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I am off to Ibiza tomorrow and was wondering is the Nintendo DS’s wireless thing on all the time or only when you tell it connect to another DS. That is to say, would merely having a DS switched on, on a plain potential cause problems (I am not taking about take off and landing when they tell you not to use any electronic devises)?

Well, I was playing Super Mario bros on my plane trip Wednesday and since we didn't explode and none of the attendants harrassed me about it, I'm guessing the DS' wireless function doesn't interfere.

Glimmervoid wrote:I am off to Ibiza tomorrow and was wondering is the Nintendo DS’s wireless thing on all the time or only when you tell it connect to another DS. That is to say, would merely having a DS switched on, on a plain potential cause problems (I am not taking about take off and landing when they tell you not to use any electronic devises)?

As far as I know, you should be fine. You have to set up the DS for a given network to access it, and so long as you don't do that I don't think it will cause any problems.

That crap can't mess with a modern plane anyway. They just ask you to turn it off because they have no idea when the next new electronic gizmo will come out and once more be able to mess with things.

Yeah, the fears over mobiles when they first came out were down to the unknown properties of dozens of people on a plane using microwave transmitters so close to delicate instruments (assuming you could even get a signal). So long as the plane accomodates for such transceivers, you won't have any problems, especially with a DS. Hospitals may be another matter though.

The DS's bluetooth is only active if you go into PictoChat, Download Play or try to connect with a game.

I thought the problem with phones was that by moving so fast, anyone in a plane who could (somehow) get a signal was moving from cell to cell so fast it would mess up the network?

Stark wrote:I thought the problem with phones was that by moving so fast, anyone in a plane who could (somehow) get a signal was moving from cell to cell so fast it would mess up the network?

If that's true, that's the first I've heard of. All of the explanations for not using cellphones on a plane that I've heard of have something to do with it being bad for the plane.

Dalton wrote:The DS's bluetooth is only active if you go into PictoChat, Download Play or try to connect with a game.

DS is 802.11b, not Bluetooth.

Ryoga wrote:If that's true, that's the first I've heard of. All of the explanations for not using cellphones on a plane that I've heard of have something to do with it being bad for the plane.

Heh. That never made any sense to me (certainly never broken a plane, regardless of all the people that don't turn them off) even ifyou get reception at 30,000feet. It was mentioned in a network lecture, discussion the limitations of mobile networks: thousands of people taking a slot on a transciever and leaving range seconds later would stress the poor dears.

Yeah, the problem is that the phone might connect to multiple cells at once, which causes problems for the network (though they may be resolving it - the FCC is considering permitting cellphone usage on the aircraft). There is also the issue that the phones might interfere with the avionics or sensors of the aircraft.

Some airlines, Lufthansa comes to mind, operate flights with wi-fi anyways, so you should be fine.

Stark wrote:I thought the problem with phones was that by moving so fast, anyone in a plane who could (somehow) get a signal was moving from cell to cell so fast it would mess up the network?

My flight instructer told me the same thing. It has more to do with screwing up the ground-based network than anything to do with the aircraft itself.

IIRC there is also a hefty FCC fine for using a cellular phone in the air.

I'm almost positive Mythbusters busted this one a long while ago.

Praxis wrote:

Dalton wrote:The DS's bluetooth is only active if you go into PictoChat, Download Play or try to connect with a game.

DS is 802.11b, not Bluetooth.

Whatever, dude. Doesn't change my point.

Infidel7 wrote:

Stark wrote:I thought the problem with phones was that by moving so fast, anyone in a plane who could (somehow) get a signal was moving from cell to cell so fast it would mess up the network?

My flight instructer told me the same thing. It has more to do with screwing up the ground-based network than anything to do with the aircraft itself.

IIRC there is also a hefty FCC fine for using a cellular phone in the air.

It messes with the satellites, because at altitude your phone has a much greater LOS, which ties up many more connections with the network. It has little to do with either the speed of the aircraft (since cell networks are designed to switch connections quickly), nor with possible interference with aircraft instruments (though that would clearly be a concern if it were possible, the instruments are shielded against much more powerful forms of interference).