American Airlines and Qualcomm have completed a test flight of a new system to allow airplane passengers to use their mobile phones while in the air. The 3G "picocell" network used on the 2 hour proof-of-concept flight out of Dallas allowed passengers to place calls, send text messages, and access the Internet from their phones without difficulty and without interfering with sensitive airplane equipment.
A small in-cabin CDMA cellular base station on the plane, that uses standard CDMA communications, was connected to the worldwide terrestrial phone network by an air-to-ground Globalstar satellite link. Passengers on the test flight included members of the media and government regulators. Although the flight was successful, American Airlines expects commercial availability of in-cabin mobile phone service to be at least 24 months away.
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