Time of useful consciousness after loss of pressurization at a typical airliner's cruising altitude is about 15 seconds. Your lungs basically operates in reverse and pump the oxygen out of your body as fast as your heart can beat. Once that deoxygenated blood hits your brain, it's lights out. I'd be rather impressed if anyone was able to make a phone call within 15 seconds of an explosive decompression. Presuming it was explosive, of course.
If rapid decompression occurred, there could have been panic in the plane, making it difficult to establish any kind of communication. Who knows...
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