Official: Cellphone service shut down in Boston to prevent remote detonations(washingtonpost.com)

Official: Cellphone service shut down in Boston to prevent remote detonations

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/official-cellphone-service-shut-down-in-boston-to-prevent-remote-detonations-of-explosivew/2013/04/15/21824c30-a60f-11e2-9e1c-bb0fb0c2edd9_story.html

3 comments

der3k13 anni fa

What's the legal justification behind doing this? Not surprised that it's done, but am surprised that there's a legal mechanism in place to shut down cell service for an entire major metropolitan city.

rabidonrails13 anni fa

I believe that in an emergency the FCC reserves the right to shutdown whatever it sees fit. (Something like this was reported on Bloomberg news when AP first reported it.)

[deleted]13 anni fa

darkstar99913 anni fa

I'd hope (assume, really) that calls to emergency services can still go through.

der3k13 anni fa

I do believe public emergency transponders and radios use a different spectrum (independent of the spectrum used by the general public for cell phone calls, etc), but am unsure if that's still the case for making a 911 call. I don't believe it is... Thus, if cell towers are disabled, and hence, your phone doesn't work -> you won't be able to make emergency calls. Someone please correct me as I don't want this to be true.