Author Topic: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.  (Read 166999 times)

birdman

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #75 on: April 15, 2013, 07:46:18 PM »


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« Last Edit: April 15, 2013, 07:53:14 PM by birdman »

lee n. field

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #76 on: April 15, 2013, 07:51:36 PM »
I think we're probably too early to wade into that conversation, and we should be careful how far over that way we speculate in a public forum, IMHO. [tinfoil]

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #77 on: April 15, 2013, 07:58:11 PM »
Radio was playing live feed of teevee nooz, wall to wall coverage.  About made me want to yack the way they played it up.  "All eyes were on Boston for the marathon."  Really?  I didn't know it was today.  And more & more in that vein, plus what I suspect was the nooz bimbo describing some feed from near the location. "Here is a man with blood running down his face...."

All in all not a confidence-inspiring 15 minute drive.
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zxcvbob

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #78 on: April 15, 2013, 08:00:31 PM »
I think we're probably too early to wade into that conversation, and we should be careful how far over that way we speculate in a public forum, IMHO. [tinfoil]

As I was driving home I had NPR on the radio; "Marketplace", I think.  An older woman called in and talked about the Newtown memorial at mile marker 26, and we're finally starting to get meaningful gun laws and the gun lobby goes and does something like this.  She didn't say "NRA" but it was implied.  The host let it go unchallenged.
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MillCreek

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #79 on: April 15, 2013, 08:09:40 PM »
So how does cell phone service in a given area get shut off?  The carriers flip a few switches and the towers are disabled?
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seeker_two

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #80 on: April 15, 2013, 08:10:07 PM »
Hate to throw more speculation into the fire....but could this be the "launch" that the Norks have threatened?....

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Fitz

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #81 on: April 15, 2013, 08:10:43 PM »
So how does cell phone service in a given area get shut off?  The carriers flip a few switches and the towers are disabled?



The carriers are all denying that this happened


More likely it's the usual post-disaster surge overwhelming the infrastructure
Fitz

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Gewehr98

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #82 on: April 15, 2013, 08:21:41 PM »
Yes and no.

Carriers have agreements with local and state governments to allocate additional tower bandwidth in the event of bona-fide emergencies.

It happened to us in Florida during Hurricanes Jeanne and Frances.  The explanation was that those frequencies were being used for evacuation efforts.
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T.O.M.

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #83 on: April 15, 2013, 09:10:33 PM »


The carriers are all denying that this happened


More likely it's the usual post-disaster surge overwhelming the infrastructure

+1. Once upon a time, I worked with Emergency Management Agency, and was told exactly this.  In a real emergency, forget  cell phone calls.  Texts have a better channce of working.
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Fitz

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #84 on: April 15, 2013, 09:12:29 PM »
Bonus points for the first person who can explain why texts sometimes work when voice service doesn't ....
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zxcvbob

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #85 on: April 15, 2013, 09:14:10 PM »
Bonus points for the first person who can explain why texts sometimes work when voice service doesn't ....

requires less bandwidth
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Fitz

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #86 on: April 15, 2013, 09:16:38 PM »
requires less bandwidth

Well yeah it does, but that's not the whole story
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Marnoot

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #87 on: April 15, 2013, 09:18:52 PM »
Text messages just use empty space in messages your cell phone is constantly chattering to/from the tower anyway.

Fitz

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #88 on: April 15, 2013, 09:21:51 PM »
Text messages just use empty space in messages your cell phone is constantly chattering to/from the tower anyway.


Ding ding ding

Control channels pass info to/from the phone, handle handoffs between towers, etc. they don't carry voice traffic. SMS is sent over this control channel when it is available.

All the frequencies for voice can be jammed up solid and sometimes you can still get an SMs through
Fitz

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birdman

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #89 on: April 15, 2013, 09:30:25 PM »

Ding ding ding

Control channels pass info to/from the phone, handle handoffs between towers, etc. they don't carry voice traffic. SMS is sent over this control channel when it is available.

All the frequencies for voice can be jammed up solid and sometimes you can still get an SMs through

Correction, there are frequencies, and there are codes/time chips (depending if its CDMA/TDMA)...so all the frequencies could be used, but the cell could still be at low usage.
Frequencies are typically allocated (in groups) to ensure minimal cross/talk co-utilization tower to tower, time/code division within a cell for all the packets.

Otherwise, you are exactly right.  That is also the reason why SMS is character limited as its limited to the size of the corresponding control packet length.

So what you meant was that "all the bandwidth for multiple calls/data transmissions can be in use, and you can still get a SMS through"

The reason why is those channels are designed (and technically always are) serving the maximum number of devices in that area. 

Bigjake

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #90 on: April 15, 2013, 09:30:58 PM »

Ding ding ding

Control channels pass info to/from the phone, handle handoffs between towers, etc. they don't carry voice traffic. SMS is sent over this control channel when it is available.

All the frequencies for voice can be jammed up solid and sometimes you can still get an SMs through

Burst of packets make it through,   real time voice call doesn't,  unless I'm mistaken.

Fitz

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #91 on: April 15, 2013, 09:35:29 PM »
Burst of packets make it through,   real time voice call doesn't,  unless I'm mistaken.

I mean, you're right, but the central point here is that the voice traffic is on separate channels from SMS
Fitz

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zxcvbob

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #92 on: April 15, 2013, 09:39:21 PM »
I did not know SMS traveled on an expedited (control) flow rather than data.  I thought it was just a much smaller packet.  If anything, I tho't voice was higher priority because of the real-time thing.
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Fitz

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #93 on: April 15, 2013, 09:45:28 PM »
I did not know SMS traveled on an expedited (control) flow rather than data.  I thought it was just a much smaller packet.  If anything, I tho't voice was higher priority because of the real-time thing.

Yeah, but even though its going alon with control traffic, it's only when those channels are dormant.

The advantageous thing is that most people, if they can't use voice, assume SMS is out too... So the amount of folks attempting SMs is greatly decreased
Fitz

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zahc

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #94 on: April 15, 2013, 09:51:25 PM »
Someone at work pointed out, that if terrorists really wanted to be effective, they would set off one of these in a different city every day until...forever, essentially. Let's hope he's not right and we don't see any repeats.
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RevDisk

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #95 on: April 15, 2013, 10:26:28 PM »
Had a friend near the blast. She's fine, but shook up. Has photos of the blast site, minutes before. If you collected  time stamped pictures and vid, could probably make a pretty accurate 3D model of what happened.

Folks, hold off on the pointless speculation.  Whether this was the next OKC or Islamic terrorism, it'll come out in due time.  Some folks didn't even wait for the bodies to cool before starting their baseless speculation.
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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #96 on: April 15, 2013, 11:17:17 PM »
The Boston Marathon's Final Mile Was Dedicated to Newtown Victims

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/04/boston-marathons-final-mile-was-dedicated-newtown-victims/64250/
Quote
Update, 4:07 p.m. Eastern: Newtown families were reportedly seated in the VIP section right by where the explosions went off. There's no word whether they are among the 23 injured and two dead from the explosions.
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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #97 on: April 16, 2013, 12:45:58 AM »
Glad to hear your friend is okay RevDisk, make sure she has someone close to her that she can talk to or just be with for a bit.


Yeah, but even though its going alon with control traffic, it's only when those channels are dormant.

The advantageous thing is that most people, if they can't use voice, assume SMS is out too... So the amount of folks attempting SMs is greatly decreased


I think perhaps the disaster training folks should start including info regarding using texts to contact people instead of voice lines if at all possible. Get society in general trained over to such to help improve communications and response in future emergencies.

Perd Hapley

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #98 on: April 16, 2013, 01:16:46 AM »
As I was driving home I had NPR on the radio; "Marketplace", I think.  An older woman called in and talked about the Newtown memorial at mile marker 26, and we're finally starting to get meaningful gun laws and the gun lobby goes and does something like this.  She didn't say "NRA" but it was implied.  The host let it go unchallenged.


Someone thought "the gun lobby" did that? The mind boggles.
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kgbsquirrel

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Re: Two explosions close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
« Reply #99 on: April 16, 2013, 05:42:00 AM »

Someone thought "the gun lobby" did that? The mind boggles.

And that would be the sound of the spin being fired up. *sigh*