Officials say Osama had no internet service, BUT

[SoCalDem]

I see people with these little usb thingies that give them internet while it's plugged in.. Couldn't the couriers just buy these & bring them to him?

I think they have X-number of hours online & then they expire.

[Hubert Flottz]

1. [e-mail]

[LiberalAndProud]

2. Aircards?

If that's what you're talking about, they use cell phone service. Did OBL have a cell phone? I think probably not.

[SoCalDem]

3. Someone other than him could have one & couriered it in..

where there is a will, there's a way:)

[razorman]

5. As I recall, in the early days, right after 9/11, OBL was using a SAT phone,

but it was being tracked. Apparently, we came very close to getting him then. After that, he supposedly had to resort to low-tech communications, like couriers on donkeys. Perhaps he was simply afraid of any high-tech methods, even wireless internet.

[Renew Deal]

8. You don't need a cell phone to use the aircard.

You just need the card and a signal.

[originalpckelly]

10. Yes, but you can track information over that.

Even if it was encrypted, chances are we have the ability to decrypt it.

So he'd have been fucked.

His internet was DVDs, CDs, and thumbdrives.

[Renew Deal]

11. I heard that the courier forgot to turn off his phone 1 time

And that was enough to pinpoint the location.

[valerief]

Oo, maybe he looked at my blog. nt

[jdlh8894]

4. Wonder how far away he was from a celltower in Pakistan?

Shoot,there are places here in GA I can't get a signal!

[cbdo2007]

6. I'm sure he had some kind of internet service, just not with a hard line.

You are probably correct that it was some temporary type thing. Same will cell phones, I'm sure they had cell phones but they probably just use Tracfone or something.

[Renew Deal]

7. I think the NSA was able to detect signals coming from that building.

It's actually pretty amazing.

[originalpckelly]

9. I'm guessing they knew they had no TVs and no wireless communications...

because they tried to monitor the compound and found out that no one was using them. You can do that, you know.

[drm604]

12. That would use a radio signal.

Something he was probably trying to avoid.

[SoCalDem]

13. Maybe they went to that internet cafe

He was fairly comfy there for 6 years:)

[Urban Prairie]

14. Not having transmissions coming from his walled compound would seem

very suspicious to me, being nearby the Pakistani military and academy. There should be a lot of electronic transmissions being sent and received in that area for that very reason. But they had to be sure, and could not gain access physically w/o raising suspicions and giving any reason for an uber-cautious OBL perhaps fleeing the compound under cover of night.