I've always questioned the whole "calls from the planes" part of the stories from that day. I didn't think cell phones worked when up in the air on jets, at least not back in 2001. Can anyone provide a reasonable explanation of how it could have been possible back then?
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Yes they had phones built in to the seat backs. Pretty much like a car phone people had at the time.
Yes, I remember those. I think it was something like $8 for a 3-minute call (of course, if the plane you are on is being hijacked, $8 is probably worth it :) )
Yes they were only their for a short time,and then regular portable cell phones came out.
That would have been it. And I know cell phones didn't work cause my brother had a plane and the phones at the time kept jumping tower's back and forth.
The other problem is that the cell system flags MEIDs that look to be in two places at once, as fraud, and black lists them.
Wouldn't those be enabled/disabled from the cockpit though? I remember them not being usable at certain times like take-off and landing.