SkyTel 2Way pagers DOWN all US

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1

>From what I gathered from PanAmSat's NOC, they lost contact with Galaxy
4's primary and backup controllers, but are still in communication with it
via omnimode. They've turned off power to the payload to conserve energy,
and are suggesting to people to implement their contingency plans.

MobileComm apparently has plans to use a backup satellite, but they don't
expect their service to be online for another 7 or 8 hours.

-G

  Skytel is saying they have restored service to "some" but not "all"
areas. I just spoke with a user in Jersey City, NJ, and his Skytel numeric
is working fine, but I am in Newburgh, NY with a Skyword Plus and I'm
still getting "STORING MESSAGES" when I normally get "BASIC SERVICE".

  I'm going to take a chance and get some sleep, although my entire
IPP business revolves around the pager working. (Ok, yes, I have backup
measures but I'm in the .5% of the times where the backup measures
also wouldn't work). If anyone has anything more, or sites to visit to
keep up to date, I'd be very interested. Its amazing, Skytel first made
me turn it off then on, then take the battery out and put it in backwards
and then back in correctly, before saying "You must be affected by the
satellite problems". Wonder if I told them where I was would they have
said that first.

  Also, WAY off topic, while talking to the woman, it seems that
the pager broadcasts back to the tower that I get messages or that they
are scrambled. (I figured it had to do this, but never was 100% sure...
Helps to ask). Brought up an interesting point I joked with my girlfriend.
Since I don't carry a cell phone (YET.......start to real soon to solve that
other .5% problem), I told her if I was ever kidnapped to call Skytel as
they had to be able to track where I was. The woman on the phone "would
neither confirm nor deny" that possibility. She referenced a privacy
issue and didn't want to say more.

  I more hope I don't have any pageable events, than they fix it
tonite. Since, my luck, they'll fix it at 4am and they'll do such a good
job all the test messages I sent and Skytel sent will make it through to
me.

      Tuc/TTSG

2

other .5% problem), I told her if I was ever kidnapped to call Skytel as
they had to be able to track where I was. The woman on the phone "would
neither confirm nor deny" that possibility. She referenced a privacy
issue and didn't want to say more.

Interesting. Of course, we know from the OJ saga that Cellphones can be
located well enough to find a moving vehicle...

    --Dean

3

other .5% problem), I told her if I was ever kidnapped to call Skytel as
they had to be able to track where I was. The woman on the phone "would
neither confirm nor deny" that possibility. She referenced a privacy
issue and didn't want to say more.

They can tell atleast what area you are in to probably about a 1/4-1/2
mile radius, I think. No question about.

4

Los Angeles appears to have coverage. We never really saw it go away
except for some lag and glitches. Our entire NOC team carrys the 2Way and
we've tested to all oncall people and gotten responses 100% of the time.

5

Pagemart service is STILL down as of this time (5-20-98 8:30 AM CDT); I am
getting neither my normal "news and weather" broadcasts or directed pages.

6

As promised, MobileComm implemented their contingency plans, and moved
paging traffic to a backup satellite about an hour ago (8:30 Eastern).
I've been receiving my pages normally since then.

-G

7

Interesting. Of course, we know from the OJ saga that Cellphones can be
located well enough to find a moving vehicle...

Didn't something like this come into play in tracking Kevin Mitnick?

8

www.takedown.com - cheesy but cute.
  Actually, I had problem with my CDMA phone today. I called the GTE
techs to let them know they were having problems (I am not the one to
usually complain -- they really did have problems). They were able to tell
me which cell the call was made from. But that is not that exciting -- I
can put my phone in debug mode and see the cell # for myself (gotta love
default passwords). What was more interesting is that they knew
approximately where in the cell was I, which neighbor cells the phone was
trying to use (since the one I was in was dying - reason for the
problems). They even told me when I entered the cell to the nearest
minute. I wonder how satellite phones will affect this (project iridium).
  Ok, we now go back to your scheduled broadcast (and I have finals
tomorrow)

-- Yan

Jan Koum jkb@best.com | "Turn up the lights; I don't want
www.FreeBSD.org -- The Power to Serve | to go home in the dark."