I'm waiting for the headlines, "Fighters scrambled to intercept internet aircraft." in response to the panic that will ensue when somone is seen reading mission orders for an online game of "Counter Strike".
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There are some interesting posts on in flight net access here. (www.slashdot.org)

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Edited as the system (or a moderator?) merged two of my posts (Made in quick sucession) resulting in a change of meaning.

Zurich rag today quoted DLH spokesman as saying that the strength of emissions is only 1% of mobile phone emissions and you don't get the potentially harmful peaks of power which a mobile causes but a continuous signal.

It's true that space signals don't need to be very powerful. Seems they use a sat. seeking array.

Interesting point Memetic , what if you are playing something like Counter Strike over the net & taunting an opponent...only to be escorted off at the nearest airport, which doesn't happen to be your destination???

Now all we need is a post from the International Space Station.

Does this mean then, that crews with laptops on board (if they are allowed through security)....can come into PPRuNe chat, and have a lil chin wag (or finger excersise rather)...whilst they are busy digesting their meal?

If that would be allowed, then tell me, and I will be in the chat room! Be quite a nice thing to be doing with someone all the way up there!

Smooth skies...

Damn.Is it too late to send you my bomb scare!!!
Have you landed already? Or did it go off?

Seriously, again something to think about in this time of high
tech do you dare ignore my warning?

The system will reach it's ultimate stupidity when the pilots
fly from home via satcom. What do you think Orvil, will it work?

The adventure continues.

IMHO, flying from a set position, with passengers up there, would be possible somehow (isnt it already? Ive seen things on discovery about it). I do not think many passengers would like it tho! Perhaps, this would be a good poll to do!?!

Also, pilots are where they are now because of their love of flying, and not just the money, whether they think they earn a lot or not....so to suddenly fly a plane with 40 people on it like your son is on flight sim at home is NOT fun at all, and will kill the industry I think.

This hi-tech business just doesnt stop does it !! At least let humans do SOMETHING instead of sitting at home pressing buttons

Smooth skies all (unless you are flying from home )

Dan

I wonder when the ops manual will be ammended to state that the flight deck is a porn free environment?

So, where from here:

WebNav: UI to see maps, nav stuff, that kind of thing.

CockpitCam: Now, everyone can ride the jumpseat!

Open LAN: Totally open LAN amongst passengers - play multiuser games, swap files etc.

'Online Traveller': Fill out immigration forms, customs forms etc (bit tricky cos' of lack of digital signatures standards, but eventually)

Any more?

There must be loads of neat things beyond the first step of giving people web access.

I thought that the reason that cell phones were banned in the air was less because of RF interference (not that they don't cause any, but not that much) and more due to the fact that the cell phone companies are not capable of billing the calls properly since they have a hard time figuring out which cell the phone is in.

This new service just reinforced that theory, in my opinion.

Why did this link stop? I just found it and I loved it!. All that bull!!!! about not using electronic equipment!! The real danger is Fred with his roaming cellphone and the annoyance of the ring tone (ever been in a cinema in Bahrain?).

Keep this thread going guys.

admiral ackbar

As i understand it that problem is more that the network gets confused seeing the same phone in lots of cells - its designed to see it in sevral ajacent sells but not 10's of cells as you can get if you are high enough. It also does things like set the fraud detection systems going as one cause of being in multiple cells is having your phone cloned (Not supposed to happen with GSM but...)

What do you mean by the following?

I meant that the REAL reason why cell phones are banned has less to do with RF interference than with lost profits for the cell phone companies.

The fact that they let wireless internet be used on the plane, which uses similar frequencies than cell phones reinforces that theory.

I hope I have cleared up my logic.

Do you think if I paid them enough money they'd let me fly and land the aircraft in Washington from seat 165g instead of being bored stupid by simulator stuff?

I would try harder than usual as it's my real ass on the line for a change.

Time will show how unpleasant this new idea is. Up to now at least the flight was a time you could relax, have drinks and see the movie. No more my friends, from now on you must read the emails, answer them, do work and no fun. No excuses allowed you have internet access at just 35 Euros. What a bargain for the company I remember the time my company provided me with a "free" mobile phone. Only later did I realise how this made me much more available to the boss We are stupid and get conned once again.

I work for a company which provides VoD for Hospital Patients via personal LCD screens. At present we are busy working on a project to have these units Internet enabled.

I, therefore can appreciate the amount of hardwork that goes into supportiong this service.............but wireless!!! How they achieve such reliability with wireless I can't seem to comprehend. Are they planning on having an I.T Support person oboard every flight?

BTW, if anyone here works for Connexions......and is actively recruiting....I'd like to hear from you

I am concerned that we haven't yet had a post from Algy to let us know they landed safely...

Tks for your concern Capt Stable, I am indeed back flying the desk in sunny Sutton.

Coincidentally I flew on the internet ship (D-ABTE) back home - there was far less interest in the system eastbound. Seems scoff, movies, kip, the aurora etc are the preferred activities by night.

Still, it worked like a dream and apparently has done all week.

BA trial starts mid-February BTW, LHR-JFK I believe.

Algy

In-flight meals, drinks, shopping, cinema, phones, tv, sex, internet-surfing... and in-flight courts now?

What next? In-flight community service? Amusement parks complete with log flumes?

No, the modern generation of cellphones (GSM 2G), have no problem keeping track of which site a handset is operating. The handset actually monitors a number of sites simultaneously, not only for signal strength but also for available capacity on its site and the handset itself then makes the decision on which cell to hop to. The HLR of the operator (HLR=Home Resource Locator - basically a database which records where the phone is at any time) is updated every time a change is made and charges are made accordingly. If it roams, then the new host HLR is updated and charges go back to the home operator.

The reason they are banned is nothing to do with ability to charge. Think on it, if it can make/receive a call, then the cell operator knows where it is and who's network/account to post charges back to.