339
submitted 9 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

You Don’t Need to Use Airplane Mode on Airplanes | Airplane mode hasn't been necessary for nearly 20 years, but the myth persists.::Airplane mode hasn't been necessary for nearly 20 years, but the myth persists.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] rrrurboatlibad@lemdro.id 187 points 9 months ago

You should still set airplane mode when airborne for other reasons besides interference with the aircraft. For one, you'll save your battery. It takes a lot of "juice" for your device to search for cell towers that are likely out of reach. You may also want to avoid connecting to a tower outside where you have coverage. E.g. for a flight from Anchorage to Minneapolis, maybe you don't want to connect to Canadian cell towers and potentially receive charges in another country. Obviously this depends on your plan limits. But, yeah, it's not really about protecting the airplane, in most cases

[-] n01getsout@sh.itjust.works 36 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Here is a video from TED-Ed that explains why. TLDR: phones looking for a signal broadcast on high power, but planes move so fast that you can end up right next to a cell tower so the high power signal can interfere with other phones trying to communicate.

https://youtu.be/iKYHf22qVdM

I disagree with how he phrases a few things, but I think it's mostly accurate.

[-] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 6 points 9 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://piped.video/iKYHf22qVdM

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

load more comments (6 replies)
this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2024
339 points (91.9% liked)

Technology

59583 readers
2499 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS