Cell phones allowed on flights in Europe
You can use your cell phone in the skies over Europe later this year under new rules that will allow air travelers to stay in touch — and raise the cringe-inducing prospect of sitting next to a chatterbox at 30,000 feet. But don’t expect to use your phone on a U.S. flight anytime soon. The decision Monday by the European Union makes the 27-nation bloc the first region in the world to scrap bans on the use of cell phones in the sky. The EU insists the change will not compromise safety. Cell phone calls will be connected through an onboard base station — think of a miniature cell phone tower — linked to a satellite and then to ground networks. A flight’s captain will have the power to turn off service anytime.
Phone service will be blocked during takeoff and landing, EU spokesman Martin Selmayr said. That means using your cell phone will fall under roughly the same restrictions as using your laptop or iPod. In Europe, travelers will be allowed to turn on their phones after planes climb past 10,000 feet. That’s when other electronic devices are typically permitted. Captains will also be able to block cell phone service during turbulence. The ban remains in place for all U.S. carriers, including domestic and international flights. Duquette said the FAA had not decided whether to block foreign carriers from allowing cell phone use when they enter U.S. airspace.
Source: AP
thats sick too bad im in australia!
Too bad none of the mobile operators have shared any info about the costs of ‘calling mom when you’re 10,000ft. up in the air..
ME AA
http://rapidshare.com/files/101717846/Mel.rar
Watch
Yeah, you can use your cell phone… but at what cost? $10€/min? If they do it that way, the service will go the same way as air-phones - they never took off (pun intended). I remember an air-hostess (sorry, flight attendant) bringing me an air-phone on a silver tray (yeah, back in the day), when there used to be just one at the back of the plane… you had to swipe your credit card through the damn thing first though. Anyway, I made my call (was kinda urgent) and never got a charge on the card :-D.
Could be good for BlackBerry/corp e-mail users though.
assassins creed?????????
It was released today
Funny thing is you can often get a signal from the ground below if you forget to turn the phone off. Happended to a friend. They spam you with sms every time you pass a country border.
Probably not recommended though. 
This sucks, When ever I travel, I wear noisereduction headphones, they like a charm, but whenever an active cellphone is nearby you get the most anoying sounds, you guys probably know what I’m refering to.
And another thing, the volume of a cellphone isn’t that high, so it’s gonna be difficult to hear anything, and here’s the kicker, people are gonna be shouting in order for the people on the other end to hear them.
All the way through….A BAD IDEA.
Most business people like the fact that they have 2-3 hours of “quiet” time, apart for a baby or two.
Hell yeah! Finally something that EU gets and USA doesn’t! Just hope it won’t be too expensive.
@5 I highly doubt this is first thing that EU has and US doesn’t.
Anyway, I liked traveling by plane for the simple fact it gave me few hours of peace from cellphones.
makes you wonder how all those calls were made from the flights on 9/11 ?? consipricy theory anyone ?
I think this is a security issue. From where I’m from they won’t even let you use your cellphones while you’re in a bank. Cellphones make it easy for terrorists to communicate and synchronize directives.
Will cost a fortune im affraid… 10-20$/min
10#
Maybe they didn’t care much for the rules at that time?
seeing as it is in europe the title should be mobile phones and not cell phones.
I also agree that the last thing you want in a plane is someone next to you on the phone
@11
Well i think we should ban cell phones from everywhere. You never know when a terrorist might be plotting to explode in the middle of the street. In fact in Iraq i know it’s in their handbook to expect a sms from master evil like: “u re ready blo urself up. Ala akbr”
Furthermore i’m finishing my airline piloting course and from what we learned there never was any proof that cells could disrupt communications EVER. It’s just to give the impression that everything is very safe.
Amen
#10
They used the air phones not mobile phones. Im sure they didnt mind using their credit cards when they thought they would die.
@#16
American Airlines 757s didn’t have seat back satellite phones on 9-11. So how did Barbra Olson make the phone calls to Ted Olson? Walkie talkie?
@dave
The reason why 911 victims could make calls was because they were flying WAY too low already and the phones were within the range of the ground towers.
@blunden
Your friend must’ve lied, or maybe he did it once the plane was about to land (or hand just taken off). When you’re thousands and thousands of feet above ground, it is physically impossible for a tower to reach you, it’s just to week.
I hope its $50 per minute as I couldnt stand some dumbass chatterbox ruining my flight grrr
Boo.
This sucks.
what are they talking about? Just saw a report probably two nights ago that US carriers will start letting Cell use by July. FAA has been planning it since a while ago. I think it was southwest that has already tested some.
Europe is just so cool!
This is great! Now I can get last minute instructions on how to the terrorize, while getting up to date scores on my fantasy football, criket & jai alai, right before a blow up the plane.
Agree with 19, after a few minutes I will be hoping someone is using one as a remote detonator.
I would be ok with this as long as they didn’t allow women and teenagers.
Agree with Tommelfinger… so far I don’t think I’ve been on a flight that DIDN’T involve some kind of annoyance. Babies is the classic (1 out 2 flights, for sure), then loud-mouth conversationalists, then getting caught with a fatso in the seat next to you - jeez, that I love :-(. Worst was a 10-hour transatlantic… had a seat with a power outlet so watched rips on my laptop all the way, BUT, there was a Hispanic-speaking couple just behind me… I swear, they did not cease babbling at high volume for the entire duration. Increasing the volume didn’t make any difference, and I was wearing intra-auriculars as well. That Spanish bla frequency just drilled through my head bone. And now cell-phones? With those bozos who don’t know how to mute their frikkin’ keypad? Please NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!
It will cost 2,50 € / Min. Saw it today in the tv-news (german news).
@all
Dont care when goes the airplane blow up…shes will be in 99,99999999% over USA
….
Call them mobiles unless you’re talking to yanks.
“The decision Monday by the European Union?” The decision Monday? The decision ON Monday!
I just got 2 things to say:
That service will be more expensive then a normal phoneline..why because they just see money.
Second its about time they researched some new ways to communicate in planes because i want to use wifi with my ds and psp.
Have a read of the real reason cell phones are not allowed on airplanes:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9015839
Interesting stuff…
I wish people on flights would just shut up and let others sleep. Its hard enough with all the noise the turbines and ventilation make. I need to take long flights frequently because of my job and I prefer to sleep on the plane, so I hope they make this service expensive enough to stop people from using it for meaningless chatter. I don’t think I could handle sitting next to someone who is making long and pointless phone calls to his friends back home for several hours just to pass time. Some people do that on trains and it’s very irritating.
Yeah…what’s a cell phone? Oh…you mean MOBILE phone.
if the source of this article is the associated press (AP) then it makes sense that they are using the term “cell phone” since the AP is an American news agency. Just because the article is about sell phone usage on Europe doesnt mean they have to use European terms. :):):)