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Cell Phones on Commercial Flights by 2006?
NetCurl writes "I heard the news on MPR's Marketplace today. Apparently the non-profit Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics is studying the effects of wireless and other portable communications devices on commercial airliners. I've already noticed that a couple airlines have loosened requirements on when you can use your cell phone on the ground. Is the next step wireless access in the cabin, and loud cell phone chatter in the skies over the mid-west?"
Although the airlines, and the FAA might end up not carring about cell phones in use while in flight, the cellular carriers certainly will.
The whole concept that allows cell phones to work (that the signal strength at distant cells will be much weaker) only works when all of the phones are close to the surface of the earth. When the users are above the surface significantly, the relative distance between the user and multiple cells isn't very much.
A single user in a airplane making a cell call could easily consume the resources that a few hundred users would on the ground.
Filling the sky with people talking on cell phones could easily render most cell networks nearly useless.
I'm a RF Engineer for a major US PCS carrier.
There's no way that our network (nor anyone else's) would be able to handle calls reliably from an airplane.
Our cells typically only cover 3-5 miles in an urban area, and 20 in a rural one. As fast as a plane travels, you'll be changing sites very quickly.
Add to that the fact that our network is designed and optimized for ground level users, and you're looking at a crappy call, assuming you can even orginate one.
IMO, a possible better solution would be a micro-cell installed on the plane that would multiplex the calls back to the PSTN.
Actually yes they can hear me in the car if I talk normally. People need to understand that on phones and two way radios... even if there is tons of noise in the background.. just talk normally, there is no reason to scream! The mic is only several mm from your mouth so it will pick you up just fine!