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Words: Shireen Khalil| Producer: Simone Kealy 
Experts reveal why you need to turn off your phone on a flight
Ever wondered why you’re told to turn your phone off, or have it switched to flight mode while on a plane? There’s a crucial reason for it.
While some experts have claimed mobile phone signals no longer interfere with signals on planes, Angus Kidman, travel expert at Finder, says it “still exists”.
As your plane ascends, every mobile tower you might connect to gets further away and as a result, your phone tries even harder to get a connection. Multiply that across hundreds of passengers and there’s a chance that essential on-board radio communications won’t work.
“
Angus KidmanFinder travel expert
According to Doug Drury, the Head of Aviation at CQ University Australia, ground interference is an issue.
“Wireless networks are connected by a series of towers; the networks could become overloaded if passengers flying over these ground networks are all using their phones,” he said in The Conversation.
Professor Drury explained a lot of work went into both testing the safety of mobile phones on planes and separating their frequency to air traffic control, but current 5G wireless networks, “have caused concern for many within the aviation industry”.
According to Professor Drury, it’s because the 5G bandwidth is much closer to that used by the aviation industry.
Another reason passengers are told to not use their phones is due to the danger with some batteries.
In July, budget airline Ryanair began to warn passengers about fires caused by batteries and considered it so serious it included it in the safety briefing before takeoff.
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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/web-stories/free/news-com-au/experts-reveal-why-you-need-to-turn-off-your-phone-on-a-flight