NEW YORK — A day after setting off an uproar among travelers opposed to the idea of in-flight phone calls, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Chairman backtracked, saying he personally isn’t in favor of calls on planes.
“We understand that many passengers would prefer that voice calls not be made on airplanes. I feel that way myself,” chairman Tom Wheeler said in a Friday statement.
The role of the FCC, he said, is to advise if there is a safety issue with using phones on planes. Amending the agency’s rules “will be only a technical advisory.”
On Thursday, Wheeler struck a nerve with travelers when he said it was time for the agency to review “our outdated and restrictive rules” about cellphone use on airplanes.
Friday, he said the agency’s proposal recognizes that there is no technical reason to prohibit the use of mobile devices.
Wheeler acknowledged that it will ultimately be up to individual airlines to decide if they want to allow calls or not.
“We believe that airlines are best positioned to make such decisions,” Wheeler said.
Most airlines have said they would study the issue and survey their customers.
For many passengers, allowing calls on planes would mean the elimination of one of the last sanctuaries from our hyper-connected world. Everybody wants the ability to stay connected while traveling, but nobody wants to be trapped next to some guy yapping away during the entire trip from New York to Las Vegas.
Passenger Kai Xu had another concern: What’s going to happen to the already limited bathrooms on the plane?
“Are they going to become the telephone booths for those who want to talk on the phone in private?” he said.
Not everybody hates the idea. Craig Robins, a lawyer who flies close to 100,000 miles a year, said a relaxation of the ban would be “a mixed blessing.”
“Having the ability to communicate with my office, my family and my friends, especially for making necessary plans for airport pickups and meetings on the day of arrival, is invaluable,” he said. “Of course, the downside is with the inconsiderate flier who is oblivious to how loud he or she is talking. That is what will drive us crazy.”
Most Middle East airlines and a few in Asia and Europe already allow voice calls on planes. Passengers’ cellphone signals are either relayed via a satellite or through a special “picocell” to the ground. Voice calls technically can be made on some U.S. planes today via satellite, but airlines block providers such as Skype, in part because they fear it will eat up the limited bandwidth.