4 ms·

They claim some of the cell phones are still active. Can't they just "traceroute" the call to find the nearest cell tower and search around it?

• mseebach 13y ago
  Yes. If the phone is "active", ie. registered on a tower, it's within a few miles of that tower. I think that tells us all we need to know about the relevancy of that claim.
• KnightHawk3 13y ago
  I don't think they can, because the phones aren't connecting. Apparently what is actually happening is that the exchange is connecting and people are confusing that with the phone.
• borplk 13y ago
  This is a great point. Can anyone expand further?
• Raptor22 13y ago
  This blew my mind. Cell phones don't work that far out from range of towers, and they sure as hell don't work at the bottom of the ocean. I heard that those were rumors and that they were false, but if they're true, then that's a major wtf...
  • mikeash 13y ago
    It is complete bullshit. The whole story is based around the fact that some people have tried to call their relatives on the plane and have heard the line "ringing" after placing the call. This is exactly what you'd expect to happen when trying to call a phone that's at the bottom of the ocean, as the network will spend some time searching for it and you'll often hear a "ringing" while that happens, but idiots have taken this and transformed it into "the actual cell phones themselves are ringing!"
• phil21 13y ago
  Sure, if they are within range of a tower. Many people don't understand that the phone will "ring" even though the other end might not be currently registered with a tower. Almost assuredly where the confusion lies. Although, since it's a developing country it's barely plausible they haven't collected cell phone numbers from the family and run it up whatever law enforcement channels available to them.