Communication during the September 11, 2001 attacks
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Cell phones and in-plane credit card phones played a major role during and after the attack, starting with hijacked passengers who called family or notified the authorities about what was happening. Passengers and crew who made calls include Todd Beamer, Tom Burnett, Mark Bingham, Peter Hanson, Jeremy Glick, Barbara K. Olson, Madeline Amy Sweeney, and Betty Ong.
After the attack, the cell phone network of New York City was rapidly overloaded as traffic doubled over normal levels. Since three of the major broadcast networks had their transmission tower atop the North Tower (One World Trade Center), coverage was limited after the collapse of the tower. The broadcast of one station, WPIX, eerily froze on the last image received from the WTC mast - the North Tower just as it started to collapse; the image (which was viewable across North America as WPIX is available on cable TV in many areas) remained on the screen for much of the day until WPIX was able to set up alternate transmission facilities.
Emergency relief efforts in both Lower Manhattan and at the Pentagon were augmented by volunteer amateur radio operators in the weeks after the attacks.
After the planes struck the World Trade Center, people inside made calls to loved ones; in many cases, the last ever heard from them.
AT&T eliminated any costs for domestic calls originating from the New York City area (phones using area codes 212/718/917/646/347) in days following.
See also: "War on Terrorism" -- U.S. invasion of Afghanistan -- 2001 anthrax attack -- World Trade Center -- The Pentagon -- New York City -- Washington, D.C. -- AA Flight 11 -- UA Flight 75 -- AA Flight 77 -- UA Flight 93 -- U.S. Department of Defense -- Operation Bojinka -- terrorism -- domestic terrorism -- Osama bin Laden -- Taliban -- Islamism -- Afghanistan -- collective trauma -- September 11
External links
- An Unimaginable Emergency Put Communications to the Test, The New York Times, 9/20/2001 (http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/20/technology/circuits/20INFR.html)
- The Simple BlackBerry Allowed Contact When Phones Failed, The New York Times, 9/20/2001 (http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/20/technology/circuits/20BERR.html)
- Using a Cellphone Signal to Hunt for a Victim in Desperate Need, The New York Times, 9/20/2001 (http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/20/technology/circuits/20CELL.html)