[smackfu]

It's not poor, it just doesn't work. The recent talk about allowing in-flight cell phone use was in relation to the airlines installing an in-plane microcell of some sort for your phone to connect though.

[adrr]

Some flights on foreign airlines allow cell phone(assume through microcells). Just not on US domestic flights.

[baddox]

Except for the calls that made it through from United 93, or was it at lower altitude at the time?

[encoderer]

Certainly it was below the 30k' cruising altitude. And over a heavily populated area. And voice connections are easier to get than data in my experience doing, uhh, "research" of this sort.