[HD123]

well... was on an Emirates airlines flight the other night and as soon as the plane finished ascending to cruising altitude an announcement came on saying ''you are welcomed to turn on your mobile phones, please put them on silent mode as a courtesy to other passengers".
Of course I had to wip out the Bold and see what this was all about. Turned it on and in no time had a signal, with calls and text messages coming through.
No data yet but they have stated that they expect to have data and BLACKBERRY SERVICES operational SOON!!!!!!!

[noaim]

man that is hot!!

I heard much about this.. hopefully it gets on all airlines fast =)

awesome to hear from someone who used it =)

[TvTechGuru]

Wow so I guess that finally solves the myth that cell phones can't receive a signal from a cell tower at 30k feet!

Is that airlines in the UAE? Never heard of it. No reason why U.S. Airlines can't allow it then.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[astro13rm]

No offense but I am not looking forward to the day where cell phones are allowed in the US on airplanes. I can't imagine having to listen to all the yakking from my fellow passengers.

Maybe it won't be as bad as I think it will be.

I'm excited planes are starting to get the Wi-Fi on board -- that's slick! I just wish they'd put standard plugs in the seats.

[John Yester]

Ya listening to some teeny bopper at 30,000 ft for hours, nah I don't think so....

[moe-blackberry]

I'd shoot myself...if I had a gun of course on a plane if I had to listen to people talk constantly on a plane. Text to your hearts content but no yacking out loud!

[fonebrkr]

I've texted while flying to Chicago, just to see if it was possible...

[dlnmorrow]

Interesting and good to know!
Well hearing folks yak it up is a given from my experience. On my last flight a couple of months ago a guy was talking very loudly to the person next to him and I was sitting 5 rows up....yes it was annoying but that is where my iPod came in!

[Shao128]

Wow so I guess that finally solves the myth that cell phones can't receive a signal from a cell tower at 30k feet!

While that may be possible, that is not how they are doing it. They outfit the plane with equipment from mobile phones on planes . AeroMobile

This way there is revenue to be made by the airliners. Since you are roaming on their network on the plane they can set the price of calls and texts.

[greg24]

thats awesome

[CipherDias]

::::speechless::::

[Hi-Definition]

While that may be possible, that is not how they are doing it. They outfit the plane with equipment from mobile phones on planes . AeroMobile

This way there is revenue to be made by the airliners. Since you are roaming on their network on the plane they can set the price of calls and texts.

Precisely.

I recall when smoking was allowed in-flight some years ago. Now; I can't even fathom people smoking on a plane; it makes complete sense as to why they've banned it (health, safety, legal reasons). This whole banning of smoking example is prime subject to show that it isn't the common sense of human beings that evolves ten-fold over a span of two decades; it's that our legal system takes that long to evolve into allowing our common sense to become laws. However, I digress.

As for permitting calls on a plane; I don't think that's such a hot idea. Then again; at the higher rates users are being charged to make use of their phone in-flight...airline companies probably have an inherent weed-out process in their approach; where only the people who are willing/able to pay the higher premiums...will do so since they deem their business as being 'necessary' to justify the expenditure. This way the airline companies are in better standing with their cash cow (business-aligned clientel) who will be utilizing such an option.

I feel it's completely ok to allow Wi-Fi, other forms of 'silent-communication'...allowing other passengers to enjoy some auditory satisfaction without hearing the jibber-jabber on the phones. It's already bad enough that a lot of us have the unfortunate luck to somehow land in a seat beside that person that talks their head off to you non-stop from take-off to landing* .

*I had one two weeks; although she was a cute little grandmother who reminded me of mine...I could have gone without hearing how she just finished making her 7th quilt for her granddaughter's yorkie.

[Hawkeye1]

Great this is good to hear. I go from NC to CA about twice a year so this will he nice. My wife did text me when she was coming back from Hawaii last month.

[kymmiipie]

Wow so I guess that finally solves the myth that cell phones can't receive a signal from a cell tower at 30k feet!

Is that airlines in the UAE? Never heard of it. No reason why U.S. Airlines can't allow it then.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

they showed that the cell phone on a plane myth was false on the mythbusters show that comes on the discovery channel. The only reason why they don't allow it in the US is because it would be annoying to have all those people talking on their cells the whole ride.

[Navan]

they showed that the cell phone on a plane myth was false on the mythbusters show that comes on the discovery channel. The only reason why they don't allow it in the US is because it would be annoying to have all those people talking on their cells the whole ride.

That's not true. The reason they ban it is because if everybody did it it'd confuse the cell towers...at 30,000 ft. you're within range of something like 20 cell towers, and you'd switch between them extremely often. It's possible, but if one or two people do it it's no big deal, if everybody does it it has the power to confuse the towers to the point where they overload. So they ban it.

The way they allowed it on Emirates airlines is that they put basically a mini-tower on the plane and the equipment on the plane handles the connection to the ground, therefore avoiding confusing the towers.

[schaidshaw02]

That's awesome! I've always wondered why they didn't allow it...doesn't make any sense to me how it would affect the flight.