WLAN Laptops

[Little Fokker]

Flying close to 100 times a year (shorthaul), I am always intrigued after the Safety Belt sign switches off and the 'middle-managers' in life get their laptops out to look important. What I would like to know is when the safely announcement is made, the crew request that mobiles and other transmitter devices should be turned off. Now surely a laptop with WLAN is a transmitting device (it is when on the ground) and could interfere with comms and thus, Middle Manager Man would hardly switch off the device, let alone know where it is. Is it dangerous and if it is, do the airlines care?

[Snoopy]

If it was dangerous, then Connexion by Boeing wouldn't have stood much of a chance. There are several airlines that offer in-flight internet access via WLAN now and I have tried it out and quite enjoyed it. It certainly helps the time go by on a 12 hour NRT to FRA if the IFE is rubbish...now as to actually doing work on my PC, well that's a different matter entirely! :)

[Little Fokker]

Ahh, but I'm on F-70's & 100's. I know SAS were thinking of introducing i-net on their planes but have not flown with them for 12 months. It is KLM's planes I was drawing the observation on. I know the technology is in place and I do not believe for one moment a mobile, WLAN Pc etc interferes with flight, it is a matter of courtesy to your fellow pax. As to whether I would do any work with this facility in place - no. :) But it sure would make travel pass quicker.

[5711N0205W]

WLAN connections on laptops can be switched off so they do not transmit or search for a network, most modern laptops this is a physical switch on the case.

[YOWGirl]

Some middle managers actually use their laptops to work, or to entertain themselves and not simply to impress the person sitting beside them. I suspect the blackberries are a much greater risk when people forget to turn off the transmit option and no one questions them as they madly click away while airborne.

Wireless signals are usually pretty limited in range, and unless someone has a router up in Biz Class, can't see what the issue is. Free wireless in the frequent flyer lounge usually fades once you leave the area. And on Dells, anyways, the signal can be disabled with a "Right-Click > Disable".

[YOWGirl]

I suspect if the wireless signal was actually available up there, we'd be seeing more airborne Skyping by now.

[vapilot2004]

A WLAN equipped laptop will not transmit unless there is an access point that it can connect to. Without the router/access point, the radio in the PC only listens.

There are secondary emissions created by the internal WLAN superhet circuits, but these are very small signals.

Aren't there some carriers going to offer in-flight internet access soon ?

[Little Fokker]

Thank you vapilot, that was all I needed to know (the jargon bit). Yeah SAS in doing its' bit to relieve boredom on their flights (even though their in-flight long haul in zoo/bus. is very good). KLM are 'thinking about it' the last I heard but I think they ought to address their in-flight service first both in zoo and business. Anyway, thanks for everyone's input.

[vapilot2004]

You are very welcome LF :)

I forgot one small detail - - if there is another laptop on board and the users want to connect 'ad-hoc' to one another - then the radios would indeed transmit in both machines. Not a normal circumstance, but entirely possible.

[WHBM]

Middle Manager Man would hardly switch off the device, let alone know where it is.Many of us despised pax behind the flight deck door are actually in the IT industry and know perfectly well how to switch the wireless on/off, and what the little blue light on the front of the laptop means.

Free wireless in the frequent flyer lounge usually fades once you leave the areaThe signal does tend to leak for a short distance outside, which is why you can find non-lounge entitled laptop-using passengers squatting alongside the lounge entrance taking advantage of a nice free service.