Mobile Phones on Planes - Business Traveller

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Sequel

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Aug 30, 2005
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I am sure this has been/is being discussed right now somewhere else, but the latest Business Traveller Magazine posting (thanks Lindsay) says trials will start next year!

I am sure it is something we will all get used to, but should we be forced to? I appreciate people have to do business, but I am sure that a large percentage of the calls could wait, especially on a 1 hr SYD-BNE. Imagine the racket 10 mins after take off when everybody switches on their phones, and then the nagging "excuse me sir, we have made the anouncement to turn your phone off for landing", repeated over and over as people try to get that last bit of conversation completed. "excuse me sir, please turn your phone off for landing". And the beep beep of messages every 30 secs. I enjoy using my phone just as much as the next person, but I also enjoy "please sir, switch off your phone" the hr of silence you get on a plane, one of the few ...beep beep beep, beep beep beep... places left where this is possible. I also have my message tone set to beep beep silent.

As a side, it good to see overseas intrest as to the fuel cost being hidden in the "taxes & surcharges", rather than simply added to the ticket cost. Maybe they (the airlines) will take note...hahaha.
 
Agree with you on this one Sequel.

Perhaps responsible, courteous and restrained use of mobiles would be tolerable on flights, but as always, there will be pax who are anything but!

It's bad enough copping the train passenger who has to ring home every two minutes ("just passed through the next station, dear") for no reason whatsoever other than that they can, and having to hear all the gory details about Aunt Mabel's latest medical procedure, broadcast to the entire carriage at ~150 decibels.

Apart from which, would take some convincing re the safety aspect.

All else being equal, I would choose the mobile-free carrier. The plane cabin is one of the few mobile-free havens left.

BTW, I'm not a luddite, mobiles are very useful and I own and regularly use one, just find there are times and places where I could do without the interruptions from either my phone or those of others.
 
Sequel said:
I enjoy using my phone just as much as the next person, but I also enjoy "please sir, switch off your phone" the hr of silence you get on a plane, one of the few ...beep beep beep, beep beep beep... places left where this is possible. I also have my message tone set to beep beep silent.
You are absolutely right. We need a haven from mobile phone use.

It is bad enough when the plane touches down and as we prepare to/are leaving the plane the phones get switched on and all you hear is beep beep beep beep beep beep beep...... Somes of these beeps can be heard from 50 metres away maybe more.

I have my message tone set to vibrate as well so as to not annoy anyone else. I think it is just common courtesy.
 
JohnK said:
It is bad enough when the plane touches down and as we prepare to/are leaving the plane the phones get switched on and all you hear is beep beep beep beep beep beep beep......

Absolutely. I enjoy the fact that mobiles can't be used on planes. It makes a flight that little bit more pleasant.

IMHO they should still be banned. Surely nothing is that important that it can't wait the extra 3 minutes until you get inside the terminal?
 
What a horrible thought.

I think I'll have a Bex and a little lie down!

I too, wish they would bring back the ban 'until in the terminal'.

Then again, I'm someone who can ignore a 'phone ringing next to me - nothings that important.

Cheers
 
i hope others keep using them ... :shock:

i have heard some absolutely brilliant stuff in the qantas club, airport gates and so forth in relation to peoples business dealings. i am sure it's stuff their bosses would not want me to know - especially if i am in business competition with them.

same goes for laptops ... seen some great info on laptops from time to time 8)

i make a choice to not talk on phone or use laptop in the qantas club unless i am in a private business cubicle. i also choose to not use my laptop on my plane travels, it's on enough as it is, so i try to make that my reading time or relaxing with ipod time.

each to their own though ...
 
I don't want to use my phone on a plane. But it would be great to be able to surf the net and post a real-time trip report to the AFF site while over the Pacicif Ocean.

And reading your seat-mate's email or IM sessions might be just as juicy as overhearing their phone converations :D .
 
I wonder how anyone ever survived in the days before mobile phones....I find that they are just so obtrusive. It is just so pleasant that they aren't allowed on planes.

While you might expect that people would be retsrained, I see quite often people using them in areas clearly marked as mobile phone free zones.
 
Interesting follow-up info to this thread:

No, to phones onboard

A worldwide survey of over 682,000 airline passengers reveals that 89.1 per cent of travellers are opposed to plans that may permit usage of cellphones onboard either long or short haul flights. The results are in stark contrast to research by some airlines and telephony suppliers.

Details here - http://www.airlinequality.com/2005/cellphone_survey.htm

Cheers
 
Oh please, oh please, pretty please.

Please no mobile phones on planes.

Please, please, please.

Plane cabins are our sanctuary. Are we not entitled to some peace and quiet?

Sorry to business travellers that are in need to keep their business going. There are too many w@nkers out there that would spoil it for you.

Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep.
 
no to phones on flight

its nice to have a good excuse to have phones off (being the middle of the night where you are doesnt bother some folk :( )
 
I agree with the general consensus that mobile phones should NOT be allowed on flights, especially when some people think they have to speak 10 decibels higher so the other person can hear.
 
What do you think will happen when high speed internet is standard on all flights? Does VOIP ring any bells?
 
tuapekastar said:
Interesting follow-up info to this thread:

No, to phones onboard

A worldwide survey of over 682,000 airline passengers reveals that 89.1 per cent of travellers are opposed to plans that may permit usage of cellphones onboard either long or short haul flights. The results are in stark contrast to research by some airlines and telephony suppliers.

Details here - http://www.airlinequality.com/2005/cellphone_survey.htm

Cheers

Funny how the airlines and suppliers came up with different results. The joys of surveys and statistices
 
d00t said:
What do you think will happen when high speed internet is standard on all flights? Does VOIP ring any bells?

If not, it should :) But how far away is this from really happening, and how much are the airlines going to charge you for using it?
 
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d00t said:
What do you think will happen when high speed internet is standard on all flights? Does VOIP ring any bells?
Depends how they deliver the internet service. If via satellite, then it might be a little problematic for VoIP as the latency becomes an issue. IETF recommendation is to keep one-way delay down to less than 150ms, and you are not going to get that with a satellite connection. However, I very regularly use a VoIP phone from my home in Brisbane to a PBX in the USA and the latency is considerably outside that recommendation, especially when going through 2 IPSec tunnels and using G.729 CODEC. But it works very well.

The other issue will be QoS, over which you will have no control as you seat mates compete for the same bandwidth through and beyond the aircraft LAN.

So I don't see VoIP via a ground call gateway being feasible from an aircraft just yet. But an on-board gateway could make things interesting :wink: .
 
I like being able to turn it on after landing (the new QF rule) - I can get my "chauffeur" to be ready as I bolt out of immigration/customs or down the escalator at T3. Especially International where they are more pernickety about phones on the way through than they are even on the plane!

Turn 'em off once on the plane.

Leave 'em off for the flight.
 
On long haul trips I can't see it being that much of an issue. Cell based technology does require cells and over oceans I doubt that there'll be that good a signal

Dave
 
You're right, I think the coverage would end up making them largely useless anyway. Even on a flight from SYD-Bathurst or Orange (in a GA plane) I've struggled to get enough reception to send an SMS. Imagine SYD-PER, probably 90% of the flight would be out of range.
 
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