Quote:
Originally Posted by derangedhermit
I think the main reason that the mobile operators support having the phones turned off below 10,000 feet is because the phones can often be picked up by the base stations (the cell towers) on the ground. The mobile networks are not engineered to handle phones moving at 350-400 mph, although calls often go through and stay up, at least for a while.
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It's all electronics off below 10,000 feet, cell phones off when the plane is off the ground at any elevation. Cell phones are based on being short range, with many towers, when you are on the ground, your signal reaches maybe 3 towers. In the air, your signal could reach hundreds of towers, if a few people in each plane were using phones, the whole network in a city could be overloaded. It's oversimplification, but any tower in range of your signal, even if it's not the tower your call is going through, cannot be used on the same frequencies for someone else's call.