Why Can't We Use Mobile Phones On Planes?

from the no-one-knows dept

Everyone (the airline industry, the FAA, the FCC) agrees that we shouldn’t use mobile phones on planes. But, no one can say exactly why. Some say it’s for safety. Others say it messes with privacy. However, nothing has been proven, and passengers are pissed off.


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Comments on “Why Can't We Use Mobile Phones On Planes?”

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4 Comments
Matteo Cassese says:

Security? No, it's just a billing problem

Quite a few articles have appeared in european press about the reason why airlines do not permit to use a cell phone on planes. Many of those say that the problem is not that the phones may interfere with on board equipment but that the billing system of GSM networks has big problems tracking your call since it switches very quickly from one base station to another (handover is the technical name of the switch between different base stations).

Due to these billing problems i have heard that calling with a GSM phone from a plane during a flight could be free.

IMHO i would not use a phone on highly technological computer powered planes (like the Airbus 320/330 series), but i would use it freely on an older (and mostly electromechanical) 737.

Scott says:

Why Can't We Use Mobile Phones On Planes?

I belive the real reson is that of distubance. Think of what a plane full of cell phone ringing and everyone talking at the same time. The one lonely person taking a redeye that wants to sleep but can’t. How would everone here an announcement from the pilot about an emergency.

The main reason you cannot use a cell phone in a hospitol is that the are a nuisance not so much tath they interfere with the equipment.

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