Fight the mobile phone invasion at 30,000ft

Financial Times ^ | 3/28/2006 | Jagdish Bhagwati

[TommyDale]

>i>"Yet no one ever says a word to the rude people who talk loudly while NOT on their cell phone."

I once had a group of small children sitting behind me kicking the seat, while their parents sat peacefully up in First Class. I got up and told the flight attendant to get these children under their parents' control. They made the parents come back and sit with the kids. Guess where? In my seat, and I was moved up to First Class in THEIR seat!

[Sisku Hanne]

It's obvious this guy hasn't been talking to conspiracy-theorist Charlie Sheen-han. Everyone knows cellphones don't work at 30,000 feet. /sarcasm.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

I practice the Flight Free Lifestyle and drive my comfortable old Lincoln where ever I need to go or choose to roam. Packed like a sardine in an aluminum cylinder filled with miscelaneous rifraff practicing no end of obnoxious habits and producing odious smells is no way to travel. And that's first class. Tourist I don't even like to think about. And don't get me started on the cacotopia of the modern airport.

[tellw]

Beamer used a GTE airphone. See here

[Blueflag]

The directv antennae are phased array attenae as I understand it, and look up to the satellites.

I am suprised to hear that cell phones will work in a jet aircraft (1) due to speed of handoff between towers, and (2) lack of signal from and to the towers.

I am curious.

Anyway, Mr. or Ms. Rude's cell phone will not work at FL35 over the Kansas. Or am I wrong?

[glorgau]

I carry a jammer for theaters, restaurants and the like. Illegal as all hell and dangerous for airplanes (never used it on one) but hey nobody lives forever.

So, if you go somewhere with lots of bars but your calls keep dropping, catch a hint and lower your voice. ;-)

[Blueflag]

Thought so.

[LIConFem]

You were lucky! :o)

I take a train to and from work every day. Last Friday afternoon, there was a spanish-speaking gentleman on my train who was talking rather loudly on his cell phone for nearly the entire trip. A few stations before mine, a man got up to leave. As he was walking past the phone-talker, he yelled something like, "No one wants to hear your conversations, you f$ckin' a$$hole". Sitting two rows in front of him was another man with his young (grade-school age) daugher. People applauded.

I don't condone excessive cell-phone use in restaurants, trains, planes, et cetera. But the level of phoney righteous indignation exhibited by some folks is ridiculous, and largely (IMO) the result of group-think.

[HOYA97]

I don't know about allowing cell phones, but we need to allow internet access so we can do e-mail and research as needed.

[JimRed]

...I believe Ted Olson's wife (forgot her name) did use a cell phone from the back of her plane...

Barbara, I think; God bless her.

[steve-b]

This guy has no reason to complain, as his normal posture shields his ears quite effectively.

[linda_22003]

Barbara, yes, who was supposed to go on her trip the previous day but stayed home so she could start September 11 with her husband - since it was his birthday! :-[

[Centurion2000]

Why is this idiot so worried about this? considering the background noise in an airplane, I wear ear plugs against the jet engine noise. Some retard on a cell phone is not going to bother me. Besides, headphones with music will drown out a caller as well.

[null and void]

I laugh everytime I read one of these whinning pieces about cell phones in aircraft. The simply truth is, they will only work for about 5 minutes before landing or about 3 minutes after takeoff.

Next time you fly, turn your cell phone on you moron - see? No signal. Sheesh.

I've noted the same thing.

How did all those calls come from FLT 93?

[Just another Joe]

The smoking ban on all flights came along when the science behind the problem of secondary harm from smoking became well-established.

I call BS on this statement.

In the topic of the article, I learned long ago to shut out distractions from others as needed.
Let the cell phone users jabber in the cabin. It won't disturb my sleep.

[jiggyboy]

I laugh everytime I read one of these whinning pieces about cell phones in aircraft. The simply truth is, they will only work for about 5 minutes before landing or about 3 minutes after takeoff.

What makes this debate possible is that the airlines want to put their own cell antenna on the plane to make it possible for the entire flight.

[stuartcr]

I've always been told that cellphones and wireless devices mess up the airplanes electronics. How come, all of a sudden, it's going to be OK?

[steve-b]

Next time you fly, turn your cell phone on you moron - see? No signal. Sheesh.
I've noted the same thing. How did all those calls come from FLT 93?

Obviously, this proves that the DUmmie LIHOP/MIHOP conspiracy theories must be true. [ /SARCASM ]

[null and void]

However, I believe Ted Olson's wife (forgot her name) did use a cell phone from the back of her plane, where she and her fellow passengers had been herded by the hijackers.

FReeper Barbara K Olson, BKO...

[kaboom]

considering the background noise in an airplane...

It means that cell phone users will be yelling into their phones instead of talking, and those passengers seated near engines will be screaming into their phones.

Kind of like most Nextel users.