Mobiles take to the skies

[Yada Yada]

Mobiles take to the skies
Steve Creedy - August 29, 2006

THE curse of the mobile phone will reach new heights next year when Qantas allows calls, SMS messages and emails to be sent from and received on flights.

New technology to be introduced on one of the airline's Boeing 767 aircraft will allow passengers to use their own mobiles and Blackberrys to communicate through a low-power "picocell".

The airborne base station, which will eventually operate on routes between major cities, will transmit the signal through a satellite to the ground network.

The airline will use the trial to refine the system before introducing it more widely, wiping out one of the last refuges from the ubiquitous mobile phone.

"Qantas will be one of the first airlines in the world to offer this service," said Qantas's Lesley Grant.

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I guess it had to happen.

 

[simongr]

OK - I am going to abused for the upcoming comments but I will live that.

Can someone explain to me exactly when the mobile phone became the tool of the devil and all mobile phone users became slaves to satan? The way that article is written you would think that people were about to start sacrificing lambs on board the planes.

I mean c'mon what is worse about a mobile than about someone who yaps to you for the whole journey about their grandkids, their neighbours and their exciting adventures in macrame? I have to sit on planes with people who smellget up every 15 mins, get up on touchdown to get their bags down so that they can be the first to stand in the queue in the aisle waiting for the business class passengers to get off. I listen to people's screaming kids and have my seat back kicked whilst the parents are oblivious and sitting there reading the in-flight magazine (but oh when I have kids I will understand). I have to queue behind people that cant be bothered to read the hand luggage guidance in the middle of the liquid bombs fiasco in London, people who dont understand that if you have to go to another counter because your ticket is wrong that you cant just leave your luggage at the desk and oh its a bit heavy to lift off? Well you packed it!

And offsetting that, because I use a mobile phone I am the pariah, I am the person who is evil because I want to use the 9 hours of dead time locked in a steel tube to make contact with work, friends and family. I would love to know how many people who cough and moan about mobiles actually use one....

@ Yada Yada Not a personal attacj on you mate - I just get a bit ticked off by the anti-mobile police that are around.

 

[Dave Noble]

OK - I am going to abused for the upcoming comments but I will live that.

Can someone explain to me exactly when the mobile phone became the tool of the devil and all mobile phone users became slaves to satan? The way that article is written you would think that people were about to start sacrificing lambs on board the planes.

I don't know, but I suspect that most of the people who write articles suggesting the same have mobile phones of their own. Is sacrificing lambs on board flight actually prohibited?

I don't see a major issue in allowing the phones; I would not make much use of it inflight since calls while roaming internationally are expensive ( in-flight cells would be a country in their own right according to an article) but don't see any difference to using in flight as to using on a train or bus etc

Dave

 

[Yada Yada]

And offsetting that, because I use a mobile phone I am the pariah, I am the person who is evil because I want to use the 9 hours of dead time locked in a steel tube to make contact with work, friends and family. I would love to know how many people who cough and moan about mobiles actually use one....

@ Yada Yada Not a personal attacj on you mate - I just get a bit ticked off by the anti-mobile police that are around.

simongr - that's cool. No offence taken. You make some very good points. There can be plenty of other annoying distractions on public transport.

My wife's mother uses public transport a lot and keeps saying to us "...I don't know what's wrong with young people these days. They all get on the bus/train and immediately start pressing buttons on their mobile phones, and they are always wearing earplugs, and they all have a bottle of water with a blue label on it. When we were young we always looked out the window... they don't see anything because they're too busy with their gadgets... we didn't need to drink water on the bus... yada yada...".

IMhO the thing with mobile phones is that it can be difficult to tune out of other people's conversations at times.

 

[DPG]

The official news release from QF below:

About Qantas - Newsroom

One positive out of it though, is that the product is being provided in part by Panasonic Aero, so fingers crossed that with the A380 and B787 QF will use the Panasonic AVOD which has proved a lot more reliable that the Rockwell Collins AVOD in the B747 and A330.

D P G

 

[kelix]

If they offer mobiles the ability to work onboard.. they better offer ALL PAX noise cancelling headphones...

 

[bigjobs]

OK - I am going to abused for the upcoming comments but I will live that.

Can someone explain to me exactly when the mobile phone became the tool of the devil and all mobile phone users became slaves to satan? The way that article is written you would think that people were about to start sacrificing lambs on board the planes.

I mean c'mon what is worse about a mobile than about someone who yaps to you for the whole journey about their grandkids, their neighbours and their exciting adventures in macrame? I have to sit on planes with people who smellget up every 15 mins, get up on touchdown to get their bags down so that they can be the first to stand in the queue in the aisle waiting for the business class passengers to get off. I listen to people's screaming kids and have my seat back kicked whilst the parents are oblivious and sitting there reading the in-flight magazine (but oh when I have kids I will understand). I have to queue behind people that cant be bothered to read the hand luggage guidance in the middle of the liquid bombs fiasco in London, people who dont understand that if you have to go to another counter because your ticket is wrong that you cant just leave your luggage at the desk and oh its a bit heavy to lift off? Well you packed it!

And offsetting that, because I use a mobile phone I am the pariah, I am the person who is evil because I want to use the 9 hours of dead time locked in a steel tube to make contact with work, friends and family. I would love to know how many people who cough and moan about mobiles actually use one....

@ Yada Yada Not a personal attacj on you mate - I just get a bit ticked off by the anti-mobile police that are around.

all of those things, people, experiences you describe are of the devil also ... :mrgreen:

 

[NM]

Is sacrificing lambs on board flight actually prohibited?

Its ok so long as you only use the plastic knife provided with the meal. In fact, I think some airline meals definitely resemble a sacrifice (but maybe not lamb).

I have no problem with this so long as people are considerate of others around them. Some people automatically increase their volume by enough decibels to make the use of the phone unnecessary and they could almost be heard by the other party even though they are in another state of even country. It seems that some people are just in the habit of shouting when they are using a mobile phone.

But I can assure you that my own phone will remain switched off during the flight. Its it one time I like to be uncontactable.

Imagine how many people will be on the phone to the airline for rebooking connecting flights just as soon as the holding pattern is commenced over London .

 

[Thudd]

I guess it's because mobiles are particularly annoying when there is an endless succession of [often loud] obnoxious ringtones and SMS received tunes, plus there's the perception (real or imagined) about people being so welded to their mobile that they can't bear to be out of touch for a couple of hours and half the conversations you hear when a plane touches down are "we just landed", then 5 minutes later "just waiting to get off the plane" then 5 minutes later "I'm waiting for the baggage to come off", and it's just one more modern annoyance that we have to wonder if we really need.

Asian flights are particularly bad for this - the moment the announcement is made people have whipped their mobiles out like a western gunslinger and the race is on to start making calls and send/receive text messages, as if the world would stop if they had to wait 10 minutes to get inside the terminal.

Disclaimer: I don't own a mobile for work or personal use

 

[Dave Noble]

Its ok so long as you only use the plastic knife provided with the meal. In fact, I think some airline meals definitely resemble a sacrifice (but maybe not lamb).

Cool. I'll just have to avoid any of those flights where pets are banned onboard

Imagine how many people will be on the phone to the airline for rebooking connecting flights just as soon as the holding pattern is commenced over London .

Isn't the rebooking of flights actually a useful use of them though. When I was on the BNE-BNE flight at start of year , the 1st thing I did on landing was to get on the phone to rebook onto a flight the next day and then book a hotel for the night. By the time I was off the plane , I had everything sorted whilst others hung around the airport waiting for QF to sort out new flights and accommodation.

Dave

 

[NM]

Isn't the rebooking of flights actually a useful use of them though. When I was on the BNE-BNE flight at start of year , the 1st thing I did on landing was to get on the phone to rebook onto a flight the next day and then book a hotel for the night. By the time I was off the plane , I had everything sorted whilst others hung around the airport waiting for QF to sort out new flights and accommodation.

Dave

Indeed the only real benefit I can see if for notifying people of late arrive due to delayed in-flight (and SMS is good for that), and making alternate arrangements when the trip is interrupted.

Perhaps I could have used it for my MIA-MIA-LAX flight that caused me to miss my LAX-HKG connection. But in the end the result would have been the same as the arrangements that were made for me by the AC service desk upon arrival into LAX. So it probably would not have been worth the extortion rates that are likely to be charged for using the in-flight phone services.

Hmm, I wonder if QF will realise they can make more money by delaying a flight and having lots of passengers use the in-flight phone service to notify people of the delay? .

 

[Wunala Dreaming]

The official news release from QF below:

About Qantas - Newsroom

One positive out of it though, is that the product is being provided in part by Panasonic Aero, so fingers crossed that with the A380 and B787 QF will use the Panasonic AVOD which has proved a lot more reliable that the Rockwell Collins AVOD in the B747 and A330.

D P G

Correct DPG

Confirmed here

Mr. Dixon said Qantas was working with a variety of international suppliers on its interiors, including Panasonic for the new entertainment system and B&B Italia on furniture detailing.

Rockwell Collins AVOiD = CAN (Cheap and Nasty :evil

 

[JohnK]

A cone of silence would have been a much better idea.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Considering that the calls will be charged as international roaming, your average punter won't be spending the entire flight yapping about the clouds outside, I hope.

 

[simongr]

So it will just be people with company paid mobiles talking to the CFO about the MBO and SOX report for 9 hours

 

[jakeseven7]

Considering that the calls will be charged as international roaming, your average punter won't be spending the entire flight yapping about the clouds outside, I hope.

Exactly - calls are not cheap which will rule casual punters out AND also prepaids which make up a HUGE % of handsets in Australia are not able to access roaming either.

I can see myself flicking the odd text (global texts are cheap) and a call if its an emergency. I can think of a million times when I have forgotten to order a driver on a Friday night when this would have been great! Instead of having to fight it out with 1000 other self rightous and ferocious Sydney Siders for a cab...!

 

[simongr]

It would also help in situations like we had recently wheer we had a member of staff flying to the US for a conference and the conference was cancelled after they had taken off - they at least would have known before they landed that they were coming home pretty soon....

I also would have appreciated being able to phone my boss to find out if anyone was picking us up at the airport after a very short notice summons overseas....

 

[Dave Noble]

Exactly - calls are not cheap which will rule casual punters out AND also prepaids which make up a HUGE % of handsets in Australia are not able to access roaming either.
!

Being on a pre-paid does not mean that they will necesarily be unable to access. I use prepaid yet can roam to some countries

Dave

 

[Altair]

And let us not forget the teenage demographic that seem to talk and text constantly without heed of the charges....cap plans do not include the roaming charges....teenage niece found that out in a very rude way.

 

[NM]

Perhaps we can hope that the airlines will banish the mobile phone users to the back of the aircaft like they used to do with smokers.

And perhaps they can replace the No Smoking lights with No Phones for use during takeoff and landing?

Check-in will now include a question about your prefered seating - "cellular or non-cellular" . Perhaps then they can add the "reclining or non-reclining" and banish them all to the back of the aircraft.