Verizon ‘in talks’ with Canadian carriers about flaky signal

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Steve Van Dinter, Great Lakes Market spokesman for Verizon, said the Federal Communications Commission told the company to turn down its local signal strength after Canadian cell carriers took issue with American signals bleeding over the border.

He said the carrier had to comply with the order in December 2016, or face a “substantial” fine.

“Typically, we will see coverage (shift), especially in areas like the Midwest where you’ve got a lot of spring and summer foliage. (It is a) season difference,” Van Dinter said.

According to the FCC, the U.S. and Canada have agreements in place to cover use of radio frequencies along the border with the intent of licensees being able to provide coverage while avoiding interference. Most agreements require licensees not exceed signal limit from cell towers at the border unless both agree to specific conditions.Neither Verizon nor the FCC disclosed what that signal limit was. However, Van Dinter said that is what they’re working on.

Read more from The Times Herald here

Cellphone-mapping expert details locations of accused killers’ phones on day of Xiaopeng “Pippen” Yuan’s death

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The cellphones belonging to Cameron Isaac and Ninimbe Mitchell were in approximately the same location where Xiaopeng “Pippen” Yuan was killed at the time he was killed, an expert said Wednesday during the murder trial of Isaac and Mitchell. Rafal Dobrowolski, an expert in cellphone mapping and analysis, used Google Maps to show jurors the approximate locations of the cellphones belonging to Isaac and Mitchell in the hours leading up to Yuan’s death. Dobrowolski works in the criminal investigations unit of the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office. Dobrowolski’s analysis of cellphones is possible because of cell tower information. When a cellphone sends a signal to a cell tower, it can then be traced to the approximate area where the cellphone is located

Read more from The Daily Orange here

Teen seeking lost cell phone bled to death in parking lot, murder trial hears

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Mohamed Sail, 26, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in connection with Cook’s death on June 14, 2014. The Crown says it followed a dispute over a cell phone that Cook had lost earlier. Cook had tracked the phone to Sail using an online app, according to the Crown. Cook had gone out to celebrate a friend’s birthday party at Jack’s, a downtown London bar, but Cook lost his cell phone in the back seat of a cab on the way there.

It wasn’t until he returned home later that night that he used the app in order to pinpoint the iPhone’s exact location, Ball said.

Read more from CBC here

Cellphone records barred from trial; illegal search cited

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Little Rock police illegally searched a capital-murder suspect’s cellphone, a Pulaski County circuit judge has ruled in an order barring prosecutors from using the defendant’s phone records at trial. Judge Leon Johnson on Monday sided with defense attorneys Bret Qualls and Lott Rolfe IV to suppress the records of 41-year-old Donald Lee Brown of Little Rock after hearing testimony that police examined the call history on Brown’s flip phone immediately after his arrest.

Read more at Arkansas Online

Segura hearing focuses on cell phone records

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Accused quadruple murderer Henry Segura had two hearings Thursday before he heads to trial on Monday. He could face the death penalty if convicted for the 2010 murders of his girlfriend and her three children. The day’s testimony was all about cell phone records…

Read More at WTXL.com