In-flight texts to take off in the US?

[hf1khal]

In-flight texts to take off in the US?
But on-board calls take a nosedive

By Gemma Simpson

Published: Wednesday 25 April 2007

US budget airline JetBlue is considering an in-flight text messaging service but does not want noisy mobile phone calls on its aircraft.

David Neeleman, founder and chief executive of JetBlue, said text communications could prove attractive but agrees with the misgivings of many US airline executives about the on-board use of mobiles for voice calls.

A spokeswoman for JetBlue told silicon.com in-flight text messaging could happen in the near future and said if the company allows mobiles on its flights then they will only be used as "silent options" - meaning passengers would be allowed to send and receive text messages and listen to voicemails but incoming and outgoing calls would be barred.


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The movement to make mile-high mobiles a reality is gathering pace at other airlines too - Ryanair is planning to allow mobile access on all its flights by mid-2007 and Australian national carrier Qantas has been given the green light to start an in-flight mobile trial of SMS and email.

Air France was due to launch an in-flight mobile service last month but was forced to delay it until the summer. It will now kick-off a six-month mobile trial - including data services and voice calls - in July.

http://networks.silicon.com/mobile/0...9166888,00.htm

[YourDream84]

I would LOVE that. Finally something to do during flights, other than my Cosmo and iPod.

~*Ash*~

[hf1khal]

Now all we need to know is the cost per SMS.

[bobolito]

Originally Posted by hf1khal

....passengers would be allowed to send and receive text messages and listen to voicemails but incoming and outgoing calls would be barred....

Now, how exactly is that going to work? How can you bar outgoing calls but allow to listen to voicemails when they are essentially the same thing? To listen to voicemails you HAVE to make an outgoing call.

And I am not so sure this will be a "silent option" unless passengers are adviced to put all their phones on vibrate for incoming texts, which will be hard to enforce.

However, I think if they had the option to be able to tether your phone to your laptop, or maybe use WiFi sounds even more attractive to me.

[hf1khal]

Originally Posted by bobolito

Now, how exactly is that going to work? How can you bar outgoing calls but allow to listen to voicemails when they are essentially the same thing? To listen to voicemails you HAVE to make an outgoing call.
And I am not so sure this will be a "silent option" unless passengers are adviced to put all their phones on vibrate for incoming texts, which will be hard to enforce.

However, I think if they had the option to be able to tether your phone to your laptop, or maybe use WiFi sounds even more attractive to me.

That puzzled me too and still have no idea how they can achieve that.

[bobolito]

Must be an error in the article.

[dmapr]

Originally Posted by bobolito

Now, how exactly is that going to work? How can you bar outgoing calls but allow to listen to voicemails when they are essentially the same thing? To listen to voicemails you HAVE to make an outgoing call.

And I am not so sure this will be a "silent option" unless passengers are adviced to put all their phones on vibrate for incoming texts, which will be hard to enforce.

However, I think if they had the option to be able to tether your phone to your laptop, or maybe use WiFi sounds even more attractive to me.

Originally Posted by hf1khal

That puzzled me too and still have no idea how they can achieve that.

Perhaps it can be done in a way similar to how my United Mobile (formerly Riiing) SIM card handles all calls. Basically all outgoing calls are barred — instead, a special message is being sent to the network that includes the number you wanted to dial. Once processed, a callback is made to the phone and when I answer I get connected.

Now obviously it isn't exactly the same situation as what the airlines will have to deal with, since they won't be your service provider, but perhaps it can still be proxied in some way?

I would also be more concerned with the alert for text messages that arrive — just as Bobolito, I can't see a way to enforce it.