Technology

I see at most a 1% difference with wifi on. It's better but doesn't "kill" from what I've seen. And not a lot of reason why it would.

Phones are a bit different (or at least used to be), as cranking up the transmitter power to try to reach towers, and other things that avoid sleep and cause extra usage really will make a big difference. Particularly higher power usage than normal when idle (i.e. screen off, etc). But for desktops/tablets/consoles, I don't think we see the same thing. ESPECIALLY if they're in active use.

Not if there is a picocell on board - that's one of the major points of the article, including the EU mandating their installing on flights in Europe to enable people to connect.

However I agree with the airlines that lobbied in the US against this. It's going to be a source of air rage - people crammed in a small space do not want to listen to other people yapping loudly on cell phones or video calls. It's simpler to just ban it outright. Although I am sure the airlines also don't want to have to pay for data connections and their air staff be responsible for dealing with irate customers when the connection is out.

But airlines have already started monetising things by making WiFi available on board flights for a fee - that is already opening the door to calls. I suspect we'll end up with it as standard and a fight against exorbitant charges for connecting imposed by airlines.

You'll have 4G and possibly 5G throughout the whole flight inside Norway. It's not uncommon to see people browsing Netflix on their flight.

It's not that they don't try to mitigate the spread of illness, it's that they blatantly do the opposite.

At the end of the day, they just don’t care. If they really wanted to enforce this, there are much more effective solutions.

The real issue is that airplane mode should really only affect cell signals now and leave WiFi alone since planes have WiFi now and a lot of applications share between devices with WiFi, and leave Bluetooth and NFC alone since they’re short range and low power and unlikely to cause issues.

I'm not sure how common it is, but my S22+ will remember if I turn bluetooth or wifi on while in airplane mode, and leave them on in the future. That's especially nice since I use a CGM that pairs to my phone via bluetooth, so I don't have to worry about accidentally losing that connection.

Spot on about there not being any point in having cellular service enabled. You're 6 miles up and traveling a mile every few seconds, so you might as well just shut that radio off and save a bit of battery power.

It's because the airline tells them they have to require it, and it's critical not to deviate from policy when it comes to safety. The airline is being told to require it by their governing authority, who updates rules and regulations at the speed of bureaucracy and an air of "but did you die, tho?".

I use it ho properly disconnect from mobile network, if something not working with it on iPhone, disabling and enable mobile network did not do the trick, don’t know exactly why.

Because the cellular tower icon disables mobile data, but not the radios. You can tell because when you turn it off you’ll still see bars (if, you know, the radio is working).

Airplane mode on iOS disables cellular radios, but leaves WiFi and Bluetooth on. Your phone will sit there blazing (figuratively) as bright as the sun in its cellular radio spectrums trying to hit a tower when you’re 35,000 feet up, eating up your battery and potentially fucking with cell towers as you fly overhead, where WiFi and Bluetooth won’t. It also prevents potential interference from the 2G radio with the ILS the plane uses for landing (as I saw elsewhere from a pilot).

Not having to listen to you talk on the phone while I'm trapped in a seat near you is absolutely going to decrease my air rage.