Emirates permits world's first in-flight cellphone call, plane doesn't crash
By Thomas Ricker 
posted March 21st 2008 3:08AM
posted March 21st 2008 3:08AM
[Thanks, Jonathan F and Andrew B.]
posted March 21st 2008 3:08AM
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woahhh finally!, i can message my friends on planes yea!!!
I really don't want to be on a trans-pacific flight with some moron yapping on their cellphone for hours on end sitting beside me... SMS is fine, but voice...
Thats so true
http://www.phonejammer.com/ ...maybe?
You have a problem with voice? Take note that you may end up seated next to "some moron who is yapping away" to their friend in the next seat, having a phone has nothing to do with it.
Thank god for my Shures, everyone on the plane can be on their cellphones for all I care.
DITTO! Shure E5C FTW!
Agreed. I fly cross country from New York to LA. I can just imagine all the annoying spoiled girls who are constantly going to be yapping on their cell phone in a high pitch and whiny voice. God help me if I have to listen to them, I may just bring the whole plane down and end the misery.
... can you play doom during the flight?
OMG OMG IM FOURTH !!!!!111shift+1!!!!!!1!!one!!!shift+one!!!
Will it blend? Does it give me cancer? OOOO btw im 4th. Also, Apple rules MS sucks. MS rules apple sucks. Linux pwnz u all. Linux sucks.
mushrooshi, you forgot to ask at how much fps Crysis can run
stfu mac user.
OS X owns ur face.
why do you think that is so funny?
Emirates YAWN. They are so not the first. AF has been offering mobile phone usage on their Dedicate services onboard the A319LR for a while now.
Stupid move Emirates. I mean look at Oceanic Air. They tried and look what happened!!!
"what does this button on my cellphone do?" BOOM!!!
Great idea!
Anyone actually realise the caption.. 'elo rick' bitches CASABLANCA! ! ! ! ! !. One of the greatest western movies of all time.
Yes.
I lol'd at the picture too, figured more people would get the reference in the comments.
You say Dubai, I say hello
Well here comes the "cell" and "non-cell" sections if they are smart lol.
I'm with trekkie on this one. This is going to be a nightmare if it's not limited in some way. Having to listen to one side of strangers' phone conversations is a special kind of torture.
I commute to work by train 30 minutes each way, and if it weren't for the existence of a "quiet car" where cellphone use is forbidden, I would probably have multiple convictions for assault and battery by now.
SMS is fine as long as the phone is set to silent/vibrate, but voice service should remain off limits for the comfort of everybody onboard.
First?
Didn't the people on the hijacked planes on September 11, 2001 make calls from their cell phones? Or am I missing something?
Hence first "authorized"
"september eleventh two thousand and one"? who are you? rudy guiliani?
jk. i keed. i keed.
Didn't he say 'Elo, Meester Rick'? The implication is that HB lost the girl...
Mythbusters proved cell phones don't do anything on planes, they just don't want people yapping and they'd have to test out every cell phone not just one to see if it makes it crash (new cell phones everday) would cost $$$
that highly limited 'experiment' mythbusters did hardly comes close to every possible combination of equipment and avionics arrangements possible in modern commercial air travel. this is the worst idea ever, allowing cell usage is not a good idea, no one is that important that they need to be in contact constantly. if they were, they'd be flying on a private jet with a sat phone.
yea but they had researched it I'm sure before making that conclusion, they cn't fit everything in the show
I agree that SMS and email should be allowed, but no voice.
"World's first authorized cellphone call..." That's complete BS. Qualcomm did an in-flight demo with American Airlines nearly 4 years ago. Full authorization from the FAA and FCC. There was an MD-80 full of reporters and executives making voice calls and sending SMS messages from their own phones while the plane was flying over Texas. RF coverage within the cabin was provided by a picocell, which used the Globalstar LEO network as the backhaul to move user traffic to and from the ground. Pretty much the same architecture Emirates is using...
it's not the FAA that keeps u from using ur phone it's the FCC not cause of crashing or blowing up the plane because your going 400 mph to 600 mph and a cell tower every 5 or so miles airplane stuff is shielded for 1 thing i fly alot and i bring my cell BUT w/ no ext booster u might get 1 bar w/ it u get five or more it's also better to use an anolog phone i also bla bla bla stupid fight atendet P.A Please turn off all electronics bla bla bla NO WERE IT SAYS BY LAW U CAN"T USE THEM
It's about time!
It's ABOUT TIME!
Can you hear me now? No? Shit... stupid altitude gettin' all up in my grill yo.
Can you hear me now? No? Shit... stupid altitude gettin' all up in my grill yo.
So confused. Wasn't this the first? Isn't this old news? This article even mentions the planned Emirates testing?
http://www.smh.com.au/news/mobiles--handhelds/green-light-for-inflight-mobile-trial/2007/04/18/1176696904629.html
Silly youngsters. Cellphone calls on planes were completely okay in the US until 1991, and later in other parts. Emirates may the the first to permit since the ban, but they can hardly lay claim to the first in-flight call. For that matter a bunch of 9/11 passengers made phone calls in the air, as well as the annoying guy next to me on JetBlue a few months ago.