In-Flight Calling Preparing For Takeoff Aboard Ryanair
from the overhead-compartments-must-be-shut dept
The maverick Irish airline Ryanair has a long history of pushing the envelope with its business practices, whether it's offering free tickets supported by advertising and gambling or banning employees from charging their phones at work so as to save money on electricity. Now it's moving forward on plans to allow in-flight cell phone use, and of course it smells profit opportunities. The company hopes that by next June it will be able to offer the service using a technology that will essentially turn each plane into a floating cell tower and turn Ryanair into its own mobile operator. Of course, the company plans to charge substantial roaming fees, to the tune of a few dollars per minute. Still, it's unclear what regulatory hurdles to offering the service remain, and it's possible the EU will want to regulate these fees, as it's prone to do when it deems them to be too high. But while some may grouse about Ryanair's aggressive use of extra fees, the smart traveller's trip is subsidized by those who can't resist temptations like on-board calling.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
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That's weird
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Re: That's weird
(9/11 the planes were flying low enough for gound cell phone netoworks to connect)
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Re: Re: That's weird
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Re: Re: That's weird
you actually get a boost on your cell phone if you wear a foil hat....
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Re: That's weird
Some phones may get a signal when the plane is landing or taking off but while its in flight the planes are travelling too fast and high for the cell phone to lock onto 1 tower long enough to make a call. If the plane is low enough however it may be possible to make a call...i have not tested this.
GTE Airfone is now Verizon Airfone. They will be pulling their phones off the planes soon.
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A quick buck.
BTW this is not an attempt at sarcasm. I really thought that was the reason for no cell phone use on planes.
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no cell phones
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Re: no cell phones
It's bad enough everywhere I go I have to hear someone screaming into their phone. I'm sorry but, what possible reason could you have for calling from the plane except in an emergency. I know damn well that most of the phone calls are "We are taking off now" or "I'm going to be landing in 30mins" or better still "The food on the plane sux". None of these calls are necessary. Christ if you can make the flight without smoking a cig why the hell can't people make it without the damn phone glued to their ear.
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Re: no cell phones
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Re: no cell phones
however, the interactions of other travelers should not be a factor. one does not get to determine when other people may or may not use a cellphone for one's own convenience. there is no reason why it should be any different on a plane.
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Yeah, they work all right
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They are fine, but untested.
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Re: They are fine, but untested.
in this way, cellphones will not interfere with aircraft systems, or hospital systems, or even cause sparks that blow up gas stations. the allegations that such things occur are false. there is no such reason to avoid using cellphones in these situations [though there may be others, for instance, with regards to the phones' interactions with towers on the ground when they are moving so fast past them].
in summary, there is no good reason to avoid cellphone use on planes. the fcc is the one on the hook.
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Re: Re: They are fine, but untested.
for navigation that are the concern. It takes only a small
error in navigation to produce a disaster.
They don't have to prove the phones are a problem.
This isn't a legal question, they're not innocent until
proven guilty. It's just the opposite. They're banned
until someone pays for the expensive testing required
to prove they're not creating a hazard. Or the FAA
makes a technical decision after evaluating the expected
level of risk. Generally anything that intentionally
transmits a signal is going to be considered risky.
Before you tell me I'm full of it I should say I designed
aircraft electronics used by most of the major airlines
in the 747-400, 767 and A-300.
One case of a cell phone causing a problem that was
unexpected is a smoke detector in a bathroom was set
off by a person trying to make a call. I think this was
the old analog phone and don't know the transmitter
power.
There is also the problem of cell management when the
plane is low enough to contact a cell it will contact many
cells over a wide area. I don't know how much of a problem
this might be. The single incident of 9/11 is not enough
data to know if it would be a problem. Having a cell receiver
in the plane makes a lot of sense though.
Personally Id' rather not see cell phones in the planes.
use the in-flight entertainment system which should have
a phone built into it. Or better yet watch a movie or listen
to some music so you're not annoying the crap out of the
other passengers.
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The reason
The reason you can't use it during takeoff and landings is that these are known as "Critical Phases of Flight" and so at these times, all electronics and radio equipment must be turned off as you want to reduce the risk of ANY possible failure or interference as far as humanly possible so it's better to be safe than sorry
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Old news
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Interference
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Re: Interference
the assumptions about takeoff and landing are more wishy-washy, however. would they also not want you to be reading, writing or somehow [gasp!] entertaining yourself without the use of electronic gadgetry?
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Cell Phone Use on Planes...
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Re: Cell Phone Use on Planes...
Sorry that doesn't cut it for me, I want the 10 year old rebuilt, retrofitted, POS that Delta uses to be tested as that is what most people fly on.
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No they won't, RyanAir only costs like $20 for a ticket. It's like a cattle car already, a bit of chatter won't hurt them at all.
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anyway if you talk on your phone next to me i will talk louder to myself until you go insane. if you keep talking i will just vomit on you and pretend it was air sickness...
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Cellphone / Airphone study above 10,000 feet
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Cellphones at High Altitudes
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Analog Cell phones
but with that said; cell phones are not designed to work from a plane. cell towers send and receive at a nearly horizontal angle. they do not beam into the clouds, for obivous reasons. phones will still pick up a signal, just not as well as they do on the ground... there are many other reasons why cell phones are not designed to work from planes..... using the plane as a cell tower is interesting but at over a dollar a minute i might as well just use the Verizon Airphone. or better yet - take a nap and call when i land
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new feature or marketing hype since 9/11?
How can you promote it without solidarity to those who died there???
Go promote your new Real ID Act with RFID instead!
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Ryanair's fart detector
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