Next summer, using 5G technology, EU cellphone ban will end. While it’s now technologically safe to make calls, it’s not a good idea and unfair to passengers who would rather relax or sleep.
The European Commission ruled that airlines in the European Union (EU) will end the EU cellphone ban during flights. Passengers will be permitted to use in-flight 5G technology on airplanes starting next summer. Beginning on June 30, 2023, passengers can use 5G cellular service on their compatible mobile phones for data, text messaging, and voice calls while in flight.
I question if permitting passengers to make phone calls on airplanes in flight is a good idea.
Until 5G technology was installed in cell phones, the frequency used in the phones was similar to that used for airplane navigation and communication.
Until now, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) haven’t permitted cell phones on planes. Cellular data, text messaging and cellphone calls to be made on planes for safety reasons. They believed cellular services for mobile electronic devices could interfere with aircraft navigation and communication systems. Modern aircraft use “fly by wire” technology. They have a greater dependence on computer automation than ever before. Experts have warned the airline industry and regulators that cellular interference could be disastrous.
As a result, just before leaving the gate and until after their flights land, air travelers are ordered by flight crews to turn off their cellphones and other cellular devices or put them into airplane mode.
5G cellular technology is about as safe to use in planes while aloft as WiFi.
WiFi, which remains turned on in airplane mode, doesn’t present the same risk as cellular service because it operates using lower power and it’s not on the same frequencies as aircraft flight instruments. While 5G cellular service is not low power like WiFi, 5G cellular service uses frequencies that are unlikely to interfere with aircraft flight instruments, unlike 4G cellular service. The risk from 5G isn’t zero; it’s minimal enough that EASA has decided to permit its use on planes in flight.
While it’s true that 5G poses minimal risk to aircraft navigation and communications, I still question if permitting airplane passengers to make phone calls while aloft is a good idea.
I was on a European flight about a decade ago that permitted voice calls. There was no air rage like we see too often these days. There weren’t complaints to the flight crew, but that didn’t mean that passengers weren’t upset about the incessant calls. On that flight, passengers making the cellphone calls weren’t confronted. But they certainly got more than a few icy stares with “daggers in their eyes” from other passengers. Noise-canceling headsets didn’t help.
I am back as a regular rider on Amtrak in the Northeast Corridor. Any passenger can use their cell phone for phone calls on Amtrak trains, except in the “quiet car,” and many do.
In Amtrak trains, I’m often forced to hear multiple passengers make cellphone calls throughout the ride, making it hard to read a book, watch a movie, or sleep.
In Amtrak trains, I’m often forced to hear multiple passengers make cellphone calls throughout the ride, making it hard to read a book, watch a movie, or sleep.When riding on Amtrak, too often, you suffer from one annoying call after another. It is the norm, at least within the Northeast Corridor. Too often, passengers make “private” calls, and anyone near them cannot help but hear every word. The calls last from minutes to an hour. Quite a few last far longer yet. Many of the passengers on the calls speak noticeably louder than normal speaking. Even when watching a video with my noise-canceling headset, I usually hear every word of those conversations.
Fortunately, I can often get a seat in an Amtrak “quiet car,” where cellphone conversations are forbidden. The “quiet car” is always the first to fill up during boarding. Most Amtrak riders want to avoid listening to passengers on their cell phones. Many Amtrak regulars, like me, have asked for more than one “quiet car” per train, but so far that’s been a no go.
Cellphone use on Amtrak trains forebodes what will happen in the EU on planes.
I can’t imagine sitting in an already noisy airplane cabin and being forced to listen to multiple passengers talking loudly on their cell phones. I must deal with noisy children, overly loud passengers, and obnoxious drunks. Now cellphone callers will likely be a nightmare for me in those narrow inescapable tubes they call commercial aircraft cabins.
In 2014, the US Department of Transportation considered lifting the US mobile phone call ban on airplanes. They found that 96 percent of the public favored continuing the ban on voice calling while in flight. In 2018, a survey conducted by Nielsen revealed that most US air travelers continued to oppose the use of mobile phones for voice calls on airplanes. Most people said cellular calls on planes would be a nuisance. I think they’re right.
With Internet use on planes today, those who wish to stay connected can easily do so. No one has to be “out of touch.”
Air travelers today, if they desire, aren’t actually “off the grid.” On virtually every plane I’ve flown in for years, I’ve had Internet availability and have often used it. At other times I preferred to relax by reading or watching a movie. On my flights, I’m not cut off from my office or anyone I’ve wanted to contact, despite being unable to make a voice call. Via WiFi on planes, I’ve been on the web, used chat, sent and received emails, and had no trouble sending text messages. I’ve used Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok as if I was in my office.
Suggested compromises don’t work.
Some have suggested a compromise. The airlines could have “cell phone” and “quiet” sections in planes. That sounds like the old days when we had “smoking” and “non-smoking” sections, which never worked. Just like the smoke filled the entire plane, the noise of cellphone conversations will also fill the plane. The plan’s unworkable.
Others have suggested that airlines could designate some of their flights as “quiet flights,” with no voice communication permitted. Considering how full planes are these days, I don’t think that will satisfy anyone.
Cellphone call use on planes will unfairly penalize most air travelers who want to read, watch a movie or sleep through their flight.
Those who need to communicate with friends, family, their office, or clients from their plane flights can easily do so through silent but highly effective means. While all that communication is going on, what about others? Those who wish to spend their flight relaxing with a good book, watching a movie, playing a game using a headset, or just going to sleep should be able do so. If voice calls are introduced, they will be out of luck. They will involuntarily be part of unwanted conversations in a chaotic and unnecessarily noisy environment. That’s not right or fair.
Passengers don’t need to make calls while aloft.
There’s no legitimate need or reason to lift the ban on mobile phone calls while flying unless a true emergency exists, and there is plenty of reason to continue the ban.
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After many years working in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a tech consulting company and later restarted NSL Photography, his photography business. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a Public Health Engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a well known corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned travels the world writing about travel and photography, as well as running photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s Photography Blog and Galleries.
