As German airline carrier Lufthansa announces its plans for new onboard WiFi and phone services starting on routes between the U.S. and Europe in the next few months, cell phone use on airplanes continues to be on hold in the United States, recent reports have indicated.Oregon Democrat Peter DeFazio is sponsoring a House bill called the Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace Act—or HANG UP that would prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from allowing phone use during flights. The legislation is supported by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. The FCC in Washington currently prohibits in-flight cell phone use on planes, partly because of some unresolved questions about the potential for interference with aircraft navigation equipment, but mostly because of phone industry concerns that airborne cell signals radiate widely, randomly contacting different ground stations. That would create interference between systems and cause logistical problems for things like billing.Lufthansa’s services, meanwhile, are expected to be fully implemented by mid-2010, according to The Associate Press.Read more about Lufthansa’s plan.
Foreign Airline Carrier to Offer Phone Service
