Saturn,
The recent BEA note indicates that the PF briefed the PNF who had arrived at the cockpit that at some time before 1 h 59 min 32 s that logon with DAKAR had failed. (At least 21 minutes before estimated changeover from ATLANTICO to OCEANIC DAKAR which was at 2 h 20 at the TASIL waypoint.) LH507 (believed to be the flight with AMDAR) monitored 121.5 the entire flight and never heard any communication from AF447.
So CVR transcripts of any conversation on what they were seeing on their radar displays will be interesting.
I'll leave it to others to comment on jumping ahead on a frequency change 21+ minutes before one arrives at the boundaries of the FIR.
SaturnV,
The notification from ATLANTICO to DAKAR, (contrary to what happens now), was not automatically done from one ATC to the other at that time, once the CPDLC/ADS FANS system was not fully operational at that time. According to FANS procedures, one should try to notify/(log-on) between 10 to 40 minutes before reaching the boundary. Further, there are normally two HF radios on A330's. Therefore, it was common practice to call DAKAR, at least 10 minutes before reaching the boundary on HF2, while maintaining a SELCAL watch with ATLANTICO on HF1.
But I'm with you. I'm very curious on what CVR transcripts may bring to light.