Cell Phones To Be Allowed On UK Planes

Matty the Monkey writes "The British regulator in charge of air travel has approved cellphones for use on airline flights, reports the BBC. Airlines will be allowed to activate base stations in the plane's tail after takeoff, creating a zone of mobile coverage around the plane. 'The services could stop working once aircraft leave European airspace. Initially, only second generation networks will be offered but growing interest would mean that third generation, or 3G, services would follow later, said Ofcom. The cost of making a mobile phone call from a plane will be higher than making one from the ground.'"

Aaaargh

[Bazman]

Sales of noise-cancelling headphones suddenly rise...

just so long...

[Coraon]

as the pilots aren't making calls while flying. I don't want the last thing I hear is "Gotta go, about to crash"

Re:Fist fights at 30,000 feet.

[Actually, I do RTFA]

It was a horrible forced invasion of personal space and having to listen to someone blabber on and on "Like I know she does not like me because, like, she totally gave me a bitchy look yesterday and I was so like, peeved you know? because like, I think she is just so.... like not on top of it...... blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."

When other people force me into their conversations in public, where I cannot really move away without significant inconvience, and the conversations are that inane, I generally join in. For instance, you could have said something like, "Oh, you know I hate when I get bitchy looks. You always know that... [I'm not going to continue, but if you talked for five minutes, they'll get off the phone." Alternatively, instead of talking for a long time, you could be uncouth; "She was probably bitchy because she was getting her period. After she's bled out her vagina for a few days, I'm sure she'll be fine."

The important thing is to entertain yourself as you interfer.

Re:Earplugs... £0.15 a pair.

[badboy_tw2002]

Don't worry, if the plane tips over and points straight down that's your cue to take them out.

Re:Fist fights at 30,000 feet.

[Oktober Sunset]

There's only one thing to in this situation: Retaliation. You should have pulled out a giant phone and stood right next to them and screamed "I'M ON A PLANE!!!" right next to their ear, "I'M ON PLANE AND THERE'S THIS WANKER NEXT TO ME TALKING SHIT!!!!".

All problems have solutions

[pimpinmonk]

The cost of making a mobile phone call from a plane will be higher than making one from the ground

The cost of punching annoying cell-phone blabbing passenger on the phone next to you in the face, however, will remain constant

Pilot Killing Waves

[ShakaUVM]

Wait, I'm so confused. I thought cell phones and other wireless devices emitted invisible pilot killing waves, so deadly that we must turn off all devices upon takeoff and landing, and put them into "pilot safe" mode when in flight?

I saw a documentary on it here:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/10/30 [penny-arcade.com]

Oh, I guess that frequency-hopping signals really aren't that bad.

Re:Fist fights at 30,000 feet.

[onkelonkel]

Death cannot come swiftly enough to those morons. I ride the bus every day and I get a full dose. Apparently some people don't see anything wrong with subjecting fellow passengers to an hour long conversation. There are 3 types of calls on the bus -

1. Incoming Call - Ring ring. Hello, Hi Larry, No, I'm on the bus, I'll call you when I get to the office. Bye.

2. Person gets on bus and calls - Hi, I just got on the bus, pick me up at the bus loop at 5, thanks bye.

3. Person gets on bus (ok, girl gets on bus) - talks loudly, same conversation as the one you quoted. "So she's all like get over it you know and I go like whatever and she goes.......blah de blah ..." for a solid hour.

Calls #1 & #2 - no problem, they don't bother me, the person is being considerate of others. Call #3, They'll find her corpse stuffed into a culvert somewhere, and the cause of demise will be suffocation due to a cell phone lodged in the trachea. Not that I'm angry or anything. As long as the jury members are over 30 I'll never be convicted either.

Sure, cel phones on a plane, what could possibly go wrong. /twitch.

Done with planes

[owlnation]

I'm old enough to remember the Jet Set era. Air travel was so glamorous then. But now...

Phones. The latest in a series of moves designed to make traveling on a plane as excruciating as possible. Were I wearing a tinfoil hat I might even think it were a deliberate policy to discourage people from taking planes, in the name of terrorism or whatever this week's Reichstag fire is.

1. First there's the awful journey in a car and the cost of parking in the long-term carpark (slightly cheaper than buying your own plane). Or a similar fee in any taxi, should you decide to leave your car at home.
2. Next up is the confusing maze of finding your check-in point in a plastic ugly 60s monstrosity designed by the same blind architect who also does all the world's supermarket carparks.
3. Then you wait in line to check-in. Usually behind a Mongolian rugby team, who all have visa issues, and who all want to ask very, very detailed questions about their seats.
4. Then there's the security check. The hours of waiting, then the removing of shoes, belts, rings, laptops, false teeth, and god knows whatever else. This despite the fact that it's pretty easy to throttle a steward using the shoulder strap on your carry-on.
5. Then you have to hang around for hours in the departure lounge (you arrived 3 hours early to beat the lines at security). You fill the time by buying bad coffee which costs about the same as 100 gallons of avation fuel. Tastes like it too.
6. Then you get on the plane....

And now some fucker's gonna sit and phone for hours?

Screw planes, I'm going by boat. It's probably quicker.

Re:Fist fights at 30,000 feet.

[TheRaven64]

A headset that cancels out the idiots is easy - just make sure there's a high enough potential difference between the two earphones. The difficult part is persuading said idiots to wear it...

Re:Cell hopping?

[wasted time]

Better yet, what happens when two planes cross paths?

My guess is all calls get dropped; and those two planes don't make their scheduled arrival times.

Re:Fist fights at 30,000 feet.

[Burning Plastic]

Listen and repeat...

"Vous retournez chez toi dans une ambulance."

"You are going home in an ambulance." ...

 

Take it outside

[stewbacca]

I wouldn't mind idiots talking on their cell phones in-flight as long as they stepped outside to take the call.

Re:Fist fights at 30,000 feet.

[Hal_Porter]

conversations would be justification for homicide.

That's a common belief, but I have to inform you that legally this is often not the case. Even very annoying people still retain the right to life in most situations in 48 states of the US.