The "will they or won't they" saga involving the FCC, the FAA, airlines, mobile carriers continues. The Luddites are in the lead again, unfortunately.
A CTIA study suggesting that "picocells" on planes that enables ground communications with cell phones will not eliminate interference with ground towers, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin suggests that the Feds should delay lifting the in-flight calling ban. This type of communication has been approved in Europe and Australia. Maybe Iraq and Afghanistan will get this communications ability before we do. They seem to get a awful lot of our money already.
It seems some phones operate on frequencies that are not supported by the picocell. Absent this functionality, handsets can "interfere" with the ground stations miles below – the plane's systems are not impacted. The chairman's suggestion does not stop the FCC's commissioners from approving the move anyway. But you got to doubt this. There are many forces arraigned against improving time wasted in-flight. Luddites all of them.
Yes noisy people are a pain in the a*s. But the same thing applies on terra firma and there is not much we can do about it. The Luddites of course ignore the fact that the main use is DATA (dummies). Nobody (OK maybe a few) is that dumb to have private conversations in close proximity to strangers. There are tens of thousands more people who want to access their emails; quietly. So the thousands get nailed because of the potential idiots. This is a democratic process? Maybe we should ban driving because somebody might drink and drive?
Let's face it, if picocells are the problem, a technology fix will take care of it. But since we are talking about Washington, don't raise your hopes. Its easier to crawl under a stone and hope it all goes away. Don't you wonder about people with power over your life who are unelected? How can we get rid of these people? This is SO frustrating.
