Cellphones On Airplanes 488
Bonker writes "According to this USAToday article two companies, AirCell, and Verizon, are developing technology to let airline passengers safely use cellphones while in flight. The system would block frequencies normally used by cellphones and force cell customers to 'roam' on the new network. Saftey concerns aside, I thought that a plane cabin was the one place I would never have to deal with people who won't quit talking on the phone."
deal? (Score:4, Interesting)
Are you just upset about only being able to eavesdrop on one side of the conversation?
Block the frequencies (Score:3, Interesting)
Keep in mind, my cell phone is one of those dumb "Buy the minutes as you use em" kinda things, which is a good deal seeing as how I only have to spend $15 every 90 days, as opposed to $30/month for the 10 minutes I generally use the phone.
Re:Can someone explain (Score:5, Interesting)
Because in some geometries, under some conditions, a cell phone or laptop can disrupt radio reception and navigational equipment. I have forgotten to turn my cell phone off more than once, and I routinely use my laptop to listen to ogg files while flying my Beech Sundowner on long cross country flight. The vast majority of the time there is no noticable effect, by on two different occasions I have had my laptop completely block my radio reception.
Now, before some smartass, thinking they know what they do not, blurts something stupid like "how did you know you missed radio reception if you couldn't hear it?" I'll go ahead and point out what should be obvious:
1) You get weather data prior to requesting permission to taxi. This whether data is broadcast on a looped tape, updated once per hour if it is ATIS, updated constantly by automated equipment if it is ASOS, etc. In one case the ASOS was silent with the laptop on, perfectly audible with it off (this was confirmed by power cycling the laptop severa times).
2) When you call clearance delivery or ground for taxi instructions, you expect a reply. If you don't get one, you call again. If this persists, you probably have a problem (usually you've dialed up the wrong frequency, have your volume turned down, or aren't transmitting). Turning off my cell phone immediate resulted in my hearing "N6708R, how do you read?" to which my reply was, "Loud and clear, now." Meigs ground had tried to respond to my request several times, the transmission was blocked whenever I had the phone turned on.
So, while such interference is rare, it can and does occur from time to time. Do you really want to risk having a Boeing 747 miss a call from the tower to hold short for crossing traffic while taxiing to or from the runway just so you can call your wife and let her know the plane is about to take off/just landed, or just so you can edit that Word document one more time prior to takeoff?
Does not matter (Score:5, Interesting)
Airlines have been deceptive (Score:2, Interesting)
So radio signals aren't to blame for screwing with the navigational and computer systems of commercial aircraft. This development basically contradicts everything major Airlines have said to prevent the use of mobile phones on flights.
More frigtening would be the prospect of electronic companies develping "airplane-safe" electronics, such as radio-signal free CD players, PDAs, laptops, etc. What's to stop airlines from demanding passengers from purchasing "safe" products and completely banning mainstream electronics on planes, and in return making us pay more money for redundent electronics? The development of such items would be a cash cow, targeting those who travel often, but are routinely forced to turn off our MD Walkmans and laptops because the flight attendent thinks it's going to screw with the electronics in the cockpit.
Just think: "I'm sorry sir, but that's not a United Airlines Sony walkman. We can't permit you using that on the flight sir. Please go to the airport gift shop and buy a $400 new walkman."
Why _can't_ you talk on cellphones on planes? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Control? (Score:1, Interesting)
A few things.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Time to find an old DC-10 or sit behind the jets (Score:1, Interesting)
People don't talk when the plane cabin is really noisy - they shut the hell up beacuse they have a hard time understanding each other, and I can get some sleep.
Especually annoying are people who come form any country remotly close to the equator - for some dumb reason, all those cultures TALK REALLY FUCKING LOUD. WITH THEIR HANDS WAVING. And they jaber about stupid things - LIKE THEIR CHICKNENS OR THEIR LOWERED IMPALA. OR THEIR QUICKY MART.
So for maximum enjoyment of your flight - sit right begind where the jets are attached, next to the skinny Iniut and the blonde Swede - If they do start blabing, at least it will be interesting.
Re:There's more to it that just frequency (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:deal? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Am I the only one (Score:2, Interesting)
I for one refuse to knowingly talk to anyone using a cell phone. If someone calls me on a cell I'll tell them to call me back on a real phone. Giving me a cell # is no different than not giving me a phone#.
How about the current initiative to bill the caller for the cellular access charges? That means I'll have additional charges on my bill for accidently calling cell phones? Does that also mean that the phone company will charge me for the privilege of blocking outgoing calls to cell phones?
Stupid hateful contraptions.
Consider this (Score:3, Interesting)
Who tells you the plane didnt crash where it did because of all those people talking on their mobiles and interfering with the plane's instruments?
Re:Cost? (Score:4, Interesting)
If they're really going to implement a technology to "block" cellphones, they'll probably leave it turned on all the time, even when you're at the gate. That will force you to "roam" on their network at $3.99 per minute, even if you are in your own service area.
On a lot of flights, adding up departure and arrival times, you spend a total of 40 minutes or so sitting at the gate (especially if you're sitting near the back of the plane). You see a lot of cellphone calls going on during this time. The airlines probably see this as a huge waste of a captive revenue source.
Burden of Proof (Score:5, Interesting)
Until it is proven, conclusively, that electronic devices cannot, under any circumstance, affect in any way shape or form the performance of the aircraft's systems, then they should be banned.
On a final note, doesn't anyone think about scale? ala "My laptop shouldn't cause any problems," or "My cell phone shouldn't be an issue." What about a plane full of cell phones, PDA's, laptops, and gameboys? One person using an electronic device may not cause a problem, but maybe a hundred of them stuck in a metal tube a couple hundred feet long might.
I think that while most people haven't thought of this, the airlines have.
Re:the deal (Score:2, Interesting)
And that is the basis for the problem most people have with cell phones. They feel left out. Well tough, not everything is about YOU! These people are the ones who also think it is rude for other people to have conversations in a language they do not know. I have had people comment on how this is rude, and they could not even understand that it was non of their business. People in the US are the worst. They feel they are entitle to being included in EVERYTHING. We now even have lawsuits to force schools to change basketball so that kids in wheelchairs have an equal oppurtunity to be on the varsity team.
There definitely is something wrong with society, but it is NOT the cell phones, or most of the people using them.
Thetonka
DrunkBunch [drunkbunch.com]
No worries about annoyances (Score:2, Interesting)
For $10/minute, you won't be bothered much, I'd warrant.
Re:thicker skin (Score:5, Interesting)
I had an experience like that once. I was at a McDonald's having a little dinner while I talked to my Dad on the phone. He lives 2,0000 miles away so I don't get a whole lot of time to talk with him. This old woman kept glaring at me. She mouthed a not-so-subtle comment about how I needed to get off the phone and eat my dinner. (no, I wasn't talking too loud.) She just had this thing about cell phone use.
I think that she was mad at me because other people with cell phones had riled her up. I got the feeling it wasn't me specifically she had a problem with, but other people had annoyed her and I was 'one of them'.
I'm not a big fan of being guilty of other people's crimes. I take extra care not to be annoying with my phone. As a matter of fact, right now my phone is on a low ring mode and set to vibrate. When it rings, my cubicle neighbor can't even hear it. I let my voice-mail get the call if I'm in the middle of a convo. I make a point of putting my phone on silent at a movie. I don't know about most places, but the theaters here ask you to make them silent.
As you can see, I put a great deal of effort into not being a nuisance. So hopefully you can understand why I don't take too kindly to stories about how some public places (like malls) are considering the jamming of cell phones. That'd essentially 'ground' the offenders, but what about all the people out there who aren't being offensive?
Half of the population of the US has a cell phone. If 110 million cell phones were ringing, I would understand the problem. We all know the number's nowhere near that high. In other words: Find a better solution.
Re:Cost? (Score:4, Interesting)
the bastards.
Re:Does not matter (Score:1, Interesting)
Incidently, I used to get flak from the stewards when I used my Sony's but no one seems to mind if I use the new bose units http://www.bose.com/noise_reduction/qc_headset/
From what I've been told, apparently the Bose units are FAA Approved. I didn't know that when I bought them, I just needed to replace my dead Sony's and the Bose store was on the way to the airport.
These things are GREAT, no more Crying Baby's, Engine Noise, talkative passengers, etc.
It's the FAA's fault (Re:Control?) (Score:3, Interesting)
It is the other way around. The FCC has done studies on traditional analog cellphones and determined that they should not be used by anyone on board an aircraft because of the wide interference that usage would cause. Similar studies were not performed for PCS and other digital networks, so there is no FCC regulation against using them in flight.
The FAA, on the otherhand still bans any cell phone use, believing that any phone may cause interference, mainly based upon hearsay and conjecture; under no controlled circumstances has interference ever been shown to occur in flight. IIRC, there are some 40 or 50 incidents a year where pilots believe that they fell victim to some sort of electronic interference, almost exclusively from laptops.
There was a congressional report a couple of years ago on this, I wish someone would post the link.