Qantas extends test of in-flight cellphone use

Posted by Will on Monday, October 29th, 2007 at 1:40 pm under Technologies, Services, Announcements

Qantas testing in-flight mobile phone cellphone useWe mentioned some time ago that the Australian airline, Qantas, was testing in-flight cellphone use over Australian domestic airspace. Well, Qantas has announced that the trial run has been extended from it's initial three-month window - it's now slated to wrap up testing in February 2008. Qantas is apparently committed to bringing mobile phone use to the friendly-skies. And, as such, they will have a preliminary report on in-flight mobile phone use by year's end.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) gave Qantas a 12-month trial window to conduct its test. "They figured they might as well use the entire period to evaluate customer responses," Ms Williams said of Qantas's technical team.

The Qantas trial has only allowed SMS text messages and e-mails - which is a great compromise. Weary jet-setters won't have to worry about that annoying loud-talker taking the seat next to them. It looks like the rest of the world is set to allow in-flight mobile phone use of some sort.

[Via: PC World]

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