Planes and Mobiles

[bangkoksins]

So Emirates has finally gone and done what they promised, allow people to use their mobiles inflight!!

Of course there are (as yet very unclear) restrictions on how they can be used (when, how many at one time etc.) but what do you think?

Is this a good thing or do you think you might be arrested for trying to kill the passenger next to you because he or she is jabbering about nothing into a mobile?

I for one would prefer to fly a non mobile friendly airline.

Do you think that in future we could see mobile sections like the old smoking sections of planes?

[pampamsam]

(bangkoksins @ Mar. 22 2008,08:28) So Emirates has finally gone and done what they promised, allow people to use their mobiles inflight!!

Of course there are (as yet very unclear) restrictions on how they can be used (when, how many at one time etc.) but what do you think?

Is this a good thing or do you think you might be arrested for trying to kill the passenger next to you because he or she is jabbering about nothing into a mobile?

I for one would prefer to fly a non mobile friendly airline.

Do you think that in future we could see mobile sections like the old smoking sections of planes?

If they install antenas under whose service would you be using your mobile? If its going to be a roaming deal, the cost won't allow you to smeak more than a few minutes at a time.

[daveduke007]

(bangkoksins @ Mar. 21 2008,23:28) I for one would prefer to fly a non mobile friendly airline.

Nothing worse than hearing "Screaming" Kid's and now maybe "annoying" ringtones on a Plane's

[katoeylover]

i think its a great idea. not for chatting, but for using your sim to browse the internet and downloading emails etc.

Who'll be the first to post here live from an aircradft wen route to LOS

[terryw]

Ryanair plan to let you use your mobile from September.

I'm going to fly mobile free Easyjet instead.

[Guest]

should be allowed just for take off and landing. in flight just texts and browsing with no ring tones allowed.

[kahuna]

My singular thought is, if it gains wide acceptance, I would sure hate to get on a fucking plane filled with ladyboys without bringing a parachute...

One girl in my room with her phone is more than I can handle...

[Torurot]

Bring back "Get Smart's" (Agent 86) Cone of silence!

[rxpharm]

I don't like this idea, as Kahuna said, but they are starting with a few restrictions - these are the details from the Gulf Times Newspaper, dated March 21/08

Emirates is €˜first€™ to offer inflight mobile callsPublished: Friday, 21 March, 2008, 12:25 AM Doha Time

Staff Reporter
EMIRATES yesterday claimed that it was the first airline in the world to commercially launch an in-flight mobile telephone service, affording even greater convenience to passengers wishing to stay connected.
The first authorised mobile phone call made from a commercial flight was made yesterday at 30,000ft enroute to Casablanca, onboard an Emirates Airbus A340-300 aircraft - the first in the airline€™s fleet to be equipped with the AeroMobile system.
The airline would be investing some $27mn to fit its fleet with the AeroMobile system which ensures that passenger mobile phones operate at their absolute minimum power, thereby allowing their safe use on the aircraft, an official said.
A second Emirates aircraft, a Boeing 777-300, had already been installed with the AeroMobile system and would be in operation shortly.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, chairman and chief executive of the airline and group said: €œAll seats across our fleet are already equipped with in-seat phones, as well as e-mail and text messaging capabilities via the in-seat entertainment system.
€œOur customers are already making more than 7,000 calls a month from our in-seat phones, so we will be making life easier for those for whom staying in touch has become an important part of their everyday lives.€
Over the past 18 months, Emirates and AeroMobile have worked closely with regulators and telecommunications providers across the globe, fully completing rigorous testing and certification processes.
The service will only be activated when the aircraft is at cruising altitude and the cabin crew will have full control over the system, including the ability to prevent voice calls at certain times such as during night flights.
The number of calls that may be made at any one time is also limited to a maximum of five or six calls, the same number as for the current in-seat phones used regularly by passengers.
Cabin staff and information videos will advise and encourage passengers to switch their phones to silent or vibrate mode when used in the aircraft.
In addition to calls, the service will also allow passengers to send and receive text messages, with charges in line with premium international roaming rates.
Users will be billed on their regular phone bills by their own service providers as with any other roaming call.
Emirates and AeroMobile will be working to add further features. These include the ability for BlackBerry-type e-mail and other GPRS data applications later in 2008 and also to integrate AeroMobile with Emirates€™ ICE in-flight entertainment system.
On aircraft where the AeroMobile system is not installed, existing rules banning the use of mobile phones by passengers remain in force at all times.

So, it won't be cheap as the premium international roaming rates apply, and the limit is 5-6 calls per flight.

[Guest]

Emirates charge $5 per minute to use their satellite phones. So it looks like that'll be the minimum.

[buttafly]

I was talking about all this in another thread a few months back ..... it's all coming, you can count on that and we can try and fly other airlines or whatever but soon all of them will allow this crap!!

  GRRRRR


    Damn, I can't even stand it when a person next to me is chatting up his last 10 mins before the door closes or calling friends the moment he lands, but for 12 hours from Tokyo to Detroit?? Me thinks he would soon be strangled.


     On-board internet ..... now there's a good thing ..... texting also, although I rarely do it myself some people seem to be addicted to that crap so let 'em have it, it's quiet and usually harmless ..... but chatting about Grandma or boyfriend or work???  someone's gonna die.......

[BAM]

http://www.aeromobile.net/faq.asp

[Guest]

What is the reception like. I would hate to be sitting next to someone who is yelling down a mobile for 10min. because the reception is crap. Like buttafly says there will be trouble and people will be having arguments and ultimately you will see fights.

[BAM]

(bomber69 @ Mar. 23 2008,14:30) What is the reception like..

It'll be great... your phones only transmitting a few feet to a pico cell system within the aircraft. From there the call with be uplinked to an L band satellite.

[MARKUK]

its a fucking stupid idea, who wants to be sat next to someone talking into their mobile phone?