

Official: Cellphone service shut down in Boston to prevent remote detonations - der3k
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

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der3k
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.

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rabidonrails
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.)

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darkstar999
I'd hope (assume, really) that calls to emergency services can still go
through.

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der3k
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.

