[relee]

Apparently cell phone used was suspended nationwide tonight for about an hour after this lastest shooting....My mother in lower SC tried to call home several times; cell phone not working then. When she got home local TV (Charleston, SC) announced cell phone use suspension...can anyone else confirm or source this? I could understand the immediate VA area but nationwide?????

That's the first I've heard of that. How would the people in Virginia use their phones to report the cream colored van's location if they shutdown the cellular network?

[Indiana Jones]

We've used our cell phones several times tonight with no problem...could have been a local problem or maybe even something weather related in a regional area. If everybody gets concerned about cell phone capabilities and tries at the same time to 'check it out' there WILL be problems.

[Chemist_Geek]

That's the first I've heard of that. How would the people in Virginia use their phones to report the cream colored van's location if they shutdown the cellular network?

I wonder if it wouldn't be impossible to set the cell nodes to only accept calls to 911?

Of course, it would scare the heck out of families trying to contact members at large in the shooting area, but, it would also help to prevent communication between hypothetical terrorist groups on their sniper mission.