Do you think that they should allow cell phones on airplanes?

[southernleftylady]

what are your thoughts on this?
my personal thoughts are that allowing them would be a horrible thing!
who wants to listen to your near by passengers phone conversation on a plane.. where you cant get away from them... i see more "air rage" in the future if they allow it.. (this coming from a flight attendant)

[wakeme2008]

1. NO NO NO

:)

[iamjoy]

2. Yeah, But They Have To Cut The B.S. Reason

that it interferes with cockpit communication.

[DFLer4edu]

7. Have you seen the first ever West Wing episode?

I don't know if you watch West Wing, but in the first ever episode Toby is on a plane and the flight attendant asks Toby to turn off his cell phone saying that it could interfere with communications. Toby responds this is a 747 that rolled out of the factory 6 months ago, it has such and such a radio, are you telling me I can flummox this plane with something I bought at radioshack?

[GiovanniC]

21. I Loved That and Found the Quote

"We’re flying in a Lockheed eagle series L-1011. It came off the line 20 months ago and carries a Sim-5 Transponder tracking system. Are you telling me I can still flummox this thing with something I bought at Radio Shack?"

"Also, I never got my peanuts."

[DFLer4edu]

23. Got to love Toby

[iamjoy]

27. Yep, That's What I Was Thinking

But also, on 9-11, passengers of the hijacked planes were on cell phones and that's not what caused the tragedy.

[Hippo_Tron]

30. I LOVED THAT

[izzie]

3. May as well have a rude pest on a plane as any place.

Funny how some people think we should all shut up so they can talk.

[GreenArrow]

5. that'd be fine if you could get off the plane

to escape the RUDE person. But you can't.

[babylonsister]

4. No! Not now, not ever! VERY bad idea! nt

[salin]

6. air rage...

then the offendee can call his/her buddies on the ground - to get a "posse" together at the gate to exact their air rage (by proxy) upon the offender... I can see it now (okay - being sarcastic - but when folks get raging - their common sense does seem to often fly out the window)

[Somawas]

8. Cell phnes are the devil!

and make baby Jesus cry. More places should ban them.

[Mnemosyne]

9. Morning southern! I understand that they won't work

over a certain altitude. Was it 10,000ft, 20,000ft I read? It was brought up in reference to 9/11 and the Christine Olson call to hubby. It was determined as impossible for her to have called when she supposedly did.

Anyone know better?

[southernleftylady]

12. here is an article about what the FAA says about it

The Federal Aviation Administration will also have to weigh in on the issue due to concerns over interference the cell phones can cause to a plane's navigation system. But if allowed, those cell phones are likely to be connected to ground through the same broadband connections used by the Web surfers.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/14/technology/air_broadband/#cell

[ProfessorGAC]

14. I Have A Hard Time Believing That

Even at 30,000 feet, you're under six miles from the ground. Triangulating that with the distance from a cell tower, and that extra six miles barely matters. (Example: I'm 12 miles from a tower in my car. Now on a plane right over me, we take 144 + 36 to get 180. That's about 13.4 miles.)

If it works at 12 miles, there would be hardly any difference at 13.4, especially given the transmission would have to go through no trees, buildings, hills, etc.

I wish you were right, and then we wouldn't even be talking about this. (I'm completely against cellphones on planes.) But, i don't think that makes technical sense.
The Professor

[Ravy]

28. They do not work high up.

I have checked my phone several times to see if it was turned off well after takeoff. No signal.

Radio antennas do not project their signal in an orb pattern. It would be very inefficient and a waste of power. Cell tower antennas are the type to project (and receive) a signal in more of a disk shape, flat a the top and the bottom to save energy.

[ProfessorGAC]

29. The Pattern Is Still Hyperbolic

It's not a flat line. The signal still rises on a hyperbolic line. It's what causes the null points between towers.

Besides, if they didn't work, there'd be no discussion of this issue. In addition, the cell phone calls made by folks on those 9/11 planes were not all done at low altitude.

My guess is that where one is in relation to population centers while at altitude has more to do with signal strength than the altitude. (Only Guessing.) But, there are areas out in the OPEN, OPEN, country have really poor signal too. There just aren't any towers out there!

The Professor

[Ravy]

32. I know it is flat, but by the time it reaches high altitude it is too weak

If you read about it, they want to provide a cell phone linkage from the plane, not cell towers.

I have been on an airplane. I have checked my cell phone. It DOES NOT WORK at cruising altitude.

When you get closer to the ground, it does work. I haven't checked where the signal exactly starts coming in (altitude wise). I am sure that it does have something to do with the closeness to the tower, but I doubt that it is signifcant.

The very fact that some 9/11 phone calls supposedly took place at a high altitide is what have many conspiracy theorist discussing the issue in the first place.

[AngryAmish]

10. Never.

Could you imagine being stuck next to a loud blabbermouth who is already overflowing their seat and pressing you into the fuselage. Worst possible nightmare.

[southernleftylady]

11. Cingular opposes calls on planes

http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/16/technology/personaltech/cingular_inflight_calls/index.htm?section=money_latest

[ProfessorGAC]

13. I'm Completely Against It

I travel a lot for business. Yeah, sometimes i work or write on the plane. But, there are already too many idiots who think the business world will stop if they lose direct contact for an hour. They are already wandering around the airports with the earbob glued in, talking loudly about their "ultraimportant" business matters, etc.

At some point, they can just shut up! On the plane would be an appropriate place.
The Professor

[wakeme2008]

15. ppl already have $12 a minute phones to make

important calls. And that $12 per minute does keep the calls short and to the point..... I like that.

[SnohoDem]

16. No.

Please, God no.

[Not Me]

17. I had read a while back that the (technical) problem

wasn't that you couldn't not get signal and make a call, but that the billing mechanisms are hard for the cell phone providers to get as you are zipping from site to site so fast. (Hence the opposition by the cell companies?)

Technical issues aside, I vote NO!! Gawd,is there no place we can go to escape these.

[DFLer4edu]

18. NO NO NO

[kedrys]

19. Oh no no no no no

It's bad enough that these idiots turn the fargin' things on the minute the plane is stopped at the arrival gate because they're so firin' IMPORTANT that they simply cannot be out of touch for any amount of time!

And then you have to listen to their shite through customs (on international flights) AND baggage claim. Oh no. No no no no no. :grr:

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[newyawker99]

25. Hi BillRules!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[GiovanniC]

22. I Hate Cell Phones

I understand that most people like them. Most people have them. Some of my best friends have ditched their land lines in favor of them.

Not me.

Not ever.

I hate cell phones. I hate people talking loudly on their cell phones in line at the grocery store. I hate people having pointless, rambling LOUD phone conversations in restaurants. What is it about cell phones that make their users want to scream into the phone?

Oh yeah, shitty reception.

Which is why I hate receiving cell phone calls too. I hate having to play the game "guess what every other word in this sentence is". Or, as I would say on a cell phone "guess ... every ... word ... this ... is". I hate having to repeat everything I say to cell phone users three times or more because they couldn't hear me with their worthless reception. I hate people who think they are funny when they say, "Can you hear me now?" Because number one, no I can't hear you now, fucktard, you sound like you're transmitting from one of Jupiter's moons. And number two, you aren't funny asshole.

I especially hate those Blackberries. The only thing dumber looking than a person walking around with one of those pen-cap sized cell phones pressed into their ear canal is a person walking around talking into a spell checker.

I hate the fact that stores and banks and movie theaters and all sorts of other places have to put up signs reminding people to take the phone away from their ear so they can buy merchandise, cash a check, or watch a movie. I hate the fact that I can't even go to the beach or the park without half of the people there yapping away about their banal bullshit on their cell phones. Put the phone down, Trump, you're not that important.

I bet even when I die, everybody will have cell phones at my funeral. And when someone is up there giving the eulogy, racking their brains to figure out something nice to say about me, their cell phone will probably ring. But it won't really ring. It will be some bullshit "ringtone" that sounds like the William Tell Overture or Ode to Joy or Chingy w/ 50 Cent talking 'bout the bitches in da club. And then I will crawl out of my casket and take their cell phones from their terrified fingers, and I will beat the everlasting piss out of them with it.

Finally, a good use for a cell phone.

[MadHound]

24. LOL friend!!

Thanks for putting my hatred of cell phones into words so eloquently! I can't add any more to it. Great post!

[Pobeka]

26. Could not have said it better myself!

:toast:

[Stinky The Clown]

31. Absolutely not

And not just on airplanes.

How about wherever smoking is prohibited? No, this isn't a smoking rant. But think about it. No smoking in theaters, restaurants, churches, airports, hospital waiting rooms, etc., etc., etc.

I can think of VERY few reasons why a telephone call would be a 'must answer' or 'must make' topic. We all got along just fine before cell phones. They're a **convenience** not a necessity.

In many ways, they're a status symbol. Talk loud to be seen. Middle aged guys with them strapped on their belts like six-shooters. Part of the 'uniform'. Like 'Oscar de la Renta' on your tie or 'Guess' on the ass of your jeans.

I have a cell phone and I use it. But never in a way that distracts or annoys others (at least not that I'm aware of). I intentionally never set up its voice mail to discourage people from calling me. I keep it turned off except when I'm actually using it.

I've often had the misfortune of being subjected to other people's phone calls. I can honestly say I have never heard one that was so important it needed to happen where it happened. I really could give a shit less that the cold pizza in the refrigerator is what the lady in too-tight capri pantz, and with big, blonde hair and too much make-up, standing in the grocery line, is telling her son is his lunch. I really don't think that the guy in the designer suit walking down the street two steps ahead of me, talking loudly to his buddy about last night's adventure in the fern bar, and the aftermath, is worth wasting air time minutes paid for by his boss.

I *do* think the 78 year old woman with a flat tire should make a call to her son to come rescue her. I *do* think a person late for a meeting is being polite - and safe - in calling his appointment to let them know he'll be late instead of weaving through traffic like a maniac to get there on time.

[lumpy]

33. Absolutely not, also not in

grocery stores, church, department stores, streets, parks, concerts, hospitals........