Soon you could be allowed to use your mobile phone on airoplanes flying in European airspace. Technology is being developed which will allow the use of mobile phones on aircraft without the possibility of interference with the planes systems. Should such technology be approved you would be able to make calls on aircraft travelling at 3,000 feet or more.
In addition to this it would be up to the Airlines themselves to decide whether they introduce this to flights or not. A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic said the airline was “watching developments closely”. She said: “We are monitoring customer demand and will act if they say they want to use their mobile phones.” She added: “If we were to introduce this service in the future we want to ensure we do it in a socially acceptable way.” *Source bbc.co.uk.
Calls will no doubt be more expensive from a plane than on the ground, but this would no doubt open up avenues for networks to create special call passes and bundles for existing and new customers who travel regularly.Currently mobile phone use on an aircraft can skew the navigation systems of the plane by up to 5 degrees. The new technology avoids this with an on board base station which creates a network space to house the size of the cabin area. The base station sends all phone traffic to a satellite which will then transmit the signals to the ground:
Should this get the go ahead it would prove ideal to business passengers, but would airlines have to consider a quiet area on planes which prohibit the use of mobiles and related equipment as is commonplace with most trains. Or should it be the other way around where the majority of cabin space is reserved for non-mobile users and there is a designated mobile area? Personally I never feel the need to use a mobile phone on board a plane, similarly when I get to my destination it normally stays in my hotel/apartment etc, which beggars the question as to why I take it? How about you, how do you feel about mobile phone use on planes good, bad or indifferent? Post a comment below.
Greg
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