FCC declares in-flight cellphones a dead issue for now
By Evan Blass 
posted Apr 3rd 2007 10:05PM
posted Apr 3rd 2007 10:05PM
Not that there was ever really much doubt that the rest of the commission would take Chairman Kevin Martin's lead, but now it's official: in-flight cellphones are a dead issue for the time being, as far as the FCC is concerned at least. The masters of the airwaves issued a statement today saying that they would not move forward with the proceedings which had been underway to revisit the current ban, citing "insufficient technical information on whether the use of cellular phones onboard aircraft may cause harmful interference to terrestrial networks." Of course the fact that thousands of people called the agency bitching and moaning about the likely cacophony of flying chatterboxes probably didn't help matters much, nor did the blasé attitude most of the major airlines seem to have about this. Hopeful sky talkers can take some solace in the commission's claim that it could reconsider its decision in the future pending "appropriate technical data," and if nothing else, AirCell's impending in-flight WiFi will likely enable VoIP sooner rather than later -- although voice services will initially be locked out. So no gabbing on the plane quite yet, which is just fine with us, because we prefer to be knocked out cold the whole flight anyway.
Thank God. First person I run across that makes a call on the flight I'm on will be garroted by me. Or I'm going to break their noise. I DO NOT want to hear about fluffy's vet checkup or what they should have for dinner tonight. >:-O
Why is it that people get irritated for folks talking about useless crap on cell phones but not to each other? Whats the difference in hearing two people talk about fluffy when both ppl are on the plane vs one of them on the other side of a phone line?
I'm going to talk on my phone just so you can try something. I'll whip your ass and crash the plane.
You can barely hear what the flight attendant is saying. What makes you think you'll be able to even decipher my phone conversation?
Have a little fun.......
When your cel phone yakking neighbor hangs up, ask him about how Fluffy is doing or ask him what they decided to have for dinner.
About 50% of the time, you'll get an surprised yacker and an honest answer about Fluffy and dinner and the other 50% of the time, they will look at you as if you had tapped their phone line and were listening to their private conversation.
Obama's right - all things can be solved with simple communication........ Right? (or are there some arrogant jerks in the world who don't really care "what you think"..........
CG
John Doe -
RE "Maybe because you never hear someone whispering on a cell phone"
Probably a true statement - but that only means that you didn't hear them....... because they were quiet.......
Goes with Stewart Brand's comment: "I've never heard a quiet motorcycle"......... Well, COULD you hear a quiet motorcycle? If it was quiet!
In good humour -
CG
Maybe because you never hear someone whispering on a cell phone. Ever. Its loud, in your face, and distracting as hell. Frankly I want a flight to pass ASAP and having someone yacking in your ear doesn't help if you are trying to sleep. Two way conversations are different. Its not a matter of listening in. There is something different. tone, voice level, etc. That and cell phones still present an air of I'm so important I need to be in contact with everyone 24/7, which is a load of bullshit.
Oh and Dude. Woo wee boy. Big man talking shit on the 'net, who is probably some 14 year old 'tard in his mommy's basement. Congrats. You have just lowered the IQ level on Engadget 20 points. Feel proud?
I wouldn't mind being able to get some business done on a plane flight, this will be nice when the FCC finally sees past the crap they keep preventing us from using on planes.
Plane time is that rare and special time when I have a really good excuse for not answering business calls.
With my phone off I reckon I can get about three days worth of catchup work done on a three hour flight.
Because it's proven that a person will get irritated if they can only hear one side of the conversation. What a nosy species we are, eh?
They don't work in the air anyway, do they?
Though it is really silly to think that the plane will crash if you turn on your cell..
One time coming back from Vegas I forgot to turn mine off and OH MY GOD THE PLANE DIDN'T CRASH!!!!
It's just so they can charge you out the WAZOO $$$$$ for those plane-phones come on....
If they allow cell phones on planes, then they had better allow smoking on planes again. Both foul up the airplane "environment", but if I can light up while the person next to me is yapping their ass off, I'll be less inclined to kick their ass.
The problem is not that if you turn your cell phone on that it will crash the plane; the problem is that in the event the plane is crashing for other reasons, the signals put out by cell phones can interfere 'enough' with the equipment thats designed to save your ass, that its in everyone's best interest to just shut them off.
I can't ever get reception on a plane, and I've tried Verizon, Alltel, and Cingular. On September 11th they made like 20 phone calls from a plane mid-flight, the plane didn't crash during those, and they had perfect reception in the middle of nowhere ;)
@AesirX Ha ha I totally agree.
But seriously, I've left my cell phone on during a flight by accident before and I didn't get any reception. So unless the airlines install equipment in the plane, which I'm sure they'd charge you for, there would be no way to talk on the phone anyways. Even if the FCC allowed cell phones on flights, there would be few times that you could even use it as a phone. I'm really not sure why so many people get pissed off about this.
good, the yappers on the train in the morning deserve to be strangled—I can't imagine how awful a flight would be sitting next to sombody enthralled in a deep conversation about paris hilton for three hours+.
You need an irritating sense of humour......
When stuck next to a loud cel phone yacker, just put one finger in your ear, look preoccupied and start saying, loudly "What?" "Say that again" " I can't hear you" and when you get your "yacking fellow passenger's" annoyed attention, then say, ""Well, then just "off the guy" "I don't care how you do it, just don't involve me" "If she won't play ball, then, her, too!" "That's it I don't want to talk about it any more - I'm on the train (or boat or plane or whatever's appropriate) - just take care of it"................
Then hang up your finger and look pleased with yourself and wink to the "non-yacking" passengers.
Works well and let's you practice your acting skills -
CG
You can actually have your cell phone on as long as it's in airplaine mode, basically just has the cell turned off and you can use the other apps. I'm sure the iPhone will have such a setting.
It's true that there's going to be useless talk on flights no matter whether folks can use their mobile phones or not. But I'm in favor of anything that cuts down on the useless chatter, and allowing mobile phone conversations will open the door to more useless chatter.
Texts I'd be OK with as long as people learn to master the "silent" function. It's there for a reason, folks. I don't want to hear your cool SMS beep, no matter how cool you think it is.
Actually, that's one of the main reasons cellphones would be annoying in flight: ringtones
I can feel a rise of in-flight violent murders because of annoying ringtones if cellphones are allowed one day...
Good thing I live in the Netherlands. KLM will start testing a technology that is according to them totally safe. Testing will start this year. Better than using those expensive airline phones ;)
Why does everybody always look for regulatory solutions to social problems? Are we going to ask the FAA to make a mandatory minimum jail sentence for the 5-year-old behind you kicking your seat-back? If you people think it would be annoying to have somebody yammering away next to you, grow some effing social skills and ask them to please keep it down because you're trying to sleep. If they're still going to act like a cocknocker, that's their problem, and it's no different than anywhere else in life. Besides, Greyhound certainly doesn't have a no-cell-phones rule, and you can ride one of those for like 10 hours and probably hear less than a dozen calls.
And what about completely unobtrusive cell usage on a plane? Text messaging, checking your email, using the cell as a laptop modem, sending/receiving pictures... there's dozens of things people could be doing with a phone that won't involve a shouted one-sided conversation 3 feet from your ear. But most people don't think about that, they just hear somebody say "Oh, that'll be so annoying!" and jump right on the bandwagon.
"If they're still going to act like a cocknocker, that's their problem, and it's no different than anywhere else in life."
no, if they are determined to be a-hole cell-phone users, even after being asked not to, it is still YOUR problem. And just about "anywhere else in life," you can walk away. Some huge percentage of cell-phone owners have forgotten the basic rules of human behavior, and regulation is the only way to bring relief to those who are trapped in confined spaces with them.
Yo! You are right about "limited cel usage:" -
While I don't want to listen to a person sitting next to me yacking about their poodle's new pooing habits with their "Honeykins" (NOT interesting) - or somebody talking about "That big Chinese marketing deal" that they are working on (which I'd like to hear both sides of the conversation, but can't) -
I would support texting and emailing while on the plane - at least, I can sneak a peek at their Chinese deal and I have a choice about the poodle......
Cheers!
CG
Thank you, FCC, thank you! It's indeed refreshing to learn of a government agency not bowing to pressure ($$$) from private industry in exchange for the safety and well-being (peace and quiet) of the public.
I am surprise no one here mentioned the findings of mythbusters:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_%28season_3%29#Episode_49_.E2.80.94_.22Cell_Phones_on_a_Plane.22
someone should email the link to FCC.
Oh no!! not Mythbusters proof!
I hope that we all don't look at their incredibly entertaining San Francisco based TV show ant think that everything they do "proves" their conclusion 100%.......
I like Adam and Jamie - but! I certainly pick and choose my endorsements of their "findings".
About 50% of the time, I see that their experiment should have been done a different way - and I do experiments as part of my job -
As far as cell phones, I'm a pilot........ and unless I put the cell phone within 18" of the magnetic compass (when it will swing the compass), nothing weird happens.
My GPS still works quite well.
My 2 radios work quite well, without static.
And every other gage and meter is unaffected, even with the cell phone within an inch or so of the gage.
As it's been mentioned, by someone else, it's not common for a cell phone to have coverage at altitude - usually, about 4000 - 6000 ft altitude above the cel tower. The towers are directional for stronger ground signal strength and don't point "up".
That all being said - I'm one of those people who absolutely ENJOY the undisturbed solitude of 3-4 hours of "non-contactable" time - I do my best work there -
CG
cellphones dont work in the air anyway
So, I am just curious as to how many of the "oh no, that would be awful" folks, yeah, nose punching et al, actually fly more than once or twice a year?
Being someone who spends the better part of 12 hours a week in a plane... having the ability to check email, and yes, make a phone call, would be a great timesaver, and convenience.
I would gladly sit next to a phone talker, (I have noise cancelling headphones), than sit next to some mom, with three kids under 5, screaming and kicking my seat! I can ask the person on the phone to speak quietly, if they are being loud, I cannot ask the poor mom to shut her kids up!
Come on people, get real.. bad manners are everywhere, and if you arent affected by it, Dont whine about it.
The thing that I never see discussed is the the fact that current cellular systems are in no way set up to accommodate in-flight traffic. It's absurd to think the caller would have any quality of service, if they're able to conect at all. As a couple people mentioned in some earlier posts; special equipment would have to be installed both on the aircraft and on the ground. As it is people tend to speak louder or even yell when they have a bad connection, now imagine that on a plane.