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I was speaking with a friend regarding cellphone jamming, and a question was posed:

Suppose there is a piece of equipment that strictly follows all the relevant cellular protocol specs and can route 911 calls, but drops all other traffic. Is such a system illegal?

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I believe your device would need type acceptance by the FCC and, presumably, a valid license to transmit/operate on those frequencies. Otherwise, yes, it would be illegal.

I don't have a citation/reference handy but, if memory serves, it is illegal (in the U.S.) to interfere with any cellular communications.

Is there a quick way to figure out if this is occurring? I've gone into one or two restaurants with their own wifi and my cell connection goes down to 3G.

At least civilly, if not criminally, yes, illegal - you don't hold a license for broadcasting on that spectrum.

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