Cellphone Use On Planes Coming Soon?

s31523 writes "A while back it was reported that cell phone use was given the OK on Emirate airlines. The BBC is now reporting European agencies back the use of cell phones in air. Plans have been developed to introduce technology that allow cell phone use on planes without any risk of interference. A spokesman for the UK regulator Ofcom said there were still many stages to pass through before final approval was given to the roll out of the plans, but the regulator said that the technology could be implemented next year."

finally

[andreyvul]

I can use my camera phone to take a picture of the city skyline during the night from 30000 ft

Re:Let me be the first to say

[Foobar of Borg]

If some guy next to you is annoying, just ask him nicely to not be.

So what do you think is the best way to handle some irrational jackass on that horribly enclosed space that is a commercial passenger airliner? I agree with you in general that politely asking someone not to do something that is annoying usually works. After all, some people do things that are annoying that they don't realize are annoying at the time, and if you politely tell them, they will politely cease since they will then realize that they are doing something annoying. *BUT*, there are some people who are complete shits and totally irrational to boot. How does one handle people like that on an airplane? I'm not really sure myself.

Wait, what?

[Beardo the Bearded]

Let me get this straight:

You can bring on a cell phone, but not an iPod...

You can bring on a lighter, but not a water bottle...

You can wear a belt, but you have to remove your shoes...

Are they just making the rules up randomly or something?

Re:Let me be the first to say

[vtcodger]

Yes, that's correct. Tests in Canada have shown that as altitude increases, the likelyhood of getting a cellular connection drops to about zero. And at jet aircraft speeds, you'd have to switch from cell tower to cell tower much faster than is thought to be possible, so even if you got a connection, you probably couldn't keep it for more than 40 seconds or so.

I assume that they plan to put a cellular transceiver on the aircraft and use some specialized technology to get the signals from the airplane to the ground -- satellite or some special mode of dealing with ground stations or something.

Anyway, just when I thought that they couldn't find any more ways on top of miniscule seats with no leg room, long unexplained takeoff delays, intrusive security, losing baggage, scheduling impossible connections, overbooking, and chronically late flights to make airline travel more distasteful, they've come up with this. I rarely do airplanes any more, and the last time I did, it took me something like 36 hours to get from Burlington, VT to Seattle.

real reason they ban 'em

[Pvt. Cthulhu]

likely mobile devices will never be allowed on commercial flights on american airlines, as the government, and therefore the people's will, here has little sway over business practices. airlines dont want you to have portable electronic devices, so you aren't gonna get them. at least not overtly.

the question then is why, which people seem to think they know. it is most definitely not because they interfere with the flight systems. think about how many hundreds of people are on their cellphone or laptop inside the airport, why is there no record of that causing a problem with planes taking off/landing, or even messing with ATC? even if your device matched a signal a plane used, it stands to reason that the multi-million dollar commercial plane would overpower your cute little phone, and you would lose the connection, not them.

so then the most likely reason is that the airlines want to control communication. if something goes wrong, and it is apparent that the plane will go down, then passengers will of course call family and such. the stewardesses will make sure they do no such thing, believing that even the lowly gameboy might interfere with the pilots' rectifying of the situation.

once the plane crashed and everyone is either dead or in too much a state of shock, the airline can retrieve the blackbox, debrief the pilots if they survived, and now the only story on what exactly happened to the plane is one written by corporation not interested in being sued by the families of all the passengers.

Cell phones are different...

[Joce640k]

Cell phones are different because it isn't always the person sitting next to you who initiates the jackassery - other people can call them. Can you honestly ask somebody not to answer their phone if it starts ringing?

Me? I think this is a terrible move. Air travel is bad enough as it is without having to put up with somebody talking 12 inches from your ear for hours. NOBODY is suffering with the current system.

If somebody annoys me with a cellphone, ie. it's obvious that it's not an emergency call and they're not going to be hanging up anytime soon, I'm going to lean over and start talking loudly into the cellphone for as long as it takes for them to give up.