Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: 14 May 91 15:58:04 GMT From: Chris Schmandt Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Cellular Phones on Planes Message-ID: Organization: MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 362, Message 4 of 11 Lines: 43 Recently I've gotten rather fond of placing calls while sitting on the plane at the gate. Good for last minute things (esp. if you can board early and try to get some work done) and getting arrival time messages out that might actually be correct! (also much cheaper and clearer than Airfone) Knowing about the dangers associated with generating RF while flying (see recent discussion here) I first when up to the cockpit and spoke with the crew, who said "it's really not problem while we're on the ground but we prefer that you don't use the phone once we push back". This seemed very reasonable to me. Then on a recent flight I was told by a flight attendant that I couldn't use my phone (on the ground, at the gate). I explained the above, but said that the captain was the boss and I'd wait while she went to ask him. She came back many minutes later (plane had already started to taxi) and told me they looked it up in a rule book and that I could not use my phone on the plane at all. Now, I suspect that there wasn't a listed reg, or they didn't have it, and they just stalled me until it wasn't an issue. But, being an (occasionally) law abiding citizen, I'm curious if anyone knows the real story? chris PS: In response to the recent area code request, if someone has an up to date file, or version of the areacode scripts in the archives, could they update the archives (on lcs.mit.edu...) thanks. [Moderator's Note: The issue just previous to this discussed this in some detail -- sorry I did not have your message in time to include with those. Apparently the main problem is that once in the air, the use of a cell phone causes lots of ground sites to be triggered all at the same time, causing some confusion and congestion for the cellular carrier. The old theory of radios causing interference to the electronic equipment on the aircraft does not really carry a lot of weight these days, one correspondent noted. On the ground, there should be no problems at all. PAT]