Cell Phones To Be Allowed On UK Planes 217
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.'"
Earplugs... £0.15 a pair. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Fist fights at 30,000 feet. (Score:5, Interesting)
9/11 anybody? (Score:2, Interesting)
"Mom, this is Mark Bingham"...
Can't we make calls now? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Fist fights at 30,000 feet. (Score:5, Interesting)
It will be much worse when the plane is up and flying. Changes in pressure, plus the engine noise, are going to make hearing the tinny little speaker in mobile (since this is the UK) phones very difficult. And when hearing goes, shouting follows. Joy.
Re:Fist fights at 30,000 feet. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Fist fights at 30,000 feet. (Score:5, Interesting)
With cell phones, this doesn't happen, so you feel like you need to speak loud enough to hear yourself. Which is louder than a normal conversation because you're covering one ear.
Why cell phone manufacturers don't feed back your voice to the receiver, I don't know.
But do you know why cell phones are not allowed? (Score:5, Interesting)
The real reason is that cell phone networks are based on a 2 dimensional system. Cell towers grant leases based on which tower has the strongest signal from a particular phone. When the user of the phone moves from one tower's coverage to another, the lease is transferred. If a plane full of people flew over a metropolitan area with 150 cell phones negotiating leases, chaos ensues as the system is not designed to support a 3 dimensional model. Newer networks are but the older ones will be problematic. I highly suspect the British trial will have a special base on the plane which will take all the leases so the ground towers will not be affected.
The last reason is annoyance. I actually used Skype on planes from Vancouver to Frankfurt equipped with Boeing's Connexion internet service. While the trial ended, it was clear that using Skype on an overnight commercial flight could cause a great deal of annoyance to passengers wanting to sleep. ON local flights, it might be acceptable for a few sociopaths to talk the entire time thus ensuring their fellow passengers have full details of their personal lives.
I personally think that it will be less than two days before we see a newspaper article about a cleaning crew finding a passenger duct taped to the planes toilet with a cell phone shoved up his hind side.
Wrong direction. On a bus in tokyo they say .... (Score:3, Interesting)
"Passengers are reminded that portable telephones should not be used on the bus as they annoy the neighbors!"
Re:Fist fights at 30,000 feet. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Done with planes (Score:3, Interesting)
How feasible is 50 knots? Well, the exact speed something like the Nimitz can reach is classified, but estimates put it at around 35 knots (three and a half days for the crossing), so that's probably close to the limit of what can be done with proven technology. There are a few designs around which claim to make carriers with 150 knot cruising speeds (single day atlantic crossing) possible, but they seem dangerously close to flying car technology.
Re:Fist fights at 30,000 feet. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Wrong direction. On a bus in tokyo they say ... (Score:3, Interesting)
As an avid hater of loud mobile phone users, my belief that the whole mobile phone problem lies with people not the technology, was reinforced.