Poll: Cellphones on Airplanes - RF Cafe Forums

 Post subject: Cellphones on Airplanes

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:41 pm 

Greetings:
It seems inevitable that the FAA will soon start allowing cellphone usage on commercial airplanes. First we will get trials, then surveys will be managed to show that the concept is not so bad, and finally cellphone chatter on airlines will be a fact of life – like chronic back pain would be. My guess is that the wireless service providers will be funding the lobbyists in D.C. for this one.

So, as if whiny babies, aggressive use of perfume, putrid body odor, and being squeezed by portly fellow travelers is not enough to have to endure (often for many, many hours), now you can look forward to listening to endless yakking along with the rest of the pleasantries. Your aisle mates will undoubtedly fight for window seats and contort their bodies in obscene ways to get a better signal. Maybe the airlines will repartition the planes for phoning and non-phoning sections, but I doubt it. Instead, they will push the seats even closer together. Once cellphone usage on airplanes becomes ubiquitous, maybe I will start a personal high altitude parachute business for desperate passengers that just cannot bear the situation any longer. An orange inflatable boat option with flares will be available for the over-the-water flights.

This poll seeks your opinion on the situation. Oh, when answering, do remember to factor in the possibility of phones interfering with the flight navigation and aircraft control systems. After all, that is supposedly the reason for banning the devices all these years. I sure am glad that most of my commercial flying days are over.


- Kirt Blattenberger

 Post subject:

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 2:56 pm 

Thats all we need. People yacking on cell phones during a flight. Given that everybody is already bored on a flight, EVERYBODY will be doing it. Just take a look at all the whacked out people driving around with those damned things for proof of that.

However, I think the FBI and DHS are going to prevent the FAA from allowing it. Dunno, I hope so.

 Post subject:

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 4:37 am 

The thing that should stand above all is the flight safety. I don't care if people would yack during the entire flight - yet I want to arrive in one piece to my destination. I hope that the cellphone usage on airplanes won't be approved!

 Post subject: A Timely Article

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 12:17 pm 

Greetings:

Here's a timely article that just appeared today

FCC Told to Hang up on Midair Cellphones
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8063420/


- Kirt Blattenberger

 Post subject:

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 12:46 pm 

More info:

Cellphones on planes worry security

http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/30/technol ... t/?cnn=yes

 Post subject: cellphones on planes -

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 7:36 pm 

The reality of cell phones on airplanes is that it will cost the user as much or more than the 'expensive' phone in the seat. I fear that all the happy talk about the topic assumes they will be able to use their free roaming minutes, but that is not the reality.

The airborne cell phone will not connect with ground based cells. There will be a 'mini-cell' box in the aircraft that the phone will connect to. This mini-cell system will be connected to the same air to ground or inmarsat link that the phone in seat. When you use the mini-cell, you will be charged to use the existing link and interface with the dialed network, and you will be charged a bit more because the airline will need to pay for the mini-cell installed in the aircraft.

If cell phones in aircraft come to pass, the euphoria of cell phone addicts will last until their first bill comes, after that they won't use their cell phone in the airplanes any more than they use the phone in the seat.

The airlines may well prefer the mini-cell over the phone in the seat because it is cheaper to install and maintain.

 Post subject: More fodder

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:19 pm 

Greetings:

It's unstoppable. More evidence:

Boeing: Cell Phones on Planes by 2006

http://www.betanews.com/article/Boeing_ ... 1118936866


- Kirt Blattenberger

 Post subject:

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:40 pm 

Hi All,
No phones on airplanes says FCC:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8O9BCJ80&show_article=1

Thank god.

 Post subject:

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 9:41 pm 

Greetings kpainter:

Yeah, I saw that headline and could not believe that a government bureaucracy actually made an intelligent decision for the well-being of the citizens rather than bowing to the lobbyists. Maybe the lawyers convinced them that their trial lawyer brethern would blame every aircraft incident that ever happens after OKing cellphones would be blamed on wireless interference. Maybe there's hope after all.

Nah.

_________________
- Kirt Blattenberger
RF Cafe Progenitor & Webmaster

 Post subject:

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:38 pm 

Hey, I cannot stand sitting next to ANYONE sitting ANYWHERE talking on a cell phone. God I want nothing more than to grad the ^&#@%^@^ things and stomp on them. I carry one mainly for if I have to make an emergency call, and then find a private place to do it. What's with these idiots that think everyone wants to hear their business? I think this is an example of the law of unintended consequences.

...Ted