Things Looking Grim for Airborne Cell Phones

Back when I was editor of Mobile magazine, I wrote an editor's note about cell phones on airplanes. I figured most people wanted to be able to take calls while flying, and I didn't think most people would mind a little chatter considering the overwhelming drone of jet engines.

I was wrong.

I received some 200 letters from readers about the column, and all but one were rabidly against letting people talk on their phones while on planes. The biggest complaint: People simply didn't want to be annoyed by people chattering away in the seat next to them. (Better they talk to someone on the phone than to me, I said.)

Regardless of the etiquette of cell phones in flight, things aren't looking up for them, despite some tech advances that are making airborne phone calls a possibility. The latest snag: CTIA (the biggest cell phone industry group) has said that cell phones still cause interference with towers on the ground, despite tweaks that are supposed to have alleviated these problems. A possibly bigger issue: Cingular and Verizon don't want to share their frequencies with anyone else, which would be required for airborne phones to work.

Add to the mix the fact that consumers hate the idea and airlines don't want to spend money upgrading their jets—plus the ever-present worry about someone's idiotic ringtone download causing a plane to crash—and you've pretty much got yourself a recipe for a technology that's going nowhere. 

My advocacy for airborne phones is really more a devil's advocacy than anything else, but I'm still curious if the winds have changed on this topic. Is anyone out there interested in opening up the friendly skies for cell phone use? Let me know in the comments.

LINK: Jet passengers may not get to chat on cellphones after all