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U.S. Department of Transportation to Pursue Ban on In-Flight Cell Phone Calls

Airlines install small cell sites in planes to offer their passengers cell phone service.

Those small cells then communicate to the voice network in a variety of possible ways - but you would not be talking from your cell phone down to towers on the ground.

Airlines might be a bit peeved by this, as some would see this as an opportunity to scrape some pretty big roaming charges off the top...
 
squirrelist said:
As far as I see it, this is no different than talking on the phone in a theater. Theaters ban phone calls in the theaters not because of law but because it is disrespectful to others. Airlines can (and probably should) do the same thing.
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In a theatre, the cops can escort a noise maker to the door. There's probably some International ocean littering treaty that makes it illegal to do that, even if the aircraft doors could be opened in flight.

Marzzz said:
I don't know exactly what it is, but people tend to speak so LOUD while using their cell phones.
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They can't hear themselves over the engine noise... not knowing that most newer mobile phones can cancel out that noise electronically. You can whisper and be heard on the other end even if you can't even hear yourself talk.
 
I haven't flown in about 15 years, but when I did, even back then there was a phone in the back of seats (I think it was maybe a phone in the back of every other seat or so, hard to remember). I never saw anybody use one. And I don't generally see people talk on cell phones at all anymore, maybe because I'm not in an urban area. But I do go to a college campus, and I almost never see people with phones to their head--they're usually walking and texting. So if no one wants to talk on the ground, so I'm not sure why they would in the air. And assuming people don't talk louder on their cellphones than they do to family around them on a plane, I don't see a problem. From what I recall on airplanes, the annoying sound is the 100 some decibels of white noise that surrounds you.
 
Hopefully they ban it outright. Right now cell service drops once you venture above 2-3k feet and it would be nice if it stayed that way.

It used to be that every seat back had a phone in it that you could use if you were willing to part with $2-3+ / minute. What a great idea, I can't believe it didn't work out.

If they allow it though I fully expect some airline to try the motel-long-distance business model and install a microcell on their planes that charges you exorbitant roaming fees when making a call.
 
Virgin Atlantic has this facility and I've used it a couple of times when flying between the uk And New York or Vegas.

It is expensive £1.50 per minute for calling and £0.40 per SMS ... No data network facility.

To be fair I don't think any passenger around me noticed since I was using a hands free set that I had been wearing all the time for music, not even the wife next to me realised until a couple of mins into the call ... Key here is that it doesn't have to be intrusive at all
 
smithrh said:
Airlines install small cell sites in planes to offer their passengers cell phone service.

Those small cells then communicate to the voice network in a variety of possible ways - but you would not be talking from your cell phone down to towers on the ground.

Airlines might be a bit peeved by this, as some would see this as an opportunity to scrape some pretty big roaming charges off the top...
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I know Emirates offers this. They have a small cell site in the plane which in turn talks to satellites and your phone works seamlessly. Pretty expensive, but its there if you need it.
 
Calling on airplanes will be fully allowed when the airlines can make profit out of it, as simple as that.

It is interesting that the interferences coming from the inside of the plane (the phones of the passengers) are so bad but the interferences from the people at the airport and the cell towers are ok...

The same applies to liquids... prohibited for a reason that has been proven to be useless as it has been, again, proven that with the current limits of liquid it is still possible to make a bomb, but now the point is that the liquids from the shops at the terminal are ok but not those brought from home.

As always... prohibited until capitalism can make money out of it.
 
A potential pissing contest between the FCC and the DOT. Lovely. So, which entity has the final authority regarding what is allowed to occur on board a commercial aircraft?
 
avanpelt said:
A potential pissing contest between the FCC and the DOT. Lovely. So, which entity has the final authority regarding what is allowed to occur on board a commercial aircraft?
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The Department of Transportation.
 
squirrelist said:
I can understand the DOT banning phone calls if there was a technical or safety reason. But why should they make a law for people to be courteous? As far as I see it, this is no different than talking on the phone in a theater. Theaters ban phone calls in the theaters not because of law but because it is disrespectful to others. Airlines can (and probably should) do the same thing.
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It's different as much as an airplane (in the air) is different from a theater.

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barkomatic said:
I'm not keen on being forced to listen to someone phone conversation on the plane either, but is this really the reason the airlines want to prohibit it--or is it that they want you to use the super expensive air phones that you can conveniently activate with your credit card?

If they think allowing cell phones is dangerous or distracting, it would seem those shouldn't be allowed either.
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Don't think I've seen any of those in years now pretty much on any plane that I've been on.
 
RyanFromQA said:
How much of a problem is this?

The last flight I was on, I turned off airplane mode on my iPhone. I know -- Danger is my middle name. Thing is, I had no service even well before we got to our cruising altitude (and were still over a heavily populated area with plenty of coverage).
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Exactly, good luck getting a signal at even a few thousand feet off the ground.
 
Z400Racer37 said:
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my lords at the DOT for knowing better than my lords at the F'nCC, about exactly what is best for me. Don't know what I would do without 'em. :rolleyes:
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It's not about the individual, but about the others, since the individual far too often has shown at the very least plain ignorance (if not worse) about anyone else aside from themselves.
 
The only reason airlines want this ban to go through is to force you to use those grimy wired headsets in your seat that cost $5/minute.
 
There could be a hint of 1st amendment rights at play here as well.

I'd say - make it $25/minute. People who NEED to call, can.

I wonder if the DOT will push for the same regulations on trains and busses...

I'm personally torn - this seems heavy handed, but I don't want to get stuck next to a yakker either.
 
eastercat said:
There is a device that would kill cell signals within a certain area. If you don't use something like that, there will always be someone circumventing the rules.
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If you jam the cell phones, you would jam the inflight electronics. This would not be good.

avanpelt said:
A potential pissing contest between the FCC and the DOT. Lovely. So, which entity has the final authority regarding what is allowed to occur on board a commercial aircraft?
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Both. If either of them say no, the phones don't fly.
 
I thought people didn't talk on the phone that much anymore.

But put them on an airplane and suddenly they become Chatty Cathy?

:D
 
squirrelist said:
I can understand the DOT banning phone calls if there was a technical or safety reason. But why should they make a law for people to be courteous? As far as I see it, this is no different than talking on the phone in a theater. Theaters ban phone calls in the theaters not because of law but because it is disrespectful to others. Airlines can (and probably should) do the same thing.
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Just as a theater can throw someone out for talking on a phone during a movie, airlines should be allowed to open the emergency exit and throw anyone using a cell phone out :D
 
I agree with everyone here, the end.

Addendum: I want peace and quiet, and whatever comes through my QC15's, on my already horrible flight.
 
robjulo said:
Exactly, good luck getting a signal at even a few thousand feet off the ground.
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No, you wouldn't get a signal. This is about whether airlines should be allowed to install equipment on board that acts as a mini cell tower and communicates with the ground via satellites. The technology exists and is in use by other airlines elsewhere in the world.

It would come at a premium and likely be a roaming call, similar to the way cell service on cruise ships works, which, last I checked, was north of $2 a minute.
 
eastercat said:
There is a device that would kill cell signals within a certain area. If you don't use something like that, there will always be someone circumventing the rules.
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I don't think operating a radio-wave jammer on board an aircraft is a good plan.
 
There is a device that would kill cell signals within a certain area. If you don't use something like that, there will always be someone circumventing the rules.
Originally Posted by eastercat


hitch08 said:
sorry, but this literally made me laugh out loud.
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####
 
robjulo said:
Exactly, good luck getting a signal at even a few thousand feet off the ground.
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There were a lot of phone calls from passengers on hijacked planes on 9/11 and they weren't exactly flying low to avoid radar.
 
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