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SmartMobs is a blog I really enjoy from time to time. Today they have a post about the an initiative a cell phone chip manufacturer and a professional association are trying to get passed by the FAA.

They want to lift the ban on cell phone use during flights.

Link: In-Flight Cell Phone Use

What they don't understand however is that a cell phone is useless as a cell phone during a flight of any decent distance. Why? I'll tell you why.

(1) You can't use a cell phone to place or receive calls in flight because the cell phone doesn't get a signal at 30,000 ft. How do I know?

I did a little experiment on my last flight from Washington D.C. to Orlando, Florida. I turned my phone on while we were in the air and snapped a few pics. I had my phone on before we started our descent into Orlando International Airport and not once did I have a signal. Not even when we were a few hundred yards in the air did I have a signal. Perhaps I'll post the pics to my flickr account, we'll see.

(2) Say they lift the ban on using a cell phone in flight, what are people going to do with their cell phones? If it's a cameraphone or a pda you can get a few things done but you won't be able to check your email cause you won't have a signal. You can snap pics but you won't be able to email or SMS them to anyone so is that something you really need to do during a flight?

Who knows, but I'm not sure it's that big of a deal. Here's a link to the original story as it appeared on PC World.

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Jason Dowdell is a technology entrepreneur and operates the Marketing Shift blog.