07-17-2004, 05:00 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Qualcomm Demos In-Flight Cell Phone Service
"On a special two-hour American Airlines test flight over Texas yesterday, Qualcomm publicly demonstrated its solution for in-flight CDMA cell phone service. The service uses a picocell - a cell phone tower the size of a laptop - to provide in-cabin coverage. Because the picocell is so close, phones automatically emit a weaker signal, preventing interference with plane navigation systems and phone networks on the ground."
Rich Brome over at Phone Scoop has a good summary of the situation, and links for more information. Whether or not interference as it stands today is real, the use of cell phones on planes certainly clogs up ground towers, causing congestion issues -- so this workaround solution brings us closer to the day when cell phones are legal in planes. Of course, will those of you who like a quiet plane flight survive aviation after that day? 8O
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07-17-2004, 05:20 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 555
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How does proximity of the tower weaken the phone's broadcast strength? Wouldn't the picocell itself be a source of interference?
As for a quiet flight -- in all seriousness I don't think there will be that many people doing phone calls on the plane. The roar of the engines is too loud already. I think people will just wait until they have landed, or are about to land/take off.
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07-17-2004, 05:36 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 544
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by felixdd
As for a quiet flight -- in all seriousness I don't think there will be that many people doing phone calls on the plane. The roar of the engines is too loud already. I think people will just wait until they have landed, or are about to land/take off.
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Actually I think they may just talk louder :bad-words: . And with the weaker signal those batteries will just keep going and going... Glad I picked up a pair of noise canceling headphones last night.
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07-17-2004, 06:01 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by jimski
Actually I think they may just talk louder :bad-words: .
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Even though they don't have to -- modern cell phones have background noise canceling technology.
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Glad I picked up a pair of noise canceling headphones last night.
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:way to go: My Sony noise-canceling headphones are a godsend for plane flights.
--janak
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07-17-2004, 06:37 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 298
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For the love of God, someone kill this idea in its infancy. Crying babies and blabbing seniors are too much of annoyance already.
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07-17-2004, 06:43 AM
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Thoughts Media Review Team
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 599
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by felixdd
How does proximity of the tower weaken the phone's broadcast strength? Wouldn't the picocell itself be a source of interference?
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Part of the way a mobile phone works is that it has the ability to adjust the strength of its own transmitter, based on how near or far the current base station is.
Under normal circumstances, when you are in a plane, you are quite some distance from a base station and so the phone pumps its signal strength up to maximum. By having the picocell on board, it is like having the tower right next to you, so everything calms down to the minimum signal strength.
--Philip
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07-17-2004, 06:45 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 298
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True.
This is also the reason that your battery goes dead faster when you are in a dead zone. Your phone is pumping the signal out at maximum output trying to find a tower, sucking the life out of the battery in no time flat.
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07-17-2004, 06:45 AM
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Thoughts Media Review Team
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 599
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Newsboy
For the love of God, someone kill this idea in its infancy. Crying babies and blabbing seniors are too much of annoyance already.
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There is an aspect of this trial that seems to have been overlooked so far ... just because there is a picocell on the plane doesn't mean it has to be connected to the outside world :-)
By having the cell on the plane, it reduces the signal strength of the mobiles, thus avoiding the potential risk of having mobiles turned on. However, if you don't route the calls anywhere, the phone can't be used ...
Somehow, though, I suspect that money will win over common sense and they will allow the calls to take place. Let's just hope it is as some exhorbitant rate, similar to the built-in phones which I've never seen anyone use because they are so expensive.
--Philip
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07-17-2004, 07:29 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,329
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Augh. You think plane rage is rampant now. People on planes are freaking annoying enough. I don't need some idiot sitting next to me chatting it up with Bertha about how fluffy had a bowel obstruction that finally came out really clumpy. Or some other wonderful topic I couldn�t care less about. Where�s the cone of silence when you need it!! Please for the love of god keep people�s sanity and don�t allow cell phones on a plane. Or if they do make it so cost prohibitive that people make calls fast and furious. I don�t care what anyone says no one is so important that they have to be in contact with the rest of the world 24/7. Well maybe the president otherwise. 
__________________
PDA History: Palm Pilot 5000 -> Apple Newton 2100 -> Casio E-11 -> iPaq 3650 (64MB Upgrade) -> iPaq 3700 -> Casio EM-500 -> HP Jornada 568 -> HP iPaq hx4705 www.spreadfirefox.com |
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07-17-2004, 07:37 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 298
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Philip Colmer
...the built-in phones which I've never seen anyone use because they are so expensive.
--Philip
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*ahem*
In 1997, using:
- Compaq C140
- Casio QV-10 digital camera (cutting edge VGA resolution!)
- Camera to HPC adapter cable
aaaaand...
- a 14.4 PCMCIA modem card
I used the airphone on a transcontinental flight to upload photos from the digital camera. Also published a blog update to show the pictures to customers of a company I was working for at the time.
As I recall, it ran me something like $40 for 5 minutes, and wasn't terribly effective. Connected at about 2400 baud.
But it impressed the hell out of everyone around me! "The internet? What's that?"
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