Emirates launches in-flight calling
 

Emirates has become the first commercial airline allowing in-flight mobile calls, though it seems they are still in some trial phase.
See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/7308041.stm

These will presumably be billed like a roaming call a bit like the services on ferrys and cruise ships. Many other airlines (Ryanair, Quantas) have also been promising services for ages, but Emirates has taken the first step.

Expensive public satellite phones have existed on long-haul flights for ages but these have been mainly pulled out due to tiny useage by passengers and not only because of their high rates. I can't really figure out if mobile in-flight calling will really be such a huge hit. Why can't they just concentrate on broadband and wifi instead?

The original idea of the SIM card was that there would be GSM phones in rental cars and taxi and you could stick your SIM in the handset (remember the SIM was the size of a credit card) and the phone would become yours for the duration of the ride. In theory they could have SIM slots in those expensive handsets on the jets and you could SIM roam while in the air. Of course this would be a disaster. Most folks couldn't get their SIMs out of their phones wihout dropping them on the floor or forgetting and leaving them in the public handset. But it's something to consider.

Many of the sat phone systems are still around and integrated into the inflight video systems. On one side the device is a remote control. On the other side, it is phone. The devices also let you do overprices SMSs.

Yes... loads of airlines still have these... but even after flying a lot, I still haven't ever seen anyone make a call on one!

As I briefly mentioned earlier I don't think price was the only reason why phones on planes turned out to be unpopular. I think as they were mainly installed on long-haul flights, people just resigned to the fact that they would be "off-air" for a certain period.

On the flip side on short haul flights, studies show that mobile-phone useage is very high during that dead period between passing security control and boarding the aircraft where people accept that they have to hang around for a period which is often almost as long as the flight itself. Now that period has even been extended onto the aircraft whilst it is still parked and even whilst it is taxi-ing with some airlines. Many then are quite relieved to have an hour or so of silence.

I really wonder if in-flight GSM calling is going to be the big hit that some are predicting, especially as it is likely to incurr high costs and possibly even the wrath of fellow passengers!

For me it would be like high priced roaming on cruise ships. I'd forward all my calls to voicemail and leave a message asking callers to either send me a SMS or just wait until I land. It's a very high priced call but incoming SMS would still be a cheap way to stay in touch.

Neither have I but I'm always in the back of the plane. I'd suspect that usage would be higher in the high priced seats.

Remember when you could register to recieve incoming satellite calls?