George Patterson wrote:

What new info? My contacts at Verizon say that that company, for one,
is still
opposed. If you're talking about the AOPA article, note that AOPA
seems to be of
the opinion that the entire reason for the FCC ban is to prevent
interference
with avionics. In short, AOPA doesn't know what they're talking
about.


I agree, George. AOPA is missing the point. The airlines would
like to lift the ban on cell phones so that they could install small
cells inside the aircraft, which would then downlink to a ground
station by a non-cell means. They would, of course, charge their
customers big bucks for this service.

AOPA seems to be under the impression that all cell phones (AMPS and
digital services) would work just fine in an airplane. That's just
not the case. The analog system still has problems with aircraft
lighting up every cell within line of sight. The digital services have
oriented their antennas downward, so that airborne phones won't
interfere with the ground system. I don't know why AOPA is even
wasting their time and money on this.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)