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From: johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Questions About the GTE Airfone
Message-ID: <15949@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 10 Jan 91 18:59:38 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 22, Message 2 of 9


In article <15918@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write:

>But that's because customers demand conveniently placed instruments.
>All the airphones I've seen are all in one bank, ...

I've been on planes with one or two phones in the front and another in
the back, but the real telephonic traffic jams occur on the BOS - LGA
 - DCA shuttles.  On those planes, there is a phone in the back of
every middle seat in every row (except presumably the last.)  These
phones are lightweight plastic handsets with a retracting cord.  You
release the phone from the seat by sticking your card into a slot that
flips a simple mechanical latch, then run your card through a slot
that runs the length of the handset.

The reception is a little better than on the cordless model, but the
handset is so light and crummy that it's hard to press the earpiece to
your ear firmly enough to block out all of the background noise.

Regards,


John Levine, johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|world}!iecc!johnl