On a flight, you’re not allowed to plug in a phone to charge. That’s all right, that’s the way it is. But on a plane there’s a phone on the flight deck and every passenger on the plane has one. Why? For the same reason that you’re allowed to put your phone on your lap. Why? Because it gets everyone’s attention.
Well, in the latest incarnation of the plane, for the most part you cant. The reason is because it’s the “phone on the flight deck” that gets everyone’s attention. Thats the way phones should be. Youre not allowed to carry a phone on the plane because it gets the whole plane talking. The other reason for not allowing phones on planes is the fact that it annoys the passenger by having to constantly fumble around for a phone charger.
Thats the case as well. For most people, the reason they can’t have a phone on a plane is because they dont have a cellphone. If youre on a plane, you get a cellphone, but only if youre not a passenger. If you are, you get a cellphone, but only if youre the sort of person who uses a device like a phone to make calls. But the way you use your phone on a plane is different.
To allow people to use their phones on planes, carriers have to agree to change airline policies that would, in essence, allow their customers to use their phones on planes. This is like opening up the internet to all your friends for the first time, only now with phone bills.
A number of airlines have proposed that you be given a new cellphone on your next flight to allow you to take calls. A couple of years back, Southwest and United had both adopted this policy, but now it’s coming out of the Blue Box. It’s a good idea, actually.
Well, if you’re reading this, it’s probably because your phone is on board, but I can assure you that the policy will be very easy to circumvent. And if you’re reading this on a plane, it’s probably because you’re on a cell phone or you just read this in general, but I can assure you that the policy is very easy to circumvent.
So if youre on a plane, your phone will have a connection, but it’ll be very slow and will be able to only listen to the messages you send and the calls you make and can’t take incoming calls. That’s the benefit of having a wifi connection. But its a trade-off, so its not totally perfect.
Sure, your phone can get a connection pretty easily. But the problem is that it might still be able to send and receive text messages. Also, it might not be able to receive calls from other people on the same network. And even if it could connect to another network, it might not be able to receive calls from other cell phones.
The point is that having wifi on an airplane (or other public transport) is not perfect. It may get you your calls, but if you have a wifi connection, who knows what could happen next? Also, there might not be a place to put your phone where you can plug it in or get it on a plane if you don’t have wifi. Plus, you might have to pay extra for a data plan.
Of course, we’re not on a plane. We’re on a train, and even then, you can probably get a wifi signal at a train station. The one problem is that you can’t plug in a cell phone or use it as a call-only device.