ATLANTA — Two big cell phone providers plan to stall the release of the powerful new 5G frequency because of fears it would interfere with airplane safety, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Verizon and AT&T originally planned to roll it out in early December.
Before any flight takes off from Atlanta’s airport, passengers on board are typically admonished to stop using their cell phones. Yet passengers often use them anyway.
"You don’t notice it (anymore)," said Holly Przasnyski, a Philadelphia-bound passenger in Atlanta who says she flies frequently. "The first few times I saw it and was wondering, why isn’t anybody saying anything? After you see it multiple times, you don’t worry about it as much."
"My experience is everyone is on their cell phone when you get on an airplane," said Quentin Atkins, a Northrup Grumman pilot based in Los Angeles, also departing from Atlanta Friday.
Atkins said the absence of plane crashes attributed to cell phone interference shows cell phones are safe to use on airplanes. But, he says 5G may be a different story.
"I know LTE and 4G doesn’t interfere with the navigation of the aircraft," Atkins said. "The 5G might."
On Tuesday, Reuters reported the FAA told airlines to “be prepared for the possibility of interference from 5G transmitters that could cause certain safety equipment to malfunction, particularly during low-altitude operations”
Atkins added it could create more tension between cell-phone using passengers and flight crews, who might have to start enforcing cell phone silence during flights.
"Back when cell phones first came out, they did that," Atkins said. "They don’t really do that that much anymore."
Enforcing cell phone silence would also re-establish the cell phone setting known as "airplane mode," which keeps the data working while eliminating the cell phone signal in flight.
Before AT&T and Verizon announced they would stall release of 5G, a wireless trade association told USA Today that some 40 countries already use 5G and have reported no interference with aircraft.