Cell phone calls at high altitudes on 9/11

I just sent an email to David Ray Griffin in care of Scholars of 9/11 truth and justice and I would like to open some dialogue regarding the cell phone calls from the planes on 9/11. Here is what I sent:

Dr. Griffin,

To start Dr. Griffin I am on board with 911 truth. I am of the "MIHOP" philosophy when it comes to 911. I have read your book "The new Pearl Harbor" and have heard you speak in videos on the internet. I am writing to you today however to play devils advocate about the question of the cell-phone calls on 911. When it comes to the different anomalies on 911 there are some details that will bring about more emotional resistance than others. These cell phone calls I believe are a good example of this. People have heard the heart-wrenching calls dramatically re-enacted on the internet and in some mainstream documentaries. It is hard for them to believe the possibility that these calls were somehow faked. It is my opinion that we should stick to the smoking gun of 911, that being the sudden collapse of building 7. Although there are many anomalies about 911 that reinforce that it was an inside job, there is only one "rabbit hole." Many of the people who I have talked to woke up to 911 because of building 7 so I think this is what should be introduced first to people who haven't yet woken up. As far as whether or not cell-phone calls could have been made on the flights I would like to share the following story.

In the fall of 1997 my wife(who was 7 months pregnant with our first child) and I were traveling to New-Mexico to visit my wife's brother. To save money we booked a flight to Las-Vegas Nevada with a lay-over in Phoenix Arizona. We then rented a car in Phoenix and drove 5 1/2 hours to Las-Cruces New-Mexico where my brother-in-law lived. Flights to Las-Vegas were quite a bit cheaper than anywhere else in the country so this plan saved us a lot of money in air-fare. I remember that when we were on the plane en-route to Phoen ix, my wife wanted to call her brother on her cell-phone while we were in the air. The stewardess had just announced that we were going to begin our descent, so we were still at a very high altitude. My wife asked me what I thought about making the call because it was forbidden while in flight, to which my response was "What are they gonna do?... put us in cell-phone prison?" I remember we were unsure about whether or not the call would go through but decided to give it a try anyway. My wife placed the call to her brother and it connected. She spoke to him for about 5 minutes.

It is because of this that I disagree with the claim that cell phone calls could not be made above a few thousand feet. We were one for one in our attempt to do this back in 1997.

The reason I think the call was successful then was because cell-phone service back then was "analog" rather than "digital." I am not an expert on the differences between these two technologies. I therefore pose the questions: Would it have been possible that the cell-phone calls that connected on 9/11 were analog cell-phone calls? Is it possible that analog calls can be made above 20,000 feet where digital calls cannot? Also, what about the "unknown calls?" Couldn't it be said that two of those calls could have been made by Barbara Olsen? Somebody supposedly made those calls.

I am not sure when exactly the mobile phone companies transitioned from analog to digital technology but I think it was around 2001. There was a time where they were selling phones that were equipped with both technologies in case you were in an area where digital cell-phone service was unavailable. I do not remember if the phone that we used was capable of both, but it was for sure equipped with the analog technology.

I'd be interested to hear

I'd be interested to hear Griffin's response.

BoDeeDoe, we have different experiences. I so far have been 0 for 1. Or perhaps 0 for 20, if you want to count each time I hit the green dial key on my cell phone.

I was into 9/11 truth in 2005 when I flew to Vancouver. My route was Columbus OH - Toronto - Vancouver. I was interested in the cell phone call claims. From Columbus to Toronto it was cloudless, just like on 9/11. In addition, the plane flew right straight over Cleveland. We were somewhere between five to ten thousand feet up; though the downtown Cleveland skyline looked like a playset, I could make out which buildings were which, which freeways were which, etc. because I know Cleveland. I got out my cell phone, also thinking "The worst they can do is put me in cell phone prison." I was directly over an urban area which, had I been on the ground, would have had full reception. Guess what? I try to make a call and IMMEDIATELY (no pause while attempting to connect) my phone said "No Service." I tried this repeatedly. This could have only been 10,000 feet maximum, and in the movie United 93 (and according to the 911 commission) cell phone calls were being made as high as 30 and even 40 thousand feet.

In addition, when we began our descent to Toronto, I watched my reception meter as the plane got lower, and I only received a signal after descending to, I would guesstimate, about 1500 feet (roughly the height of the WTC towers). So my own experience seems to match the experiments of A K Dewdney.

Cell phone calls

I wonder though if your lack of success was due to the fact that cell phones now use the digital technology rather than the older analog. Our experience was back in '97 and so older technology may actually be more dependable when it comes to cell phone connections at high altitudes. I think this topic warrants more investigation before it can be said that it was impossible. I wonder if there is any way to determine what types of phones the passengers allegedly used on 911.

Evidence in the Moussaui showed that Barbara Olson did not talk

Evidence in the Moussaui showed that Barbara Olson did not talk to Ted Olson via a cell phone. In addition, American Airline's 757's did not have seatback phones. Therefore the call was a lie.

cell phone calls

Okay, I'm not trying to suggest that 911 was not an inside job... I believe it was. However, I am all for accuracy. There were according to the FBI in the Moussaui Trial 4 calls made from an unknown caller on Flight 77. How can we say that two of those were not Barbara Olson's? I'm not sure how it is possible to have an "unknown caller" in the first place. Does this also have anything to do with the old analog technology? I don't believe it would be possible today at all with digital cell-phones but again I am not an expert on "analog" vs "digital" technology. I just don't think it is wise to say the calls were not possible and then have some 911-debunker come out and prove that analog phones could have been used on 911. That would be damaging to our movement, so we must be accurate when we present this evidence.

BoDeeDoe, how high do you

BoDeeDoe, how high do you honestly think you were when the calls went through? Rough guess.

cell phone calls

What is the normal cruising altitude for a typical airliner? It was probably about that. The pilot had just made the announcement that we were going to begin our descent and we should take the time to use the restroom at that time. We placed the call right after the announcement. If I had to guess I would say around 20,000 feet.