Have you ever tried using a cell phone from a plane in flight?

I'm just askin'.

but that may change in the next few years... as there is a demand for it and no proof that it causes harm to anything.
Just wondered if anyone ever left a phone on by accident and it actually worked.

that invite guys in crew cuts and dark sunglasses to greet me at the gate when I arrive.

plane that crashed in PA did, call their families. So we already know it works, just still forbidden.

on edit--perhaps they were still pretty close to D.C. or other major city though.

I've been in the September 11 forum all aftenoon, and that's where my question comes from.

Some people say it is absolutely impossible to use cell phones over 10,000 feet and therefore the calls from flight 93 could not have taken place as has been claimed.

And can actually cause the system to drop other people's calls, and has been known to CRASH cells. I used to work at Motorola, and this was an issue at least early on. No idea if it has been fixed, but the cell system is NOT set up to handle a cell handoff every thirty seconds for a single number. Aircraft move MUCH faster than automobiles or trains, and the antenna patterns are such that you can get discontinuous jumps from one cell to another two or three cells away. Radiation patterns implemented were never meant to handle things ABOVE the tower except in certain mountain settings.

Second, it really can interfere with aircraft electronics.

Third it *is* a violation of federal law.

Does that depend on new technologies?

http://www.betanews.com/article/Boeing_Cell_Phones_on_Planes_by_2006/1118936866

And the airline would get the (VERY steep) roaming fee.

The concept is that a local cell in the aircraft will keep the cellphone from using much power in its transmitter (phones scale their output) so that it won't overpower the aircraft systems. And analog and GSM cellphones would be excluded. Only PCS phones will work with this feature.

It would also force you to be roaming when on the ground and using the phone. The airlines LOVE this revenue potential.

When I went to Dallas last year and when I went Florida in February I tried it and you get no service while in the air. It can't be done.

Ok...so, presumably, technology GETS BETTER with time, right? And you mean to tell us, you commie pinko you!, that 4 years AFTER 9/11 (*COUGH*INSIDEJOB*COUGH*) that YOU CAN'T make a cell call on a plane, BUT 4 YEARS AGO, YOU COULD?!?!?!?! Oooooh well that explains it all, the terrorists must have bombed all the cell towers in flight paths!

Lu

Particularly since so many people were allegedly making calls from the "hijacked" planes. This experiment simply put me further in the Made it Happen column.

http://www.reopen911.org and what they say about the phone calls and also the documentary "Loose Change." Dzika has the video. He might give it to you. It's really good. You can also find it at http://www.mininova.org

You're too far away from a cell tower. No signal.

You CAN get them to work on approach, but I think I can just wait. No phone call I have to make is that frickin important.

Some, especially older analog ones, can work from 20,000 feet. Not that this is a good idea (as you can read in my reply above.)

:crazy:

it was a hoax...."the heroes"...let's roll! bullshit.

That was an aircraft to ground HF system.

I hate that its not true and that we'll never really know what the hell happened.

Those 'type A' people who can't hang up their fucking cell phone while they're using airport restrooms and then don't wash their hands when they're finished are disgusting pigs. That is all.

A Cell phone won't work in a plane that is above 8000 Feet in altitude and ever at 8000 Feet the connection is poor at best.

I believe the planes that made the calls were around 30,000 + Feet when the calls were made.

I saw someone who forgot to turn their off receiv a call in a flight and he talked to the caller.

in the seat back. They accept credit cards. I've seen people use them in-flight. I don't know what altitude we were at, but I do remember sitting next to people that used them at some point.

Those are air phones.. Quite different.

Press reports confirm that Peter Hanson was using his cell (i.e it was not an air phone).

they wanted to stop cell phone calls from airplanes in the 90s,does anyone know who wanted them banned ?

so did my traveling companion. No problems. Calls went through just fine.

Specifically this one

http://physics911.ca/modules/news/article.php?storyid=6

They are proposing to change it, but you would still not be directly communicating with a cell tower on the ground.

In NPRM FCC 04-288, the Commission proposed to relax its current ban on the use of cellular telephones on airborne aircraft. The Commission’s rules currently require that cellular handsets be turned off once an aircraft leaves the ground to avoid interfering with terrestrial cellular systems. According to the News Release, the Commission addressed policy and technical options for permitting controlled use of cellular handsets and other wireless devices in airborne aircraft.



The Commission proposed to permit the airborne operation of "off the shelf" wireless handsets and other devices so long as the device operates at its lowest power setting under control of a "pico cell" located on the aircraft, and the operation does not allow unwanted radio frequency emissions to interfere with terrestrial cellular systems. The Commission requested comment on whether the proposal should apply only to devices operating in 800 MHz cellular spectrum, or whether devices operating on other spectrum bands, such as the PCS band or Advanced Wireless Services bands, should be included; and on ways that the 800 MHz cellular spectrum could be used to provide a communications "pipe" between airborne aircraft and the ground.

So, the possible interference/safety issues are not the same with this type of system.

Your phone would transmit to a reciever on the plane which then would transmit it to a ground reciever(s) specfically dedicated for this purpose. It seems to me you could use a satellite reciever as well, but I don't know enough about it.