Cell phone use in the air

[GroundedBoricua]

Oh god, I just had another horrible thought. How do we handle the ones who lock themselves in the lav for an hour while they carry on the conversation they can't hear out in the cabin?????

Well I have a solution to your problem, find one that has to take a dump, open the lav door with the person on the phone, and let the other guy fart in there .Trust me, he will evacuate the lav in 3 seconds :wacko:

I hate movie theaters; they won’t let me smoke or drink beer in there. So instead I just hotwire the cable box in my hotel room.

Damn!! I want to learn that trick h34r:

 

[freedom]

I don't think this will happen , a study was just recently conducted that showed with all the wireless signals in the cabin interference was caused by the cellphones , besides all we need is one plane to go down unexplained and everyone will point to cell phones as the cause , once again it will be goodbye on board cell phones . Really just think if you were on a 57 and every single passnger had their cellphone and laptop going , doesn't someone out there think that would cause just the LEAST bit of electronic interference?It's sad when people belive so much of what the "experts" tell them that they forget their common sense .

 

[Dorf]

I tend to agree, BUT the difference is it's not in "Our Space". The cell user on an airplane is literally going to be in contact with us as they talk.

Maybe there could be a "cone of silence" device like Maxwell Smart had on "Get Smart" which could be lowered over the person who wanted to use their cell phone in flight. The airline could charge $50+ per flight and make it a mandatory purchase if one wanted to use their cell phone!

 

[SpinDoc]

I don't think this will happen , a study was just recently conducted that showed with all the wireless signals in the cabin interference was caused by the cellphones.

Let's put this in the proper perspective. Cell phones transceivers operating at full power while attempting to reach a land based cell tower "may" cause interference with the navigational systems of aircraft. This has not been proven as of yet, and the FAA will not permit regular cell phone use in flight without quantifying the risks. Therefore, they are conducting studies to find out if a full power phone (or many phones operating at the same time) can interfere with the nav system.

Boeing and other electronics firms have developed systems that involve having an antenna in the cabin of the aircraft that captures the cell phone signal at the lowest operating power, and re-transmits the signal to the ground through a satellite directed external antenna. A cell phone (or group of cell phones) operating at their lowest transmitting power is unlikely to create enough energy to disrupt the nav systems. Boeing has proven their Connexion system, and it is FAA approved.

The question remains, do airlines want to invest in the technology to allow inflight cell phone use through Connexion or other satellite based systems? That is something that will be dictated by the marketplace, and at a cost of $5.00 to $10.00 per flight to use the system, how many people will actually use it? Fixed Air phones are not very popular, even with Verizon offering lower rates for their regular cell phone customers.

The other problem that is not frequently discussed is older cell phones and their propensity to create a rather large frequency footprint on ground based cell phone towers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates cell phone use within the U.S. and an older multi-frequency analog phone (2 to 4 years old) can and will work on an aircraft at 35,000 feet. The difficulty lies in that the analog signal locks onto more than one cell tower and jams several cells at a time, disrupting ground based service for hundreds of customers at a time. With the number of older analog phones still in use,
the FCC is reluctant to give approval to air carriers to allow cell phones to be used in flight.

The last hurdle is the courtesy/annoyance factor of having a number of customers chatting away while locked in a tube at 35,000 feet. It will inevitably lead to squabbles and increase the workload for flight crews to disarm challenging situations among the customers.

 

[soc-hpjester]

The first airline to allow this will be considered the progressive business leader among the majors and will eventually be lauded as the best idea ever. I say let them talk whenever.