
Why Can't I Use My Cell Phone on a Plane? Ask Call Carriers - gasull
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/gadgetreviews/magazine/16-09/ts_burningquestion
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brm
You can't use it on a plane because no one wants to be forced to hear someone
talk on the phone for an entire 2+ hour flight and we certainly dont want to
hear people on planes talking over each other.

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ojbyrne
I'd heard this before, and it just doesn't hold as an argument.

a. Someone can do this now, they just have to pay the rates for in-flight
phones.

b. If you're going to ban cell-phones on the basis of how much they annoy
other passengers, you'll also have to ban babies.

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jamesbritt
" If you're going to ban cell-phones on the basis of how much they annoy other
passengers, you'll also have to ban babies."

I'm in!

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sh1mmer
The synopsis of the article is that it's technically tricky to enable cell
phones but not impossible. The problem is that cell phones hit hundreds of
towers from a mile up. Instead enabled planes would have a local cell and use
radio noise to block traffic to ground based towers.

The main reason the ban has remained in place is public opposition to sitting
next to someone talking on a cell phone. Which makes sense to me. Air travel
is hardly comfortable.

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derefr
But, given that there's wifi, you can still use VoIP phones. Those that really
need service still have a means of sending their voice down to ground; it just
inconveniences those who pay for specific (ground) cell coverage, that's never
guaranteed to work outside of its physical region, let alone in the air,
anyway.

Also, even if the plane doesn't have wifi, don't satellite phones still work?

