News In-flight mobiles coming to Europe

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/04/09/in-flight_mobiles_coming_to_europe/1

The European Union has given the go-ahead for airlines to install small mobile cells in their aircraft, allowing customers to make and receive phone calls whilst in the air.

 

Noooooooo!

It's bad enough on a train, but at least you have the option to go to a different carriage. On a plane, you're stuck where you're sitting.

Expect plane rage incidents to increase...

 

short journey flights less than 2 hours, i can tolerate. note i can tolerate it, not want it. i don't like the idea of sitting next to someone who won't shut up for hours on end.

 

To be honest I don't expect the prices to be cheap and as a result the use of phones will probably be fairly limited. Perhaps the rich people will be able to afford talking for hours but then they will probably be in first class which I cannot afford, yay.

Mind you I can just turn my hearing aid off

 

it always amazed me how victims of 9/11 managed to ring their relatives in flight years before this stuff came along...

 

because they were over population centres with mobile coverage anyway

this technology will let you make calls from the middle of the atlantic etc

 

That was because the aircraft was flying low over land which means one could get a signal. This technology is different where one can get a signal at 30,000ft using an onboard transceiver, one wouldn't be able to get a signal to a land-based base station when at 30,000ft or over the ocean.

EDIT: Damn beaten by Hamish.

 

ahhhhh

 

The technology will, but the EU's actions won't - this is to be used in EU airspace only at present, which I guess limits the extent to which your sleep will be disturbed on long-haul. I would expect that, if it is ever rolled out on long-haul, it will be switched off when the lights are dimmed for sleeping time.

You can bet that Ryanair will rinse people for the absolute last possible drop of cash, much as with every other 'extra' like, for example, checking a bag onto the aircraft, having a glass of water in-flight, or having the audacity to want to pay for your flights by credit card. £3 per minute here we come!

 

2 things (both already mentioned)
1. security and safety. will the signal disturb any of the plane's equipment? will having access to more comm networks become a hazard for flight security?
2. comfortability. flights usually covers long trips. in long trips people like to rest/undisturbed/sleep. people shouting while talking on the phone irks me enough even in outdoor. then u wanna bring that indoor, and even more so, into a confined space of a plane? on a bus u can move around, on trains u can walk around, wadaya gonna do on an airplane? insane.


just my $2.

 

If I remember right some plane company made this available in the Arab Emirates last year. The biggest problem with allowing phone-calls from a plane were that they would confuse land-based mobile cells. It had something to do with a phone signal propagating farther from a flying plane than a signal from the ground. Thus a single signal could hijack multiple mobile identities in the network.

 

Bloody hell, can't folk learn to do without their bloody phones for even just a couple of hours? Remember that recent survey that said there was a growing number of the population that suffers from phone fear - i.e. they start to panic when they are out of mobile contact for even a few minutes?
Oh well there goes the last refuge from irritating twats twittering away about either the most inane shite imaginable or power business types banging on about fiscal policies and 10 year projections whilst you're trying to chill out on a flight. Still I'd imagine the worst flights would be the ones to and from lager lout destinations. Its bad enough on a train when you get folk who seem to find it necessary to talk long and loud about what seems to be their entire life history but it'll be worse on a plane.

I agree with the above comment about seeing a potential rise in air rage incidents, I find being cooped up in a big metal tube with the general public and nowhere to go bad enough (why do the general public seems to consist of nothing but idiots and retards?) but add in the "Hi, what?, No, I'm on a plane" line of conversation and it will be bordering on unbearable. Time to buy one of those gadgets I've heard about that blocks a mobile signal - unless of course that interferes with the aircraft systems as well.

 

Yeah, good luck getting on a plane with a radio jammer. Something that is specifically designed to obstruct wireless communications is unlikely to be welcome in a machine that relies on GPS, ILS, radar, radio, and countless other wireless technologies for its functionality and safety! :doh:

 

Maybe I'll just hit them over the head with it rather than turn it on!

 

Hopefully they have decibel meters in the seat so that if someone's talking too loud they get disconnected. I don't mind people talking on their phones on flights, people talk to each other, but with phones people tend to start raising their voice and shout.

 

Hey, I've just thought of the ideal gadget that will block a mobile conversation that you can take on a flight, a large mail sack! Any mobile user annoys you with their inane babble just stick the bag over their head and pull the draw strings tight - job done.

 

Even better, line it with paxmate so you won't be able to hear them!

 

10/10 for the "Trigger Happy TV" reference!