Slashdot Mirror
Cellphone Use On Planes Coming Soon?
s31523 writes "A while back it was reported that cell phone use was given the OK on Emirate airlines. The BBC is now reporting European agencies back the use of cell phones in air. Plans have been developed to introduce technology that allow cell phone use on planes without any risk of interference. A spokesman for the UK regulator Ofcom said there were still many stages to pass through before final approval was given to the roll out of the plans, but the regulator said that the technology could be implemented next year."
Eagerly awaiting the Motorola Snake and all the jokes that come with it.
Laziness is a virtue, anyone who bothers to tell you otherwise, is clearly lacking it.
Now we get loud mouthed cellphone jabbers AND 13 yr old SMS kiddies beeping away during the entire duration of Sydney and LA... I can forsee 15 hrs of absolute murderous psychopatic bliss.
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
I'd rather someone be allowed to surf the web next to me, goatse and all, than be allowed to gab on their cell. I even hate it that they can use their cells in the terminals. Why does anyone need to call to say "I'm on the ground now"? Obviously we can't rely on people to be considerate of others, but up till now we could rely on airline restrictions for a little peace. I vote we allow text messages, but no voice messages. Everyone gets to play the quiet game. Shut the hell up.
Let me get this straight:
You can bring on a cell phone, but not an iPod...
You can bring on a lighter, but not a water bottle...
You can wear a belt, but you have to remove your shoes...
Are they just making the rules up randomly or something?
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ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
Strange, I thought that was a Cingular/AT&T feature.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
I've seen flight attendants get very upset with passengers who swear that their phones are in airplane mode, and who offer to show the current setting. Some of them do not allow for anything that looks like a phone to even appear operational.
They also miss the wireless notebooks that are operational and probing for their home networks.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
How about they designate an area where you are allowed to talk on your phone. I suggest on the wing, or on the ground.
In terms of coming down on one side or the other, if the airline gets a share of the phone revenue, I'll give you one guess as to which side they'll come down on...
What's really unfair though, is that if you bring a cell phone jammer onto an airoplane, _you_ would be the one to go to jail!
Allow SMS/text messaging only. No voice. Then we can have peace and quiet, and bozo business types who're afraid to be out of touch for an hour or so can still communicate with their underlings.
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
Terrorists can't threaten a country's freedom and democracy. Only lawmakers and voters can do that.
I don't see why this was modded informative. Cell phones have been a problem for quite a while. I have one myself, and I rarely use it when there are other people present.
I take it from your post that you don't actually fly ever, because nobody that has been on a plane in the last few years would take those positions.
I am personally a large man, while I don't have a whole lot of extra flab, I do take up my entire seat, and more if we're talking about a 737. When somebody is taking up more space than is in a seat due to being obese they should be charge for the extra space. I barely fit in a seat as it is, and that's with the shoulders I was born with. I shouldn't have to forfeit any of my space because the person next to me chose to put on a lot of weight.
You do have a bit of a point with babies, but it is still a miserable way to fly.
As for the phones, they are basically a menace to any sort of restful flight. The vast majority of cell phone users don't realize that you don't have to yell into them to be heard. I have one myself, and most of the time I can't hear myself and the microphone still picks it up sufficiently for the other party to hear my clearly.
Limiting the cell phone use on plans to a specific walled off area would be fine by me, but expecting me or the flight attendants to moderate how loud is too loud because people invariably don't care is fundamentally unreasonable.
That the "freedom-loving" slashdotters are all — posters and moderators — claiming to be happy, that the big lie of "cell phones may interfere with safety equipment on board" is being used to stop their fellow passengers from using their cell phones on the planes.
Evidently, the ends justify the means... Lying to millions of travelers to prevent a tiny minority of them from being inconsiderate, while at the same time offering them an option to pay $6/minute for the same sort of inconsideration...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.