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Cellular Phone Forum / General / General Topics / June 2004Using cell phones in commercial jet planes???
If I were in a flight from, let's say, New York to Washington D.C. could I make a cellular call from the air? I'm not asking if it's allowed, just is it technically possible? Thanks. > If I were in a flight from, let's say, New York to Washington D.C. > could I make a cellular call from the air? I'm not asking if it's > allowed, just is it technically possible? Thanks. Technically it might be possible, particularly if you used a CDMA phone. The CDMA system is more tollerant of receiving multiple signals from multiple towers without becoming confused than other systems. Of course, it is not permitted for several good reasons. Which you already knew.  SignatureDonald Newcomb DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net >If I were in a flight from, let's say, New York to Washington D.C. >could I make a cellular call from the air? I'm not asking if it's >allowed, just is it technically possible? Thanks. It is technically possible. However you might have multiple dropped calls because of the height. Once you get up in the ir (airplane, tall building, etc....) your handset can be "seen" by many many cell sites. The cellular system then has a hard time assigning you to a particular site and almost as soon as it assigns you, because of speed, you might get handed off to another site and in most instances even another system. Dropped calls...... -- John S. e-mail responses to - john at kiana dot net >>If I were in a flight from, let's say, New York to Washington D.C. >>could I make a cellular call from the air? I'm not asking if it's [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >because of speed, you might get handed off to another site and in most >instances even another system. Dropped calls...... Plus... 1) Your phone will likely "see" a bunch of cells on the same channel (for analog networks, and TDMA networks like GSM) or PN offset (CDMA), which will prevent a connection. 2) Cell site antennas are typically aimed a bit downward, since they want to control the area covered by a given tower, so it won't interfere with sites. Posters who have done this report that after they get above 15,000 ft. or so, they lose coverage (no signal). The 9/11 plane that went down in Pa had people using mobiles at about that height. Stu > >>If I were in a flight from, let's say, New York to Washington D.C. > >>could I make a cellular call from the air? I'm not asking if it's [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > Posters who have done this report that after they get above 15,000 ft. > or so, they lose coverage (no signal). > In article <20040625090923.10857.00000612@mb-m02.aol.com>, > 2) Cell site antennas are typically aimed a bit downward, since they > want to control the area covered by a given tower, so it won't interfere > with sites. Terrestrial cell sites are aimed downward and vertically polarized. Aircell sites are aimed upwards and horizontally polarized. Other than sharing the same band as 800 MHz cellular, I'm not sure what other techniques the Aircell system employs. So I don't know if a regular AMPS/TDMA/CDMA phone can even communicate with an Aircell tower in an emergency. I don't know if anyone ever did a study of which cellphones worked from planes on 9/11 but I suspect Verizon did best due to the use of CDMA and wide-spread service footprint in the NE US. SignatureDonald Newcomb DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net >If I were in a flight from, let's say, New York to Washington D.C. >could I make a cellular call from the air? I'm not asking if it's >allowed, just is it technically possible? Thanks. Depending on the phone it probably would not work or would work marginally. Cell phones are meant to work at much lower levels. That's why reception in highrise buildings often is not very good. Normally you wouldn't be able to get anything til you were a lot lower than 35,000 feet. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - remove NONO from .NONOcom to reply >If I were in a flight from, let's say, New York to Washington D.C. >could I make a cellular call from the air? I'm not asking if it's >allowed, just is it technically possible? Thanks. Nope, won't work. At least for long. I was at about 5000 feet in a recreational plane, and my conversation only lasted about 2 minutes until it dropped. SignatureTo reply, remove TheObvious from my e-mail address. >Nope, won't work. At least for long. I was at about 5000 feet in a >recreational plane, and my conversation only lasted about 2 minutes >until it dropped. Keep in mind the FCC says 100' and that includes private planes. Be careful that you aren't tracked down and prosecuted by the authorities. -- John S. e-mail responses to - john at kiana dot net > Keep in mind the FCC says 100' and that includes private planes. Be careful > that you aren't tracked down and prosecuted by the authorities. I'm sure the FCC & FAA have teams of investigators on the case. ;-) SignatureDonald Newcomb DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net >I'm sure the FCC & FAA have teams of investigators on the case. ;-) They are probably even calling in local and state athourities to track this individual down! -- John S. e-mail responses to - john at kiana dot net |
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