I believe the original version of the WSJ story was based on the notion that substantive ACARS messages were received from the aircraft (by Boeing, Rolls Royce and perhaps MAS), and that those messages included location and altitude information.
WSJ later understood that only non-substantive "pings" were received from the aircraft via Satcom.
Interesting that the story mentions satellites rather than a single satellite. That would imply a satellite in addition to Inmarsat's detected the pings. Perhaps a satellite that could also detect an "echo" from the plane's ping being reflected off water? Hmmm. That could give you all sorts of useful calculations.