Probably they were next to sports stadiums. Most of the time there is ample unused cell capacity. Also: the New York marathon hosts 50k+ runners. I don't easily

Probably they were next to sports stadiums. Most of the time there is ample unused cell capacity. Also: the New York marathon hosts 50k+ runners. I don't easily believe that 100k phones distributed over several sites on a 35 mile radius around New York have any impact.