Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 - Missing Plane

[QuantumLogic]

I have not participated in some time, so apologies are in order for that (which I will detail later in a separate post).

Since beginning to follow this story, it caused me to think of something rather "fringe", but given what we know about technological history, it could be possible. It seems from the current reports that the plane was not completely destroyed due to the cell phones still ringing (they wouldn't if they were submerged in the ocean). If it was not destroyed, then perhaps it was "transported"? Here is my thought process on this:

Most of us here know and have extensively read about the Philadelphia Experiment and it's reported effects. It would be naive to think the Military Complex would have stopped such research after the initial experiment, so it dawned on me. Is it possible that a refined technology has been developed that can replicate or even enhance the effect achieved during the Philadelphia Experiment? If you had a powerful enough array that could generate an electromagnetic field of unprecedented magnitude, would it be able to reproduce or augment the experiment performed so long ago?

The implications of such technology reach much farther than just this plane disappearance, but that is off topic. It's really too bad the induction magnetometer in Gakona, Alaska was not uploading data to the net at the time of the plane disappearance as it might help prove or disprove this hypothesis (too bad the data stream was turned off after the Japan quake in 2011). ELF detection helps in this matter due to an effect called Bragg frequencies being produced. Slightly offset VHF or UHF frequencies produce a secondary frequency which can be detected by equipment set up for 0-5Hz detection( sometimes higher but it depends on the offset).

This hypothesis may not hold much merit with the current data available, but it's just a thought that I had. I've been thinking about this since the Judy Wood interview, but since there have been no other possible qualifying events until now, I simply let it go. If I'm way off base then that's fine- I can accept that. But if this is indeed possible then more data is needed to explore the hypothesis.

 

[l apprenti de forgeron]

Reading all what is being written about this it appears that maybe the plane was essentially stolen by people who must have put quite a bit of planning into it. Why though? This surely must be a first. Over 200 people just can't go poof into thin air.

If it got hit by a meteor, then surely there should be some debris somewhere?

The only other option I can think off is well, hyperdimensional. Chances of that surely are like next to zero.

What about those phones? That is just weird, if anything, it supports a hyperdimensional option and disproves any theory suggesting the plane disintegrated. If stolen, why wouldn't the kidnappers turn off the phones of the passengers?...

We may never know the answer...

Chances are if it were hyperdimensional, then other planes might start disappearing into thin air. Now that will get heads turning... Cs once mentioned they will turn off all air travel, but I think that was in relation to volcanoes.

Do not lose hope! Though, yea, the truth it's possibly not a simplistic one.

 

[yayan]

Here's one explanation about the phone ringing from _mashable.com

_http://mashable.com/2014/03/11/why-malaysia-airlines-passengers-phones-ring/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link

Missing Passengers' Phones Are Still Ringing. Can They Hear It?

The mysterious saga of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 got even stranger this week when a family member of one of the missing passengers appeared on Chinese television to show that her brother's phone was still ringing.

"This morning, around 11:40 a.m., I called my older brother's number twice, and I got the ringing tone," Bian Liangwei said [ _http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/missing-malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-passengers-mobile-phones-ring-not-answered-1439560 ]. She then dialed the number and watched as the phone rang multiple times before disconnecting.

SEE ALSO: 36 Hours Later: What We Know About Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 [ _http://mashable.com/2014/03/09/malaysia-mh370-still-missing/ ]

Other family members tried it, too. According to a reporter with China.org.cn, a group of 19 families [ _http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/missing-malaysia-airlines-flight-phantom-3228868 ] signed a joint statement delivered to Malaysia Airlines asking for an explanation. Why could they get through to their family members’ phones but not hear anything? Why did the calls hang up? Most importantly, does this mean the passengers are still alive?

Unfortunately, the ringing phones don't mean much of anything at all.

When you place a call, hit the send button, and your phone starts to ring, it "doesn’t mean it is ringing on the phone of the person you are calling," says wireless analyst Jeff Kagan [ _http://www.jeffkagan.com/ ].

"What it means is the network is at work, trying to locate the party you are calling," he says. "It rings once, twice, three times, and if it finds the phone, it delivers the call. If it doesn’t find the phone, then the call is disconnected."

"Family members over there are hearing the [ring] tone and they are hoping, but this is not a sign of anything. Family members over there are hearing the [ring] tone and they are hoping, but this is not a sign of anything. This is just how the networks work," Kagan says.

That ringing sound to which we're so accustomed is actually a psychological trick, meant to keep us on the line while the network works to locate the other phone.

"The ringing sound is generated by the originating carrier's switch while the network sets up the call," a CTIA-The Wireless Association spokesperson tells Mashable. "This keeps callers from abandoning the call when they hear no sound. The ringing sound has nothing to do with the actual 'ringing' of the called party's device."

Still, an official with Malaysia Airlines told reporters [ _http://www.stasiareport.com/the-big-story/asia-report/china/story/missing-malaysia-airlines-plane-loved-ones-china-angry-frustra ] he, too, had experienced the eerie ringtone.

"If I could get through, the police could locate the position, and there is a chance he could still be alive,” one woman is quoted as saying, hopeful that the phones could be used to perhaps find the missing passengers.

But tracking a phone's location is more complicated than it seems.

"It depends on the phone. It depends if it has GPS. It depends if the GPS is on. And it depends if the cell site that they’re on has GPS, too," Kagan says. "If everything is working right, yes, the network can tell where that phone is — within a very small area," he says.

Though he cautions that, in order for that to work, everything has to be working properly. So, if that phone is on the ocean floor, it would be nearly impossible to track.

These calls were never answered because they likely were never were delivered. That's a tough pill for the families who are short on information on their loved ones' fate, nearly five days since they boarded the flight to Beijing.

 

[Breton]

Here's one explanation about the phone ringing from _mashable.com

_http://mashable.com/2014/03/11/why-malaysia-airlines-passengers-phones-ring/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link

Missing Passengers' Phones Are Still Ringing. Can They Hear It?

The mysterious saga of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 got even stranger this week when a family member of one of the missing passengers appeared on Chinese television to show that her brother's phone was still ringing.

"This morning, around 11:40 a.m., I called my older brother's number twice, and I got the ringing tone," Bian Liangwei said [ _http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/missing-malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-passengers-mobile-phones-ring-not-answered-1439560 ]. She then dialed the number and watched as the phone rang multiple times before disconnecting.

SEE ALSO: 36 Hours Later: What We Know About Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 [ _http://mashable.com/2014/03/09/malaysia-mh370-still-missing/ ]

Other family members tried it, too. According to a reporter with China.org.cn, a group of 19 families [ _http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/missing-malaysia-airlines-flight-phantom-3228868 ] signed a joint statement delivered to Malaysia Airlines asking for an explanation. Why could they get through to their family members’ phones but not hear anything? Why did the calls hang up? Most importantly, does this mean the passengers are still alive?

Unfortunately, the ringing phones don't mean much of anything at all.

When you place a call, hit the send button, and your phone starts to ring, it "doesn’t mean it is ringing on the phone of the person you are calling," says wireless analyst Jeff Kagan [ _http://www.jeffkagan.com/ ].

"What it means is the network is at work, trying to locate the party you are calling," he says. "It rings once, twice, three times, and if it finds the phone, it delivers the call. If it doesn’t find the phone, then the call is disconnected."

"Family members over there are hearing the [ring] tone and they are hoping, but this is not a sign of anything. Family members over there are hearing the [ring] tone and they are hoping, but this is not a sign of anything. This is just how the networks work," Kagan says.

That ringing sound to which we're so accustomed is actually a psychological trick, meant to keep us on the line while the network works to locate the other phone.

"The ringing sound is generated by the originating carrier's switch while the network sets up the call," a CTIA-The Wireless Association spokesperson tells Mashable. "This keeps callers from abandoning the call when they hear no sound. The ringing sound has nothing to do with the actual 'ringing' of the called party's device."

Still, an official with Malaysia Airlines told reporters [ _http://www.stasiareport.com/the-big-story/asia-report/china/story/missing-malaysia-airlines-plane-loved-ones-china-angry-frustra ] he, too, had experienced the eerie ringtone.

"If I could get through, the police could locate the position, and there is a chance he could still be alive,” one woman is quoted as saying, hopeful that the phones could be used to perhaps find the missing passengers.

But tracking a phone's location is more complicated than it seems.

"It depends on the phone. It depends if it has GPS. It depends if the GPS is on. And it depends if the cell site that they’re on has GPS, too," Kagan says. "If everything is working right, yes, the network can tell where that phone is — within a very small area," he says.

Though he cautions that, in order for that to work, everything has to be working properly. So, if that phone is on the ocean floor, it would be nearly impossible to track.

These calls were never answered because they likely were never were delivered. That's a tough pill for the families who are short on information on their loved ones' fate, nearly five days since they boarded the flight to Beijing.

Warning: my opinion coming up, based on experience.


The statements by Jeff Kagan, some sort of "most quoted technology expert" if you believe his web site, which means he is probably loved by the main stream media which carries with it a lot of implications of bias, (a useful tool perhaps?), really bother me.

Why? The whole reason why the ringing phones has made headlines and got Chinese relatives of the passengers excited is that what he described above IS NOT WHAT MOST PEOPLE HAVE EXPERIENCED!

Sure what he wrote is technically possible, that the network can send the caller what is referred to as ringback tones, even though the target phone is not ringing and no connection is made. The reasoning he gave is to not make the caller give up too early, yet, my understanding from working in the telecommunications industry myself for over 20 years is that the whole point of sending the caller a ringback tone is that you have an understanding that the other side is connected and is ringing too.

I questioned myself if my experience was based on anything and I did notice that wikipedia supports me (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringback_tone):

A ringback tone (or ringing tone) is an audible indication that is heard on the telephone line by the caller while the phone they are calling is being rung. It is normally a repeated tone, designed to assure the calling party that the called party's line is ringing, although the ring-back tone may be out of sync with the ringing signal.

Just as the wiki quote said above, I recall from my experience that there may be some synchronization issues - i.e. when the caller hears the very first ringback tone, it is actually only your phone getting the ringback tone at that moment, but there is often a delay before the receiver also gets a ring tone. Therefore I have experience that when I have started hearing ringing and hung up too quickly, the receiver's phone did not actually ring yet, and sometimes did not even show in their call log that a call has been placed. This has not been totally consistent however.

Myself and many others, who call cell phones regularly, what we have experienced, is that when the target phone is unavailable to the network for whatever reason, there is not any ringback tone at all, and sometimes there is even a significantly noticeable delay before a recorded announcement comes on saying the person cannot be reached. Occasionally I have had a long delay, and the call has suddenly disconnected without any recorded notification. This has been consistent for me on Finnish networks, and also for networks in Canada when I have called subscribers there. The only variation that may occur is that for those that subscribe to voice mail, instead of a recorded notification the network might connect to the called person's voice mail. In all of these cases, no ringback tone is heard.

The only thing that allowed me to give any credence to what he said, was maybe the Asian networks are configured differently, or better yet perhaps inconsistently, so that the people there have varied experiences and in some cases there are some networks that act in that way as he described and others that do not. However I think that is a stretch at this point.

 

[Third_Density_Resident]

Regarding the explanations above given for the still-ringing phones, the Daily Mail has some quotes from a couple of experts which offer an interesting counterpoint, and it shows that it is not as simple as saying that "all phones do that" (which we know they don't): _http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2578020/Why-cellphones-missing-Malaysian-Airlines-passengers-ringing-Family-members-claim-loved-ones-smartphones-active.html

However the phantom phone calls and online presence set off a whole new level of hysteria for relatives who have spent the past three-days cooped-up in a Beijing hotel waiting for some concrete information on the missing plane.

Repeatedly telling Malaysian Airlines officials about the QQ accounts and ringing telephone calls, they hoped that modern technology could simply triangulate the GPS signal of the phones and locate their relatives.
However, according to Singapore's Strait Times, a Malaysia Airlines official, Hugh Dunleavy has confirmed to families that his company had tried to call the cellphones of crew members and they too had also rang out.
He is reported to have told relatives that those phone numbers have been turned over to Chinese authorities.

One man who had asked police to come to his house and see the active QQ account on his computer was devastated to see that by Monday afternoon it had switched to inactive.
According to China.org.cn, 19 families of those missing have signed a joint statement confirming that their calls connected to their loved ones but that they rang out.
The relatives have asked for a full investigation and some complained that Malaysian Airlines is not telling the whole truth.

The International Business Times reported that the sister of one of the Chinese passengers also rang his phone on live television.

'This morning, around 11:40, I called my older brother's number twice, and I got the ringing tone,' said Bian Liangwei, sister of one of the passengers according to IBT.
At 2pm, Bian called again and heard it ringing once more.

'If I could get through, the police could locate the position, and there's a chance he could still be alive.'

However, at a press conference in Beijing, Malaysian Airlines spokesman Ignatius Ong said one of the numbers that had been passed on to the airline's head office in Kuala Lumpur failed to get through.
'I myself have called the number five times while the airline's command center also called the number. We got no answering tone,' said Ong.

Indeed, authorities Authorities hunting for the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner expanded their search on land and sea Tuesday, reflecting the difficulties in locating traces of the plane more than three days after it vanished.

Malaysia Airlines said in a statement the western coast of the country, near the Straits of Malacca, was 'now the focus' of the hunt. That is on the other side of peninsular Malaysia from where flight 370 was reported missing.

WHY ARE THE PASSENGERS' PHONES STILL RINGING?

After three days, wouldn’t the phone batteries be dead by now?

Not necessarily. Smartphones are renowned for their poor battery life and will typically last up to around 24 hours. But the batteries of older phones can last considerably longer.
For example, the Nokia 100 boasts a standby battery life of a staggering 35 days. Smartphone batteries can also last longer if the handset isn’t being used, and especially if the phone is in Flight Mode.
However, if the phone is in Flight Mode, it switches off all wireless activity meaning calls wouldn’t be able to connect, effectively ruling out this theory.

If the phone batteries are dead, wouldn’t the call go straight to voicemail?

In a word, yes. However, the process of sending the call to voicemail can differ depending on the service provider.
For example, the majority of phones will go straight to voicemail, or callers will get an out of service message if voicemail hasn’t been set up.
This will occur even if the phone is underwater, or not near a cell signal.
However, some service providers will ring once or twice before the phone goes to voicemail, or cut off. This may explain the reports that claimed phones rang before seeming to hang up.

Some reports claim the phones are just ringing and ringing though. How is this possible?

Telecoms expert Alan Spencer told MailOnline that if the phones are really ringing, they can categorically not be under the sea.
He added that the phones will only be ringing if they are ‘switched on, not in water, the battery is charged, and [they are] near a mobile cell site.’
This means that if the phones are genuinely ringing, the plane needs to have landed on land – not in the sea – and be in a location where there is cell service, rather than landing in the middle of a jungle, for example.


Why can’t network operators locate the phones?

A number of family members have asked the network operators why they can’t use the phone’s signal to locate the missing people.
Professor William Webb, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, told MailOnline: ‘The phones definitely won't be working. They'll be underwater, out of coverage and by this time out of battery.
‘So there's absolutely no way they could be used for triangulation.
‘As to why they are ‘ringing’ it'll be the same as if they were out of coverage - in some cases it may ring before going to voicemail.’

What about the T3212 timer I’ve read about?

The T3212 is a timer that causes a phone to periodically send a message to the network saying where it is.
But Professor Webb said this only works when the phone is turned on and it is in coverage. It won't work when the battery is dead.

What about reports that passengers are appearing online, on the QQ social network?

When people sign into social networks including QQ, as well as Facebook, they appear online.
This is the case whether they’ve signed in on a phone, tablet, PC, and laptop.
if missing passengers are shown as online, they may not be using the service on their phone. Instead they may still be logged in on another device.
If this other device shuts down or goes into standby, however, or there is a long period of inactivity, the social network will log them out, which may explain why some accounts went from online to offline over a period of three days.

 

[Cosmos]

Regarding the explanations above given for the still-ringing phones, the Daily Mail has some quotes from a couple of experts which offer an interesting counterpoint, and it shows that it is not as simple as saying that "all phones do that" (which we know they don't): _http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2578020/Why-cellphones-missing-Malaysian-Airlines-passengers-ringing-Family-members-claim-loved-ones-smartphones-active.html

However the phantom phone calls and online presence set off a whole new level of hysteria for relatives who have spent the past three-days cooped-up in a Beijing hotel waiting for some concrete information on the missing plane.

Repeatedly telling Malaysian Airlines officials about the QQ accounts and ringing telephone calls, they hoped that modern technology could simply triangulate the GPS signal of the phones and locate their relatives.
However, according to Singapore's Strait Times, a Malaysia Airlines official, Hugh Dunleavy has confirmed to families that his company had tried to call the cellphones of crew members and they too had also rang out.
He is reported to have told relatives that those phone numbers have been turned over to Chinese authorities.

One man who had asked police to come to his house and see the active QQ account on his computer was devastated to see that by Monday afternoon it had switched to inactive.
According to China.org.cn, 19 families of those missing have signed a joint statement confirming that their calls connected to their loved ones but that they rang out.
The relatives have asked for a full investigation and some complained that Malaysian Airlines is not telling the whole truth.

The International Business Times reported that the sister of one of the Chinese passengers also rang his phone on live television.

'This morning, around 11:40, I called my older brother's number twice, and I got the ringing tone,' said Bian Liangwei, sister of one of the passengers according to IBT.
At 2pm, Bian called again and heard it ringing once more.

'If I could get through, the police could locate the position, and there's a chance he could still be alive.'

However, at a press conference in Beijing, Malaysian Airlines spokesman Ignatius Ong said one of the numbers that had been passed on to the airline's head office in Kuala Lumpur failed to get through.
'I myself have called the number five times while the airline's command center also called the number. We got no answering tone,' said Ong.

Indeed, authorities Authorities hunting for the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner expanded their search on land and sea Tuesday, reflecting the difficulties in locating traces of the plane more than three days after it vanished.

Malaysia Airlines said in a statement the western coast of the country, near the Straits of Malacca, was 'now the focus' of the hunt. That is on the other side of peninsular Malaysia from where flight 370 was reported missing.

WHY ARE THE PASSENGERS' PHONES STILL RINGING?

After three days, wouldn’t the phone batteries be dead by now?

Not necessarily. Smartphones are renowned for their poor battery life and will typically last up to around 24 hours. But the batteries of older phones can last considerably longer.
For example, the Nokia 100 boasts a standby battery life of a staggering 35 days. Smartphone batteries can also last longer if the handset isn’t being used, and especially if the phone is in Flight Mode.
However, if the phone is in Flight Mode, it switches off all wireless activity meaning calls wouldn’t be able to connect, effectively ruling out this theory.

If the phone batteries are dead, wouldn’t the call go straight to voicemail?

In a word, yes. However, the process of sending the call to voicemail can differ depending on the service provider.
For example, the majority of phones will go straight to voicemail, or callers will get an out of service message if voicemail hasn’t been set up.
This will occur even if the phone is underwater, or not near a cell signal.
However, some service providers will ring once or twice before the phone goes to voicemail, or cut off. This may explain the reports that claimed phones rang before seeming to hang up.

Some reports claim the phones are just ringing and ringing though. How is this possible?

Telecoms expert Alan Spencer told MailOnline that if the phones are really ringing, they can categorically not be under the sea.
He added that the phones will only be ringing if they are ‘switched on, not in water, the battery is charged, and [they are] near a mobile cell site.’
This means that if the phones are genuinely ringing, the plane needs to have landed on land – not in the sea – and be in a location where there is cell service, rather than landing in the middle of a jungle, for example.


Why can’t network operators locate the phones?

A number of family members have asked the network operators why they can’t use the phone’s signal to locate the missing people.
Professor William Webb, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, told MailOnline: ‘The phones definitely won't be working. They'll be underwater, out of coverage and by this time out of battery.
‘So there's absolutely no way they could be used for triangulation.
‘As to why they are ‘ringing’ it'll be the same as if they were out of coverage - in some cases it may ring before going to voicemail.’

What about the T3212 timer I’ve read about?

The T3212 is a timer that causes a phone to periodically send a message to the network saying where it is.
But Professor Webb said this only works when the phone is turned on and it is in coverage. It won't work when the battery is dead.

What about reports that passengers are appearing online, on the QQ social network?

When people sign into social networks including QQ, as well as Facebook, they appear online.
This is the case whether they’ve signed in on a phone, tablet, PC, and laptop.
if missing passengers are shown as online, they may not be using the service on their phone. Instead they may still be logged in on another device.
If this other device shuts down or goes into standby, however, or there is a long period of inactivity, the social network will log them out, which may explain why some accounts went from online to offline over a period of three days.

I've just done the following test on my mobile phone (german network), from a landline:

First test:

Mobile phone is turned on and I call my mobile phone from the landline

Result: I hear a ringing tone on my landline phone and the Handy is ringing
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Second test:

Mobile phone is turned off, with the battery still in the mobile phone and I call my mobile phone from the landline

Result: I hear no ringing tone on my landline phone and the mobile phone is not ringing. Instead an automatic voice from a woman is saying: "You are connected to the voice Mail, you can leave a message". I tried it a second time and I could hear nothing at all on my landline. I tried it a third time and the only thing I could hear on the landline was "fast ringing tone", an not a ringing tone.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Third test:

Mobile phone is turned off, with the battery removed from the mobile phone and I call my mobile phone from the landline

Result: I hear no ringing tone on my landline phone and the mobile phone is not ringing. Instead an automatic voice from a woman is saying: "The number you are looking for is not available, please call the telephone information". I tried it a second time and the only thing I could hear on the landline was "fast ringing tone", an no ringing tone.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I guess a bunch of us could do the same test and see what happens in their network... It would be especially interesting to see how the specific networks are reacting, of those people on board of the plane from whom it is being reported that their mobile phones are still ringing...

My result shows, that what the guy in yanz post number #92 is saying is not true, at least not in my network...

 

[Minas Tirith]

If something happened mid-air, and very quickly, most phones would either be turned off or in flight mode, apart from a couple that were forgotten to be turned off, one would think.

"Flight mode" means any incoming call is directly diverted to the voice mail - without ringing on the other side.

If the plane landed somewhere, passengers might have turned their phones back on, but then - if this would be the case - why is their voice mail not kicking in? As I understood the relatives phoning only heard the ringtone, but no voice mail...

M.T.

 

[luc]

Myself and many others, who call cell phones regularly, what we have experienced, is that when the target phone is unavailable to the network for whatever reason, there is not any ringback tone at all, and sometimes there is even a significantly noticeable delay before a recorded announcement comes on saying the person cannot be reached. Occasionally I have had a long delay, and the call has suddenly disconnected without any recorded notification. This has been consistent for me on Finnish networks, and also for networks in Canada when I have called subscribers there. The only variation that may occur is that for those that subscribe to voice mail, instead of a recorded notification the network might connect to the called person's voice mail. In all of these cases, no ringback tone is heard.

Regarding the explanations above given for the still-ringing phones, the Daily Mail has some quotes from a couple of experts which offer an interesting counterpoint, and it shows that it is not as simple as saying that "all phones do that" (which we know they don't): _http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2578020/Why-cellphones-missing-Malaysian-Airlines-passengers-ringing-Family-members-claim-loved-ones-smartphones-active.html

Since this got me interested, I looked up the GSM standard specifications/procedures, yet I couldn't find a lot of good results in English. I only found two German sources, one doctoral thesis about future GSM standards [1], which actually quotes the GSM specification from the book "Mobilfunknetze und ihre Protokolle" (Mobile phone networks and their protocols) by Bernhard Walke (2001). [2]

Here's my translation of the relevant paragraphs from the doctoral thesis (p. 10, bold mine and I inserted spacing for better readability):

2.2.2 Connection establishment

In order to establish a connection in GSM, the procedures summarized in the following are passed through chronologically, see fig. 2.4.

The base station alerts the mobile station about an incoming call via a radio call (paging, 1).

Thereafter, the mobile station requests a channel assignment from the base station on the random access channel - in competition with other mobile stations (channel request, 2).

Once the base station has received this channel reservation request, it sends information about a free channel and additional control parameters like for example the definition of the time slot in which the access burst has been received or the frame and bit rate (immediate assignment, 3).

In the following, the mobile station submits its ID and technical data to the base station as well as parameters to describe the requested service (paging response, 4).

After the in any case necessary authentication (authentication , 5) and encryption (ciphering, 6) the connection information like for example the description of the carrier service is exchanged (set-up, 7).

Then follows the assignment of the traffic channel (assignment, 8).

Now, the connection can be established (alerting, 9);

it rings until the person called answers the call (connect, 10).

So the way I see it after reading this is that in GSM there is hardly a way there could be a ringing tone without a fully functioning cell phone which is logged on to the network, unless some providers use a completely different system. As you can see from the quoted paper, the cell phone is supposed to send data as early as step 2 of the connection process, while the ringing occurs at the very end!

This also reflects my experience with cell phones that if you call somebody who uses a cell phone with a weak connection, you can hear digital artifacts ("noise") even while it's ringing! This actually means the radio connection is already established once it starts ringing, which is true according to the above mentioned GSM specifications. And it makes sense: How could you otherwise "pick up your mobile" when it rings and have an instant connection?

So the only way I think could lead to a "ringing tone without cell phone" would be if the ringing tone that the caller hears came from his phone company and was completely unrelated to the status of the target GSM network. But that wouldn't make any sense at all.

So I guess Alan Spencer is right.

[1] _http://www.comnets.rwth-aachen.de/publications/dissertations/p/pdf/558/download.pdf

[2] _http://books.google.de/books?id=wD3GpFuvZ58C&pg=PA203&lpg=PA203&dq=gsm+klingel+prozedur&source=bl&ots=NUe-vWTNSN&sig=uOEqM2uxRAfE7vcehVMtQ8iLEVc&hl=de&sa=X&ei=0h4gU57QKYiatQb_9oDgBw&ved=0CHIQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=gsm%20klingel%20prozedur&f=false

 

[edgitarra]

I found this letter on the net, apparently it was received by the Vietnamese, from witnesses of a possible crash:

 

[Kisito]

Mystere. 20 engineers specialized in the electronic war disappeared with the 777.

 

[yayan]

Thanks for the info luc & Breton.

Curious myself, I just did some experiments similar to what Pashalis have done, though I did it with 2 mobile phones. And the result is similar. I only got ringtone if the other phone is turned on and ringing too.

 

[angelburst29]

Trying to narrow down the facts corresponding to offical radar reports verses " undocumented reported witness testimony" i.e. owner of a fishing boat, a man claiming that he saw “bright white lights” which he believed ...etc., including a possible military sighting near Strait of Malacca, I keep coming back to Pierre's entry which I feel is more in line with the facts given, thus far. Quote: "The timing, location and direction of the plane coming from events 2, 3 and 4 are puzzling." I would add #5 to that mix. I'm of the opinion, #3, #4 and #5 (Strait of Malacca) are diversions and a "Wild Goose chase" to refocus attention elsewhere, as in, look over here and not there? Question is why?

BBC News: Malaysia Airline MH370 - Last communication revealed
_http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26541057

The last communication received from a Malaysia Airlines plane suggests everything was normal on board minutes before it went missing over the South China Sea, Malaysian authorities say.

Flight MH370 replied "All right, roger that" to a radio message from Malaysian air control, authorities said.

The search has been widened to waters off both sides of the peninsula.

Malaysia's air force chief has denied reports the plane was tracked to the Malacca Strait in the west.

The China-bound plane went missing on Saturday with 239 people on board.

It vanished about an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, as it flew over the South China Sea, south of Vietnam's Ca Mau peninsula. No distress signal or message was sent.

'Confusing' information

Malaysian authorities revealed the plane's last communication at a news conference held in Beijing for relatives of the 154 Chinese who are among the missing passengers.

As the plane reached the boundary between Malaysian and Vietnamese airspace, the Malaysian air control announced it was handing over to Ho Chi Minh City Control.

Minutes later, all contact with Flight MH370 was lost.

Earlier on Wednesday, Malaysia's air force chief Rodzali Daud denied remarks attributed to him in local media that flight was tracked by military radar to the Malacca Strait, far west of its planned route.

Gen Rodzali Daud said he "did not make any such statements", but the air force had "not ruled out the possibility of an air turn-back".

Officials still do not know what went wrong with the aircraft, and several leads pursued so far have proven not to be linked to the plane.

*****
Getting back to Pierre's #'s 1 & 2, if you review the first U-tube video by FlightRadar24.com - "Radar Playback of the moment Malagia Flight 370 vanished", a second object on the right, first indicated as a white mass circle that suddenly transforms into a plane silloette and jetsons in an accelerated Mach type speed surpassing other planes going in the same direction, suddenly stops at the edge of the radar map and seems to be hoovering in place - while Malagian Flight 370 continues on a steady course from Airport take off. As Flight 370 nears the area of the "other" hoovering craft, Flight 370 is seen on the radar - as pulling several times to the right, then excellerating briefly (as seen by the solid white line) then vanishes?

Is it possible, the mysterious secondary plane has sleath and cloaking probablities and "locked on" Flight 370 - when the plane reached the boundary between Malaysian and Vietnamese airspace and Malaysian air control was handed over to Ho Chi Minh City Control and in the process - briefly accelerating the craft forward - then transfering some type of cloaking that blocked it's signature to radar, thus vanishing it from sight? The cloaking of the plane - also nullifying any signals being sent out from Flight 370 including cell phone signals? Were passenger's and crew - gassed in the process or the plane guided to a Military installation, remotely landed and passengers taken as hostages?

Here is a map of Malaysia plotting 4 events relating to the MH370 flight.

1- TIME: 00:41 a.m. (local time) March 8th 2014.
LOCATION: Kuala Lumpur International Airport
EVENT: MH 370 flight takes off

2- TIME: 1.22 a.m. (local time) - 41 min after take off
LOCATION: 6°55′15″N 103°34′43″E. About 200 km (130 mi) east of Kota Bharu and 610 km NNE of KLIA
EVENT: Subang Air Traffic Control loses contact with MH370 aircraft at 01:22 a.m. and notifies Malaysia Airlines at 02:40 a.m.

3- TIME: 1.30 a.m. (local time) - 49 mn after take off
LOCATION : at sea, 14.4 km from Kuala Besar, which is about 8 km from Kota Bharu (KB). About 470 km from KLIA
EVENT: the owner of a fishing boat claimed that he saw an airplane flying low while he was at sea with a friend. The plane was flying towards the international waters i.e. away from the Malaysian coast

4- TIME 1.45 a.m. (local time) - 1 hour and 4 minutes after take off
LOCATION: Ketereh, 30km south of Kota Baru. 430 km (about 300 mi) NNW of Kuala Lumpur
EVENT: a man claimed that he saw “bright white lights” which he believed to be that of an aircraft descending at high speed


The timing, location and direction of the plane coming from events 2, 3 and 4 are puzzling. A trajectory compatible with the 3 previously mentioned events is depicted on the map (red arrows) and seems consistent with the scenario where MH370 might have u-turned several times as mentioned by FlightRadar24.

Also at 1.30 the plane is said to be "flying low" but 15 minutes (1.45) later it is said to be "descending". Did it first fly low to escape radars and then descend to land?

 

[luc]

Thanks for the info luc & Breton.

Curious myself, I just did some experiments similar to what Pashalis have done, though I did it with 2 mobile phones. And the result is similar. I only got ringtone if the other phone is turned on and ringing too.

I did this "experiment" myself, and there is practically zero latency between the first ringing tone in the land line and the cell phone ringing. This fits the info that I posted above - as I understand it, the connection is already fully established once it rings, channel allocation and all. So I guess the digital voice channel is on "idle" during the ringing, sending and receiving "empty" packages. When the called person picks up, then all it takes for the system software is to route the actual audio to the channel - the link, encoder/decoder, encryption, error correction and all are already running in both directions. That's how I understand it at least.

 

[Beau]

In the meantime, I caught on the news yesterday talk of the missing passports story and how "the problems with photo ID's" might lead to an ever further tightening of airport security. I don't think that this was the purpose of disappearing the plane, but they sure are quick to use it as an excuse to further tighten up controls.

 

[Laura]

I've just done the following test on my mobile phone (german network), from a landline:

First test:

Mobile phone is turned on and I call my mobile phone from the landline

Result: I hear a ringing tone on my landline phone and the Handy is ringing
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Second test:

Mobile phone is turned off, with the battery still in the mobile phone and I call my mobile phone from the landline

Result: I hear no ringing tone on my landline phone and the mobile phone is not ringing. Instead an automatic voice from a woman is saying: "You are connected to the voice Mail, you can leave a message". I tried it a second time and I could hear nothing at all on my landline. I tried it a third time and the only thing I could hear on the landline was "fast ringing tone", an not a ringing tone.

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Third test:

Mobile phone is turned off, with the battery removed from the mobile phone and I call my mobile phone from the landline

Result: I hear no ringing tone on my landline phone and the mobile phone is not ringing. Instead an automatic voice from a woman is saying: "The number you are looking for is not available, please call the telephone information". I tried it a second time and the only thing I could hear on the landline was "fast ringing tone", an no ringing tone.

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I guess a bunch of us could do the same test and see what happens in their network... It would be especially interesting to see how the specific networks are reacting, of those people on board of the plane from whom it is being reported that their mobile phones are still ringing...

My result shows, that what the guy in yanz post number #92 is saying is not true, at least not in my network...

I agree. Everybody should try it. Try it with friends, too. Let's get some evidence here!