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Old May 27, 2002 | 9:04 am
  #1  
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Wireless Laptops

Many of the new laptops are coming with built in 802.11b wireless capability. Is this going to be a problem (interference) when using such a device on an airplane?
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Old May 27, 2002 | 9:30 am
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Theres probably a way to deactivate the wireless link. But anyway, the airplace communications are not done at this frequency or for that matter the frequency that cell phones/pagers use. In fact, cell phones/pages will not cause any interference with airplane communications so actually its really pointless in having the airlines turn those devices off. Of course turning the cell phones off will save your battery life and not have it dead when you get off the plane, so maybe they airline is doing you a favor in that respect.
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Old May 27, 2002 | 9:39 am
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For the longest time I thought I had a bad battery in my cell phone. Everytime I would get off a long flight without turning it off,the battery was nearly dead. I figured out that since it was constantly searching for a signal while I was up in the air, I was unintentionally running down my battery. I now turn off my cell phone for my battery life not "the safety of the aircraft bull****"
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Old May 27, 2002 | 10:16 am
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On Apple laptops, you can deactivate the AirPort card easily enough.
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Old May 27, 2002 | 10:22 am
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Or maybe you can play games with a friend on the plane through the wifi link?

And yes, it is easy to turn off the link on all machines - it needs to be this way as often you don't want the link to be on.

Sometimes having the link on gives you a pleasant surprise. I recently was at a hotel in DC and my computer found a live internet link. I was not looking for it, but I turned on my machine and there it was! Either some local business had an unprotected wireless router or the hotel was experimenting with unpublished wireless access.
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Old May 27, 2002 | 3:44 pm
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Since this thread is about technology rather than miles, I'm moving it to "Travel Technology" for additional commentary.

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