Email Not Phones On Planes

The NY Times reports that the Federal Communications Commission has stopped considering the idea of allowing cellphone use on airplanes because it is not clear whether the network on the ground can handle the calls. The paper says:

The problem cited by [the FCC Chairman] did not have to do with flight safety or the mood in the cabin, but a problem raised by the cellphone industry. The system is designed for phones to communicate with a single cell tower at a time. But a cellphone that is several miles in the air can contact many towers at once, tying up circuits in all of them, the industry argued.

…The airlines are still interested in providing customers with e-mail access and the ability to browse the Web, however. “We believe our customers value that and would love to have that on the airplane,” a spokesman for American Airlines] said. American carries 250,000 to 275,000 people a day, he said, and “life doesn’t necessarily stop” when they are on board.

Chief Says F.C.C. Is Against Cellphone Use on Airliners - New York Times