Quote:
Originally Posted by NatCh
RF signals travel near the speed of light in atmosphere, if I remember my physics classes correctly ... anyway, 65 mph or 500 mph isn't much compared to .99c. And planes don't normally fly too much more than a few miles up, cell signals ought to travel that far, anyway -- it's not like there's much to interfere with them.
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Switching speed isn't the same as transmission speed, though. Yes, the signals are certainly fast enough to reach the phone, but having to switch towers so rapidly may be more than some phones or networks can handle. It's possible that the airlines are considering adding a repeater per plane with a stronger broadcast/receiver system to avoid this problem... I don't know.
I read an article in the IEEE journal a few years ago that covered the issue of electronics on the plane during takeoff and landing. IIRC, their position was not that interference could somehow bring down the plane, but that the static generated by even low-level interference could interfere with pilot-tower communications. As I said before, I think pilot-tower communications are difficult enough as it is. I'd rather not do anything that would add any static to the mix.