Call to end cell phone ban on planes

www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10468334

No, please don't! Imagine being stuck in a metal cylinder for several hours with everyone calling their nearest and dearest, colleagues, clients etc - imagine the din as they all talk louder than they need to! Imagine the stress!

Air rage will skyrocket!

Oh I'm with you on that tigger! No! No! Absolutely No!

Oh yeah...I have at least 2 more rolls of that wire mesh if you want it!

I'm with you to Tigger.

quote:Originally posted by maggies mum

Oh yeah...I have at least 2 more rolls of that wire mesh if you want it!

Oooh yes please! Will email you...

Okee doke!

You can already do it in emirates cattle class. Although you have to use their system and swipe your cc for the cost.

I think that would be enough to put anyone off alone. But no doubt some motor mouth would do it from time to time.

I think they are talking about letting everyone use their own cellphones, swaggie...[V]

Yeah, that'll be great, half the plane load complaining to airline staff at 33,000 ft over the Tasman sea "I can't get reception".
Or listening to all those poxy ringtones from all around. "Can you HEAR ME NOW???" It'll play havoc with the cell tower switching.

quote:Originally posted by wyseyes

Yeah, that'll be great, half the plane load complaining to airline staff at 33,000 ft over the Tasman sea "I can't get reception".
Or listening to all those poxy ringtones from all around. "Can you HEAR ME NOW???" It'll play havoc with the cell tower switching.

What they are planning on using is a "Pico Cell" repeater inside the aircraft. This serves 2 functions:

1) Receives and Transmits to/from the Ground Stations to make the connection to the outside world.

2) Handles traffic from the cellphones inside the aircraft and because of its much closer proximity, effectively blanks out the signals from the ground. This has the added benefit of causing all cellphones on board the aircraft to switch to their lowest power mode because the Pico Cell provides such a strong signal inside the metal body of the aircraft.

Technologically, it's a great system, well thought out and would overcome all the technical drawbacks mentioned by others above.

However, the question: Do we really want everybody yabbering away on cellphones while in such close proximity to other passengers, is another matter entirely.

The proposed Pico Cell systems allow the flight crew to block voice calls, text messages or all kinds of traffic during take-off and landing. Thus, the crew will be able to restrict or totally disable access to the passengers when they deem it appropriate.

I think there is a strong case to be made for allowing e-mail and text messages ONLY to be used, rather than voice calls. This would make the situation onboard an aircraft much more tolerable, rather than allowing an open-slather approach where everybody is free to use their cellphones in whatever manner they want. That is sure to be a recipe for bedlam in my opinion [xx(]

It'd certainly be useful in those (fairly frequent) situations where AirNZ loads everybody on board, locks the doors, plays the safety video and then half an hour later you realise you're still on the tarmac, and ten minutes after that they acknowledge a 'slight delay', and half an hour after that you finally take off, having had no opportunity to phone anyone to tell them when you'll be home.

Also when flights take off on time but are then diverted or land late because of fog or whatever.

Ah, the Pico Cell. We've been waiting for those to come into fruition for the last 15 years. They should be in every large building, making cheaper calls, and removing the need for deskphones. Still Waiting.

Imagine taking a flight with a school sports team. Thirty pimply teenagers locking up the systems sending each other dirty texts, and silly messages like "RU LOL".
It seems that they will jam all incoming frequencies to the plane, and force everyone on board to use the pico cell... for a price. Since they control the gateway pico cell, they are free to charge whatever astronomical prices they want for a call/text/data. I bet it'll fall over in a hurry.