Bad news for Air Travel

[Nodz86]

Plans for mobile use on flights

 

Haters of mobile phones could soon be able to add "I'm on the plane" to "I'm on the train" as their least-favourite overheard phrase.

 

Ofcom said plans were now in place to allow passengers on UK-registered aircraft to use their own mobiles while in flight in European airspace.

For some time, some airlines have offered passengers in-flight telephone services via the airline's own network.

 

Ofcom said that the new arrangement will involve passengers' own mobiles connecting to an on-board base station. Both of these must be switched off during take-off and landing to ensure they do not interfere with mobile networks on the ground.

 

Once the aircraft reaches a minimum height of 9,840ft (3,000m), the system may be switched on by the cabin crew. Mobile users will then be able to use the aircraft's network service to make and receive calls which will be routed via a satellite link to the network on the ground. Calls will be billed through passengers' normal service providers.

 

Ofcom said the new arrangement will be subject to approval by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and by the UK's Civil Aviation Authority.

 

The decision has been developed jointly with other EU countries and follows an Ofcom consultation on the proposals published in October 2007.

 

Ofcom said: "The safety of passengers is paramount and mobile systems on aircraft will only be installed when they have secured approval by EASA and the CAA.

 

"If such approval has been secured it will be a matter for individual airlines to judge whether there is consumer demand for these services."

 

From BT Yahoo News

[Camel]

I bet it will cost a hell of a lot to do that.

[Mb]

Now i can message all my 100's of friends to message me back while i use the most annoying ringtone ever, BRILLIANT!

[The Queen]

I guess theres a good thing and a bad thing from this. The good thing is that you can phone people to say for instance when you will be home from your holiday and what it was like etc..

The bad thing is that maybe if you were trying to get piece and quiet or to sleep or something there would be such a noise with people talking on phones blethering away ;)

[iBilo]

If they do talk you can resort to using the method on the forum with the countdown, that'll stop them talking. ;)

[Nige]

Am I the only one who thinks some terrorists are already planning/planned another 9/11 with this ??????

 

 

I mean come on, this is one step closer to BOOOOM, I'm serious if they can use phones on a plane it won't take them long to put a bomb in a phone, hell they have probably already done it and that is a serious matter and at the end of the day if it looks like a normal phone then the cabin crew/security staff are gonna be none the wiser !!!!!!

 

 

SCARY :( !!!!!!!!!!!!

[CarMadMike]

O god, i thought something worse was going to happen by the title, since i go on planes monthly