http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/04/24/qantas-in-flight-mobile-trial-ready-to-go/ Engadget Mobile Comments for Qantas' in-flight mobile trial ready to go http://mobile.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://mobile.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/04/24/qantas-in-flight-mobile-trial-ready-to-go/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/04/24/qantas-in-flight-mobile-trial-ready-to-go/]]>Apr 24th 2007 9:46PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2007/04/24/qantas-in-flight-mobile-trial-ready-to-go/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/04/24/qantas-in-flight-mobile-trial-ready-to-go/Apr 24th 2007 11:35PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2007/04/24/qantas-in-flight-mobile-trial-ready-to-go/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/04/24/qantas-in-flight-mobile-trial-ready-to-go/
No, but cell phone networks on the ground have been interfered with.

The networks are designed to tolerate a certain amount of interference and misbehavior, but if it was more then a phone or two here and there, it would bring the networks to a screeching halt.

Cell phone networks are designed with certain assumptions in mind, namely that users will be on the ground. Cell phone networks are NOT designed to handle situations where phones have line-of-sight to 60 towers at once, some hundreds of miles apart, and the phones are moving hundreds of miles per hour.

It's no problem if there is a picocell on board the plane - like Qantas is testing - that causes the phone to enter a low-power mode (because the picocell is so close) so it won't interfere with ground networks.

BUT what if the picocell is only GSM, and your phone is CDMA? OR what if the picocell only does the 850, 1800, and 2100 bands used in Australia, but not the 1900 band used in the US?

Answer: your phone wreaks havoc with ground networks as if there were no picocell on board at all.

Do you really trust flight attendants to try to explain that you can only use your phone on board if it supports the GSM 1800 mode and you have roaming mode turned on? Do you trust your average passenger to understand those instructions?

Thought not.

THAT is why the FCC said 'no' to phones on planes.]]>Apr 24th 2007 11:44PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2007/04/24/qantas-in-flight-mobile-trial-ready-to-go/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/04/24/qantas-in-flight-mobile-trial-ready-to-go/Jun 1st 2007 3:33PM