Originally Posted by NYBanker
The FCC has more problems with airborne cellphone use than the FAA.
It is kind of irrelevant. Once you are in the cruise all TDMA based system (GSM and AT&T style TDMA) will fail because of the handset velocity relative to the base station. The time division timing simply doesn't work any more. Other systems have different, though sometimes related problems. Light aircraft can use GSM like systems at lower flight velocities on networks where the timing is loosened in a similar manner to what is done to extend TDMA networks for maritime use. Now, if you fly the cell node with the aircraft any access layer will work.
I'm still waiting for the first exec who pays for First only to be seen stumbling down the aisle towards the tail mumbling "Can you hear me now?", whereupon they spend the entire 2000 miles in the rear galley. :-)