The great intruder strikes again.
The telephone rings once, maybe twice and everything else stops. At the office. At home. In many cars.
One of the few safe places from the phone was on board a jetliner.
Sure you could call out. One of the seat backs in front of you is bound to have a phone. But they–whomever they might be on the ground–couldn’t get at you for several sometimes blissful hours.
No more.
AT&T Wireless Services has announced its ground-to-air, in-flight calling.
“You’ll never have to be out of touch again,” the ads gleefully proclaim. Virtually all of Northwest’s planes now have this service.
When you get on board, you register a number on the phone in front of you (typically, your office number) and slip your credit card through the slider. That means you agree to pay for the call. When the phone beeps, it displays your number and the number of the person who is calling. You can pick up the phone, or decline.
Callers on the ground, who know your pre-selected number, call a special 800 number, tap in your number and then their phone number. Bingo-bango, they’ve got you. Price: $2.50 a minute.
AT&T Wireless, which began installing the service in September, is making it available on five domestic and eight international carriers, and hopes to add more soon.
In addition to Northwest, the domestic carriers are Alaska, American, Southwest and Delta. The international airlines are Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, SAS, Austrian Airlines, Kuwait Airways, Lauda Air and SwissAir.
The people using it are “executives who need to be reached at certain points,” said Randy Ottinger, vice president of marketing for AT&T Wireless. “And they are very enthusiastic.”
Because advertising for the service began only two weeks ago, it’s too early to tell what real passengers think of it. (AT&T has counted only people who have asked to be signed up–about 1,000 as of late last week.)
But, Ottinger admitted, when the company did focus groups, people’s opinions were split.
Frankly I, with a few exceptions, want no calls.
What’s more, I don’t want the guy next to me to get a call. I hate the notion of being a captive eavesdropper.
I can hear it now.
The businesswoman: “He’s gotta need plastic cups. He’s gotta want plastic cups. How much do we need to knock off on the gross?”
The show-off (the same self-important, loudmouth who thinks it’s cool to talk on his cellular phone in the checkout line at K mart): “You’ll do exactly what I tell you. I want you to trim the edges, after you cut the lawn … You broke your what? … Your finger? Don’t bother me with that. Put your mother on.”
If ground-to-air still seems like a good idea, you can call AT&T Wireless Services at 800-252-6376 or write: P.O. Box 24025, Seattle, Wash. 98124-9911.
