David Lesher wrote:

(Roy Smith) writes:

Gord sed:
Yes...dedicated ground stations...as I said Roy...actually I
believe that they utilize regular cel towers some of which are
equipped with somewhat different receiver systems...also there's
many fewer of them than regular cel service because of the
generally much longer range of the airbourne units.

I would not be surprised if they used some of the same towers, but
just because they're on a cell phone tower doesn't make them a cell
phone. Towers are a limited resource and most of them are shared by
all sorts of unrelated servics (often even direct competitors).

Well, in reality, the towers and sometimes the RF gear is owned
by a company such as American Tower, Inc. and oh yes, they stack
as many carriers as they can on one piece of iron.

(And it's more than tower space; co-location means they can share
generator backup, fiber feeds, etc..)

As for if airborne is "cellular" -- that depends on whose
definition you want to use. Is it Jill Winecooler 'cellular'?
Nope. But can it share the name? You decide.

Of course...and the term is no longer 'cellular' anyway it seems,
they now seem to prefer 'Mobile phones' so I guess it's a moot
point, but ISTM that the aircraft cel system is a helluva lot
closer to the terrestrial cel system than anything else.
--

-Gord.
(use gordon in email)