For those of you who have been airborne at least once, you could recall easily how the flight attendants courteously but emphatically asked you to put your phones on flight mode or switch them off during travel.
As per the European Union (EU), the passengers will now be able to use their phones without putting them in flight mode in the coming months.
Not just not turning off the phones, but also there will be an offering 5G mobile connectivity services along with slower mobile data on flights.
As per reports, EU member states will have until June 30, 2023 to make 5G services available for airplanes.
No Need to Put Phone on Flight When Airborne
A report by the BBC says that the EU is paving the way for mobile connectivity in flights, and the passengers will be allowed to use their phones normally to make and receive calls and access internet services to watch videos, browse websites and send out text messages.
As we speak today, only functionalities like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are allowed on certain flights globally.
But before knowing what changes the rule, let’s understand the rule in the first place. Let’s nail down on what is the reason behind restricted access.
Using phone while airborne can be precarious as the signal of the phone interferes with the aircraft instructions and readings, as a result of which the passengers are asked to, switch off their phones or keep them in flight mode.
Why the Changes? Why Now & Is it really Need?
Since 2008, the EU Commission has reserved certain frequency bands for aircrafts, which means that calls are less likely to interfere with the aircraft instructions. Hence the EU has given this directive to allow passengers to make calls.
This had previously allowed some flights to offer mid-air internet access but they were slow.
Now, a special network equipment called ‘Pico-cell’ will be used which will route calls, messages and data through satellite networks which will connect the aircraft to the ground-based mobile network.
With this new system passengers will be able to access 5G, which has speed around 100Mbps.
Now, that the interference of the signals issue is solved, the only think that will happen while using the phones is the phone battery drainage.
So, unless you have a power bank or the flights install infrastructure that will allow you to charge your smartphones, your phone may die down faster than it normally would.
