Gallery: Why Your Phone Freaks Out When You Get Off a Plane

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    Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
    01

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    AT&T is in the process of adding a distributed antenna system (DAS) to San Francisco International Airport's Terminal 2. The DAS helps your mobile phone work in hard-to-reach indoor spots around the network.
  • A pair of ATT mobile antennas. They're the two cones that look like coffee cups popping through the roof. SFO has strict...
    Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
    02

    20140522-SFO-CELLULAR-016edit

    A pair of AT&T mobile antennas. They're the two cones that look like coffee cups popping through the roof. SFO has strict guidelines about the look and placement of mobile antennas.
  • Image may contain Interior Design Indoors Banister Handrail and Building
    Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
    03

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    Metal such as the gridwork shown here is the mobile engineer's worst enemy. Wireless waves can't pass through it, and it can lead to dead spots within the airport.
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    Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
    04

    20140522-SFO-CELLULAR-063edit

    This mobile head-end room is the brains of the DAS. It's where the radio signals picked up by the antennas are connected to the AT&T backbone. On the left are the big grey radio base station cabinets. On the right is a close up of the rack that holds the DAS head-end equipment used to convert to radio signals to fiber-optics.
  • Image may contain Clothing Apparel Human Person Electronics Monitor Display Screen Vest and Lifejacket
    Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
    05

    20140522-SFO-CELLULAR-155edit

    Wireless Install Technician Nathan Ram replaces a ceiling tile in the terminal after installing an AT&T antenna. Engineers can only work between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., when the airport is nearly empty.
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    Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
    06

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    Another would-be dead spot -- the entrance to the airport's baggage processing area. You can see the wireless antenna up top here.
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    Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
    07

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    AT&T will eventually wire up the entire baggage processing area, which is a dead zone right now. Why do they need wireless access here? In case there's an emergency and workers need to reach 911 emergency services.
  • Image may contain Human Person Mohamed Fahmy Building Worker Helmet Clothing Apparel and Hardhat
    Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
    08

    20140523-SFO-CELLULAR-253edit

    Special Projects Division Foreman Samuel M. Melendez (center) and Wireless Install Tech Oscar Zapata stand beneath a remote near an employee break area in the depths of SFO.
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