TechHive: FCC's in-flight cellphone plan carries a lot of baggage

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thumbnail FCC's in-flight cellphone plan carries a lot of baggage
Nov 23rd 2013, 01:20, by Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service

Anyone who dreads hearing one end of a loud phone call all the way from Anchorage to Miami, take heart: The plan to allow cellphones on planes could fail in more ways than an overbooked flight at a snowbound airport on Christmas Eve.

On Thursday, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said it would consider a proposal to let airlines allow passengers to use cellular services while in flight. The services would use special onboard cells instead of regular towers on the ground and wouldn't be allowed below 10,000 feet.

The FCC is scheduled to discuss the subject at its next public meeting on Dec. 12. If the agency adopts the rule, it will be up to airlines to install the onboard cells and decide whether passengers can talk, text or use cellular data.

Nearly everyone welcomed the Federal Aviation Administration's decision last month to let travelers keep electronic devices on from gate to gate, but allowing cellphone calls in flight is a whole other matter. A flight attendants' union came out strongly against the idea, polls indicate most consumers are worried about it, and a congressman who has fought in-flight calling in the past may revive a bill that would ban it.

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