What is so interesting about this to me is that on SEPTEMBER 11th, 2007, it was claimed that passengers on FLIGHT United 93 used cellphones to contact their families.
Where was all the fancy satellite technology in that situation?
Furthermore, even if I was stupid/gullable enough to believe that U93 was close enough to the ground to get a signal through an antennae, I find it hard to believe they were capable of calling anyone when the plane was in the 600 MPH inverted dive as depicted in the movie "United 93".
seriosuly though, you can use a cell phone in a plane, i've gotten signal (not good, and not constant). The issue here is the misconception that cell phones jam nav systems or radar, or anything like that. The real reason they don't want people using cell phones is because they can charge to use the in-plane line. Planes with the new system in place will definitely have higher ticket prices than those without, just so someone can make a buck. Though it should be noted that i do belive this sytem will provide better signal than without it ;)
Cell phones work on airplanes the main ( technical) reason they are banned is the believe that they cause RF interference with some of the aircrafts electronic systems especially instrument landing systems. Although there is a lot of debate about how much of an issue this really is. Mythbusters even did a show about it.
But I think they real reason to ban them is to maintain the sanity of your fellow passengers.
"The issue here is the misconception that cell phones jam nav systems or radar, or anything like that." Considering there's been cases at my work where mobile phones and blackberrys have caused PCs to reboot (myself included) and there's been videos showing engineers recreating this feat then i'd hardly say it's a misconception that it *might* interfere in some way with the planes systems.
I was on a trans-Atlantic flight last December and the passenger one row up and across the aisle from me was connected to his work computer via his cellphone for at least an hour- remote controlling the computer on the other end with what looked to be VNC. I figured that if you can connect to a cell network in the middle of the Atlantic in an airplane, that you could connect anywhere. The plane never went down either.
The real problem is none of those mentioned so far (although these are also issues to consider). The real problem is that the cellular infrastructure - the part that handles handsets moving between cells - is meant for scattered users moving at mostly car or railway speeds, not a bunch of potentially tens of users moving together 5 to 10 times faster. So then they realized the way to tackle this was to introduce a picocell inside the aircrraft - presto! - instant roaming charges for all and a nice deal for the airline.....
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What is so interesting about this to me is that on SEPTEMBER 11th, 2007, it was claimed that passengers on FLIGHT United 93 used cellphones to contact their families.
Where was all the fancy satellite technology in that situation?
Furthermore, even if I was stupid/gullable enough to believe that U93 was close enough to the ground to get a signal through an antennae, I find it hard to believe they were capable of calling anyone when the plane was in the 600 MPH inverted dive as depicted in the movie "United 93".
O.o United 93 Went down Twice! Z0MFG!
seriosuly though, you can use a cell phone in a plane, i've gotten signal (not good, and not constant). The issue here is the misconception that cell phones jam nav systems or radar, or anything like that. The real reason they don't want people using cell phones is because they can charge to use the in-plane line. Planes with the new system in place will definitely have higher ticket prices than those without, just so someone can make a buck. Though it should be noted that i do belive this sytem will provide better signal than without it ;)
also: 9/11
also II, @ Dick: Stop trolling plzkthx
2007 ? wtf ?
Cell phones work on airplanes the main ( technical) reason they are banned is the believe that they cause RF interference with some of the aircrafts electronic systems especially instrument landing systems. Although there is a lot of debate about how much of an issue this really is. Mythbusters even did a show about it.
But I think they real reason to ban them is to maintain the sanity of your fellow passengers.
"The issue here is the misconception that cell phones jam nav systems or radar, or anything like that."
Considering there's been cases at my work where mobile phones and blackberrys have caused PCs to reboot (myself included) and there's been videos showing engineers recreating this feat then i'd hardly say it's a misconception that it *might* interfere in some way with the planes systems.
What the hell are you talking about in 2001;) they used the inbuilt telephones on the passenger seats NOT cellphones!
I was on a trans-Atlantic flight last December and the passenger one row up and across the aisle from me was connected to his work computer via his cellphone for at least an hour- remote controlling the computer on the other end with what looked to be VNC. I figured that if you can connect to a cell network in the middle of the Atlantic in an airplane, that you could connect anywhere. The plane never went down either.
The real problem is none of those mentioned so far (although these are also issues to consider).
The real problem is that the cellular infrastructure - the part that handles handsets moving between cells - is meant for scattered users moving at mostly car or railway speeds, not a bunch of potentially tens of users moving together 5 to 10 times faster. So then they realized the way to tackle this was to introduce a picocell inside the aircrraft - presto! - instant roaming charges for all and a nice deal for the airline.....