the Americans

That statement sticks with me for some reason.

[CT-Freeper]

Ahem... LETS GO METS!!!

Thank you. Apologies for this shameful thread hijack.

[hoosiermama]

They won't be able to contact loved ones in case there is an attack to say "I love you and good bye"/ or "They have survived!".

[Hydroshock]

They can be used to trigger any bomb. All you need is a signal to the bomb to preform a function.

[wtc911]

Since cellphones are triggering devices for bombs it would make sense to shut down service in the vicinity of an airport if there was a suspected threat.

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I just spoke via cell to my wife on her cell. I am in Nassau, less than 1/2 mile from Queens and she is in Elmhurst, Queens, less than three miles from LGA. Cell service isn't defined as neatly as an electric grid. One can stand on the North Shore of LI and get service from a tower in Connecticut and service in Queens will be covered by sites in Nassau, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan at the least.

[MediaMole]

How do those trac phones work? (the ones the terrorists bought)?

Buy a prepaid card, punch in a code and the phone will work for a set number of minutes. Other than that, they are regular cell phones.

The real advantage is that there is no billing address and you can use the phone once and toss it.

[DoctorMichael]

Queens Muslim Center.

Students leaving Islamic Sunday school at Masjid Al-Fatima in Queens.

Masjid Al-Falah Hanafi Sunni mosque in Corona, Queens under construction.

Insignia of the 'Queens Islamic Institute'.

Sunday September 10 2006  9:00A *not confirmed*

Muslim Parade & Festival

Madison Avenue from 41st to 23rd Street

Diversity, food & fun from the "Queen's University Muslim Students Association".

Al Falah mosque in Corona, Queens.

[Bahbah]

Hmmm, cell phone service out, Egyptians on the loose, plot to blow up planes foiled, it seems. I'm sure there is nothing to it s/

[Malsua]

As a note, another forum administrator on another forum(who I've known and trusted for many years) claims today as well as last time there was a threat, service is spotty and has a weak signal.

I'm near Teterboro(busiest regional airport in NYC metro area) and I usually get 3 of 4 bars, getting 1 as I write. I dunno if it's intentional or not, but it sure is suspicous.

[finallyatexan]

Last week while driving home from Dallas my cellphone just died - seems that there was a major cingular outage from Texas to Oklahoma and Arkansas. Never did hear on the news what happened but it was out for about 6 or 7 hours. Maybe same thing in NY,

[NYleatherneck]

The 2 things I hate about Shea are the clifflike right field upper deck seats, and the Mets.

[Froufrou]

I thought you had that vigilante dude Black Angels or whatever protecting the subways. In fact, I rather thought that's where the Minute Men dude got his idea.

[wtc911]

I'm not from, nor am I in the least bit familiar with NYC. From a terrorist's perspective what in Queens is worth blowing up?

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Americans, clown.

[MikefromOhio]

I dunno. Maybe he call the cell phone company and they told him that there was an outage and that they knew the reason for it. Ya think?

Nope. Conspiracy theorists on FR try to avoid thinking as much as possible.

[JellyJam]

Thanx ... I don't want to freak anyone out, but that's what came to mind when I first heard of this. Tinfoil time.

[saganite]

I know airports have devices that can shut down cell service in a localized area. Perhaps the outage is more targeted towards the airport areas?

[CT-Freeper]

Empire State Building is in Manhattan...across the river from Queens.

Here, let me show you a map...

[tdewey10]

don't forget the mid-town tunnel.

[Ready4Freddy]

Wonder what happens when all those pre-paids found in ME hands lately go live at once? ;>)

[TexasGunLover]

Last week while driving home from Dallas my cellphone just died - seems that there was a major cingular outage from Texas to Oklahoma and Arkansas. Never did hear on the news what happened but it was out for about 6 or 7 hours. Maybe same thing in NY,

The Cingular outage here in Texas, OK, and Arkansas was related to a techincal issue at Cingular. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/080306dnbuscingular.2a39a7b.html