House bill proposes ban on in-flight cellphone use
by Sean Cooper 
posted Apr 17th 2008 at 12:50PM
This could -- at least temporarily -- put an end the nightmarish scenario involving you, lack of sleep, and some freakish chatty Cathy plopped next to you by the airline. Lead co-sponsor Rep. Peter DeFazio, hopes the "Hang Up" -- madly clever name here -- bill will stop Airlines from finding yet another avenue to gouge you and maintaining peace and harmony by banning any in-flight calling. Of course, the door will remain wide open for SMS, mail, IM, and other types of electronic conversation, but we're hoping Skype and friends are on the muzzle list, too.
Filed under: Handsets, Messaging, Alltel, Boost Mobile, ATT, Helio, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Virgin Mobile, US Cellular
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Frankenstein Black @ Apr 17th 2008 1:31PM
Exactly! Voice calls NO! All others should be a GO!
(Airlines gets cash and texters, well, get to text)...
greenlight @ Apr 17th 2008 1:36PM
This is the dumbest legislation ever. I'm sure the airlines themselves understand pretty well the annoyance factor and will take it into account.
Dave @ Apr 17th 2008 10:48PM
fuuuuckkkk you! No calls on my plane.
D @ Apr 18th 2008 12:40PM
Airlines are all about efficiency. Cell phone companies are all about money.
Put the two together, and they will let people crap in their seats if it saves time and makes a buck. If left to their own devices, there is no doubt in my mind that airlines and cell providers would have people chatting up a storm.
Sometimes you have to remind businesses that just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Dan @ Apr 17th 2008 2:21PM
Our elected officials are morons. They should go do something even less useful like adjust daylight savings time....oh wait.
mike k. @ Apr 17th 2008 3:20PM
So basically, it has nothing to do with safety as to why you can't make a call on the plane.
With that sort of thing in mind, why the hell do we need any of our governments time legislating on this crap.
What are they going to ban cell phones on the train now too, maybe buses, both captive transportation mediums as well.
Draaaainage! @ Apr 18th 2008 2:30PM
They SHOULD ban cell phones on trains and buses! I hate being trapped and having to listen to some inconsiderate twat spout off about how their day was at a level that makes it possible for everyone to hear.
No one on the bus gives a shit about how your day was, so keep you mouth SHUT until you get within proximity to someone who does!
Point it: If I am trapped with you on public transit, you should have the respect for me that I have for you, that is not to attempt to centralize the entire world around yourself for the 20 minutes we are together.
Navi Thach @ Apr 17th 2008 3:30PM
They need to ban cell phones on airplanes. There's not too many places in the world where you can't be interrupted by a text or a BlackBerry message.
kachra @ Apr 17th 2008 3:44PM
While EU is allowing phone usage on planes, we are passing legislation to stop it. How stupid.
Is it technically that difficult to makes changes to allow that?
jackass1 @ Apr 17th 2008 4:15PM
WTF!!! I don't care if we have the technology to do it. The question is "WHY?" Once I'm on the plane, I take a shot and doze off. I don't want some POS mutha-effer who thinks he's so GDamn imporant to bother the crap outta me by making a phone call. STFU!!!
bernardino @ Apr 18th 2008 1:57AM
@jackass1 Did you see packetsniffer's comment? "BTW has anyone noticed that it's still going to be entirely legal to call someone using the plane's built-in phone? Just checking." So guess what, this doesn't stop annoying phone calls being made, it stops you from using your own cell phone to make calls instead of the plane's phone, which means more money for the airline.
I agree that cell phone's can be annoying, but do we have to make it illegal before we even give it a shot? We let talking on your cell phone while driving be legal for a while and now we're requiring hands free devices, but we're not getting rid of it completely.
To be honest, loud obnoxious children of shameless parents bug me a hell of a lot more than OCD cell phone users, but we can't make them illegal on a plane, can we?
Dhomas @ Apr 18th 2008 8:58AM
@Jackass1
There's this wonderful invention called "earplugs." It's a kind of plug which blocks outside sounds from one's ears. Ingenious, no? Plus, they can be had for the low, low price of 3$.
@Bernardino
I think loud, obnoxious children should be banned from flights. At least from red eyes. Come on, it appears they can legislate anything, anyway...
josh @ Apr 17th 2008 3:54PM
this is a really stupid question but i love the 700p, recently switched to att get the 680. dont like it as well. can you swap out the 680 casing for a 700p casing
niftydl @ Apr 17th 2008 4:23PM
Fail. For all of the above.
med1320 @ Apr 17th 2008 5:01PM
Hey if I'm on a plane and I wanna talk all I want, I don't give a damn if I'm bothering your sleepy time. So piss off you dumb communist bastard!
Michael @ Apr 17th 2008 5:32PM
So you're the jackass who talks on his phone while driving, veering into my lane
You're the idiot who talks on his phone while in line at the grocery store and takes 10 minutes to find his credit card because he's in the middle of a conversation.
Sir, I hope your sperm are being irradiated by wearing your Batman-style belt filled with an iPhone, Blackberry and Treo all at once.
May you never have children to spread your godforsaken DNA any further.
If you really need to make a phone call, go ahead, the airlines provide one for you in your seat. It's not my problem that it's $5/minute or whatever charge it's up to now (I don't fly that often).
jackass1 @ Apr 18th 2008 1:14AM
May you die in a car crash due to distractions caused by your cellphone.
D @ Apr 18th 2008 12:42PM
"Your right to swing your first ends where the other guy's nose begins."
Americans seem to have forgotten this.
R1cebrner @ Apr 17th 2008 5:40PM
Next there will be a new subclasses.
First class calls/no calls, coach calls/no calls
and increased prices it will cost more for the privaledge either way.
Christian von der Ropp @ Apr 22nd 2008 7:09PM
If that bill will be overturned if an American company joins both European operators (OnAir & AeroMobile) in the race for the $2-billion-market (estimates for 2009) for GSMoB?
Boeing's decission to drop Connexion and so an existing platform, that was predestinated to quickly enter the GSMoB-market, was a big mistakte!