Submitted by Zhukov-74 t3_z4amhm in technology
clickwir t1_ixqzn6j wrote
Reply to comment by ObfuscatedAnswers in Bye-bye airplane mode: EU allows smartphones during flights by Zhukov-74
That's not why the rule is there.
In the US, the rule comes from the FCC, not the FAA.
It's not about the plane. It's about having hundreds of devices rapidly switching towers as a plane takes off or lands. Causing lots of needless work for the cell system, waste of resources and loads of interference and congestion on the RF spectrum.
Has nothing to do with the plane.
newtosf2016 t1_ixr3rgq wrote
True, but airlines for years lied their asses off and claimed this anyway. And they wonder why we don’t trust them.
matjoeman t1_ixric3z wrote
Didn't the rule used to be "No electronic devices on at all during takeoff and landing"?
tooclosetocall82 t1_ixs7a83 wrote
Yeah this person doesn’t know what they’re talking about. I remember having to be discreet with my mp3 player back when those were common so the flight attendant didn’t yell at me.
APeacefulWarrior t1_ixtj5ga wrote
I remember in the 90s being told I had to turn off my Gameboy during takeoff/landing, which was ridiculous on every conceivable level.
WhiteyLovesHotSauce t1_ixtz4yx wrote
So 9/11 was your fault? Motherfu-
LastPlaceStar t1_ixtk1yj wrote
I think that was because it was too hard to determine what electronic devices had any sort of radio communication in them for the flight attendants, so they just made everyone turn everything off.
tire-fire t1_ixry3oe wrote
Yeah, if I remember right the FAA had a regulation that below 10,000 ft personal electronics had to be off (so during take off and landing) until that got changed a number of years back.
zap_p25 t1_ixr7j12 wrote
Aside from the issues having a 25,000+ foot elevation difference in terms of line of sight caused with roaming back when roaming was a big deal with carriers.
BusbyBusby t1_ixsv5ce wrote
Why was roaming a big deal with carriers?
zap_p25 t1_ixtbkt0 wrote
Charge you money for roaming outside of you standard coverage plan. If you can beat the roaming charges by maintaining an in-area tower longer...they feel cheated.
BusbyBusby t1_ixtlbk4 wrote
That's ridiculous. You should be able to go from one of their towers to the next from one end of the country to the other.
zap_p25 t1_ixxf6q4 wrote
That's how it is today. It's not how it is used to be though. For example, in the early 2000's Verizon, Cingular (pre-merger with AT&T) and AT&T all used to offer varying coverage plans...local, statewide and nationwide. If you roamed outside of your coverage plan...you would incur roaming fees. Today though, the coverage is simply assumed at the national level.
9-11GaveMe5G t1_ixtngnb wrote
Much like data caps of now, they were an invented problem and they charged for the "solution". In reality when you went on someone else's network "roaming" the telecoms charged each other less than your carrier charged you for borrowing that usage.
japanb t1_ixrvdux wrote
Yes it did have to do with the plane. They didn't know what would happen with radio interference at the time. Heck even the 777-200 was grounded because of on the ground signals not even in the aircraft
https://liveandletsfly.com/boeing-faa-777-787-5g/
LAX, Jeju Korea grounded the 777-200. Recently after putting a fence under the flight path to stop instagram-ers at Jeju airport, they then re-allowed the 777-200 to fly here again
trentgibbo t1_ixsj8t2 wrote
That sounds like BS. How is it any different when everyone suddenly turns their phones back on after landing?
Spoiler: it's not
idkwthtotypehere t1_ixrd0w6 wrote
That feels like a hella weak argument…
mihirmusprime t1_ixrya3e wrote
Right? I feel like that aspect should have been accounted for as part of the cell network design...
simple_mech t1_ixrkmh6 wrote
Where does the “seat up, tray up, everything put away” rule come from? I could understand the last 5 minutes, but my last flight in June they did it like 30-40 mins in advance. Still mad I didn’t get to finish my movie!
liftingline27 t1_ixrnq99 wrote
That’s an egress thing. Takeoff and landing is the most dangerous part of the flight. Want to make sure there isn’t shit blocking people from getting out or projectiles flying around.
If your flight crew didn’t get landing clearance as early as they thought they would or had a particularly long approach you could end up with an extended period of that.
ugohome t1_ixt1gvo wrote
Yup. "We'll be landing in 45 minutes, so, welcome to BOREDOM"
whyNadorp t1_ixsphgm wrote
so now cell phones don’t do this anymore? doesn’t make much sense.
mitsuhachi t1_ixtizqk wrote
Interesting. I love learning about this stuff; I was definitely told as a kid it would mess with the plane’s systems and cause problems. I wonder where that myth got started?
smogop t1_ixtnqyb wrote
Really ? I though it was jamming serval approach and takeoff systems which not only do not operate on the same frequency but are also now digital.
Unless you are landing at an old airport like Miegs Field, which literally no longer exists, you don’t need to worry about being jammed.
IsildursBane20 t1_ixu7kli wrote
Yeah because millions of drivers don’t cause the same thing…
wewbull t1_ixu5qw0 wrote
Had a pan-european flight recently where I'd left my phone in my bag and forgot to enable flight mode.
At the end of the flight I checked my phone and had 5 or 6 "Welcome to Romania/ Hungary/ Austria/ Germany / etc." messages as my phone had registered with the various networks from 30,000 ft.
bdsee t1_ixxwiyv wrote
/r/confidentlyincorrect and so many upvotes
bihari_baller t1_ixra12k wrote
Yeah, I learned about this in my 400-level Engineering Electromagnetics class. Cool stuff.
tommygunz007 t1_ixryrxc wrote
I was led to believe that the reason we have people in airplane mode was there was a fear of detonating devices remotely with a cell phone after someone rigged a bomb to get this, a cell phone. Also people live-streaming on Facebook with their terrorist activities onboard.
-Flight attendant
OB1_error t1_ixsqz1d wrote
If they’re already going to blow up a plane, asking them politely to turn off their phone isn’t going to stop them. After all, it’s all on the honor system anyway.
[deleted] t1_ixret34 wrote
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[deleted] t1_ixrsmte wrote
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Splatter1842 t1_ixs0wel wrote
It's not one cellphone they're worried about, its the 400+ from all the passengers on the one 747 taking off.
[deleted] t1_ixsepjo wrote
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kinky-proton t1_ixshe9h wrote
And in the same spot not changing towers at the same time
ShameNap t1_ixt3uku wrote
Cars on highways change towers all the time, and last I checked, there’s a lot more than 400 cars on a very short span of freeway.
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