Mobile Phone In Flight?

[mora]

Originally posted by Nilsen
Think they have decided that the phones are not a risk on planes or in hospitals. They are allowing them in hospitals here now anyway.

Another reason why they are banned is the interference they cause to the networks. They aren't designed for cell phones doing 0.80 mach @ 35,000ft.

[JB73]

Originally posted by Nilsen
Think they have decided that the phones are not a risk on planes or in hospitals. They are allowing them in hospitals here now anyway.

not in the hospital i work at, though in the childrens section they allow it.

it still can interfere BADLY with pacemakers and other medical equipment.

in the ER all the moniters are wireless RF, and a cell phone recieving a call hoses up the signal i know for sure. watched some dude get totally reamed by the staff ofr not turning it off.

[Nilsen]

No idea if its allowed everywere in the hospital, but it sure is in the part my mother is. There was something on the news about it beeing allowed in hospitals a few days ago but i didnt see all of it.

[talliven]

what they are considering and what was tested on an AA flight was using cell phones thru an onboard base station that transmits down to a global ground network.  Kind of the same principle as the old air phones except you use your own cell phone.  If it does pass i imagine they will charge an arm and a leg to access their network in flight.

[SOB]

The company I work for currently provides service on some cruise lines.  It basically talks to a base station on the oceanliner, which sends the signal up through one of the Satellites that were used by satellite phone companies, and then to our network.  It's a mere $8.99 per minute for that service!

[Reschke]

Don't some Nextel handsets have aircraft modes? I think that I had read that somewhere since they use a different technology. Personally I hope they don't allow the little bastards to get approved. As someone else mentioned the only way I can get away from it is to be on an aircraft.

[Vulcan]

Theres been no research that has proven mobile phones intefere with navigation systems.

What they do however is f**k the cell sites up. When a phone flies over the cell network at 700km/h neither the phone nor the cell network can keep up. Its also likely your phones battery will flatten a lot quicker as well.

What is preferable is the ability to turn the phones radio off, leaving only the MP3/PDA functions going.

[Rolex]

Oh man... don't get me started about cell phones. I'm a pretty relaxed and patient guy but the only 'confrontation' I've ever had in Japan was with a jerk and his cell phone on a shinkansen (bullet train).

The shinkansen is pretty expensive by itself, but I buy a ticket for the 'Green' car, which is like a business class car to get some added privacy and silence. The rule is to only use a cell phone in the area between the cars and turn the ringer off.

Of course, 80% of the people in the world are stupid which means that 80% forget to turn the ringer off. Most will turn it off after it rings and they all seem to ring within the 1st 10 minutes after leaving the station.

Okay, so now I've got a jerk across the aisle who gets about 4 calls and is yelling into the phone for about 10 minutes for each call because he is arrogant as well as stupid.

Something snapped in my head and I before I knew it, I was out of my seat, over to his seat, snatched the phone away from him in the middle of a call and snapped the phone into two pieces and threw them into his lap.

I sat back down as he started grousing about the crazy gaijin (in Japanese) thinking I wouldn't understand him. I'm fluent in Japanese, so I told him to shut up or the crazy gaijin would come over and snap his head off just like the phone.

That was the end of the confrontation. I never heard another phone ring in that car the rest of the trip. The big, scary, rampaging gaijin...

I could never fly again if they allow cell phones on planes. Never.

[rpm]

Have you ever held your cellphone near ANY radio? Not sure if I want 20 of them working on an airliner I'm riding in.

[CptA]

I believe that what the FCC is really proposing, is allowing the airlines themselves to install something akin to their own low-power on-board internal cell tranceivers, and linking them back to the ground via satelite transponders.

Since the entire cellular phone concept relies on handing off your connection to the strongest (or closest) available cell-site, all your calls would be routed through their equipment, and you can bet that they will charge plenty of $ for access and roaming fees.

While it might still be conceivable to access some ground-based cell systems directly, those connections will be tenous at best.

The airframe (a large sealed metal tube) will act like a Faraday cage to block or absorb most of the hand held cell phone transmissions, and the speed of the aircraft moving inflight will keep your signal hopping from one cell-site to the next cell-site in the chain so fast you'll hear more noise than anything else.

Sounds like a way for the struggling airlines to make some extra revenue to me...

CptA

[SOB]

Originally posted by Vulcan
What is preferable is the ability to turn the phones radio off, leaving only the MP3/PDA functions going.

I can't turn the radio off, but I can switch it to 900/1800 MHz which isn't used for GSM in the US.  The real trick is hiding it from the flight attendants and/or convincing them that it's a good idea for me to keep it on.  I think maybe I'll just bring a book.

[NUKE]

SOB, just bring some small headphones so you can watch/listen to the movie/tunes offered and get drunk.

[SOB]

Hmm, drunk you say?  Splendid idea, my good man, just splendid!

[rpm]

Not so fast SOB. Flight Attendants will cut you off quicker than a PO'ed girlfriend. Also, they will confiscate a flask if you sneak one onboard. Made my flight to Cancun last year a real drag.