What happens if you don’t put your phone in airplane mode? - Lindsay DeMarchi

Practice more problem-solving at brilliant.org/teded
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Right now, invisible signals are flying through the air all around you. Massive radio waves carry information between computers, GPS systems, cell phones, and more. And the sky is flooded with interference from routers, satellites, and, of course, people flying who haven’t put their phones on airplane mode. So, what exactly does airplane mode do? Lindsay DeMarchi explains the setting's importance.
Lesson by Lindsay DeMarchi, directed by Sofia Pashaei.
This video made possible in collaboration with Brilliant
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[@Willensimperium]

To be honest, I think telling people that it's not about their safety but being basically just nice to random other people...will probably lead to 50% less people turning on air plane mode.

[@vincent4384]

Tell them it drains the phone battery and could cause special roaming charges

[@ashrasmun1]

sad, but true...

[@TinyLittleSilver]

not necessarily, because it is constantly looking for cell towers, which results in the battery draining much, much faster. It's like when you go somewhere with no reception. If you don't put your phone into flight mode, your battery drains extremely quickly. Tell them it drains your phone battery faster not being in flight mode, and people may switch to it to conserve battery power, especially if they don't have a charging port on their plane and/or portable charger.

[@KutWrite]

@@TinyLittleSilver: And for what purpose would you tell them that?

[@riccipeasy]

​@@KutWriteare you slow?

[@musthaf9]

I always thought that if cellphones are truly dangerous for planes, they would be banned from the cabin outright. Aviation take safety seriously, and I don’t think they’ll risk a plane’s safety on the willingness of passengers to be inconvenienced.

[@oceanmanly]

yeah plane workers don't check all the phones. They just say about it.

[@jumpinjohnnyruss]

What's the name of the kind of theatre that the audience participates in? I think it's that. Getting people to buy into problems that don't exist is big business.

[@logans3365]

I’ll be much better at using airplane modes now that I know why.

[@firstname405]

​@@logans3365i always did. But it's good to know the actual reason why, not the myth that it could take down a plane

[@Zyghqwyv]

@@repentandbelieveinJesusChrist4 no thanks

[@sohinidutta97]

In radio astronomy, NOTHING is more annoying than someone forgetting to turn their phone off around the telescope and then us basically getting the signal version of gibberish. 😂 It was so cool to see a video discuss about the effects on astronomy though. It is rarely talked about, especially in the radio spectrum.

[@weldonyoung1013]

And you didn't even mention the interference of G5 on ther ground or satellite signals.

[@franki1990]

When it got to that part I was screaming internally: "Shut the whole network down, we NEED to see outer space!"

[@krisniznik3953]

Why don't they ask people to just turn them off on planes then? Why is there a separate airplane thing?

[@weldonyoung1013]

@@krisniznik3953 are you a Luddite ? Haven't you seen everyone looking for CIVILIZATION ? They're all looking through to the other side of the GLASS !!! Appearently, they are not part of civilization yet !!! DON'T TRY TO SEPARATE them from their future !!! You should learn something about humans. Please take this as a funny ! I hope that helps.

[@The_Pariah]

This reminds me of that whole "microwave burst" incident a while back where we thought we were receiving human-like microwave bursts from space only to find out it was employees at the observatory using the "Open door" button to stop microwaving their food instead of letting it end or hitting the stop button first. The door opening while microwaves were still present for a split second was the source of the bursts.

[@Raskoll]

So what I'm hearing is airplane mode won't turn your phone into a plane...

[@benjamingeorge8241]

Well you could test that with your own phone :P

[@EEE-1409]

​@@benjamingeorge8241Damn now I need a new phone

[@benjamingeorge8241]

@@EEE-1409 I'm sorry for your loss

[@aravindnarayanan5664]

LOL

[@Dexaan]

I swear there was a unban legend going around like this at dome point

[@litetaker]

My wireless communications professor explained this exact same thing to us many years ago! He said that the reason we are asked to put our phone on airplane mode is not because it will interfere with the airplane's communications but rather our phones will overwhelm and potentially take down the entire cellular network on ground because they will suddenly see so many cell towers in clear line of sight at take off (as there will be no obstructions) and bombard the network with so much signals that it can get overwhelmed. This makes sense because airplanes use a much lower frequency to communicate with the control towers, somewhere in the low 100 MHz range whereas cell signals are in GHz range. I guess it's easier to scare people into thinking that using the cellphones can harm the flight they are taking rather than make it difficult for people on the ground to call each other. This is the biggest lie that is told to passengers it's hilarious!

[@Lernos1]

Huh. Interesting. I was told that with modern technologies phones and other devices present absolutely no danger or inconvenience to anyone and do nothing that cannot be managed by operators and providers. However, the majority of plane accidents (and they're thankfully minor most of the time, but can still injure people) happen during takeoffs, so they're actually asking you to put your devices in airplane mode so that you'd pay attention and be more focused should something happen. I wonder now which reason is true.

[@moladiver6817]

I don't believe for a second any cell phone penetrates the outer shell of a plane and then reaches a cell tower 30,000 feet below. The little radio inside simply isn't strong enough.

[@Tsume81]

@@moladiver6817 yeah, it wound not penetrate the massive outer shell of your house too.

[@moladiver6817]

@@Tsume81 Depends on where you live and whether the house has insulation or not. If it does it likely blocks a lot of the signal. A friend of mine has no cell phone reception inside at all so he has to use wifi calling. I don't have that issue at all.

[@marsdriver2501]

@@moladiver6817 bro, I live in a concrete apartment complex, I can call whoever whenever, I do lose mobile internet signal on the lower floors tho

[@LowgaenSchmidt]

My friend who is a private pilot told me that putting my phone on airplane mode was simply because above 3000 ft, I wouldn't be getting any service and my phone's battery would just drain really quick as it spends the length of our flights searching for a signal since our little Cessna 182 didn't have a wifi signal built in for my phone to link to.

[@anonymous134y]

flying twice a week for the past 4 years. I've never put my phone on airplane mode... The only negative effect of this is battery drain, constantly searching for cell towers. PS flights are below 50euro/usd per way in Europe which makes it normal to fly weekly.

[@steeledminer616]

Easiest explaination honestly. It's hard to convince people to do things for others, it's easy to convince people to do things for themselves.

[@firstname405]

This week's longest sentence goes to...

[@firstname405]

​@@steeledminer616exactly, as anon134 admitted

[@johnnyvivic8730]

This is probably the most convincing reason for the average self-serving person to actually put their phone on airplane mode.

[@5x385]

I think it'd be important to note that this was *not* the only (or at least original) effect of phones / airplane mode (and I'd imagine it came about due to interference with equipment and those stations, not cell towers and their stations on the ground) and it does/did actually inconvenience the pilot as well--or at least it used to. I think most of the systems that rely directly or indirectly on those specific radio waves have been phased out in favor of GPS in most cases or use different wavelengths, etc. There was a point where the wavelength used by phones and the equipment on planes (I think it was specifically older ADFs) were the same. I'm a pilot by the way so I'm pretty sure I'm not bullshitting, it's just not really a problem anymore.

[@series1054]

I thought so, and I think the airplane mode is more of a quick access feature to quickly shut off all radio functions in a cell phone, and the name stuck around from its original purpose.

[@TheOfficialOriginalChad]

@@series1054not all radio, just cell. Wi-Fi and BT may be used.

[@deleted-something]

wow

[@ZFTAviation]

In the airline I fly for, we still ask everyone to turn their phones off if we’re doing a Cat III autoland so must be some truth behind it 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@5x385]

​@@ZFTAviation I'll look into that, it gets thrown around so much you know because when student pilots eventually get into airlines specifically that's one of those questions that comes up a lot, "why do we actually ask to turn it off". When you're in an older plane, they probably do still use equipment that's affected, and everyone knows that in the cockpit you want to minimize electronic devices usually if there's equipment affected by that--usually also just older planes or backup magnetic compasses. Anyways, my point is that, even once you're further along and in planes that don't really seem like they'd have stuff affected by a cellphone the answer is *still* that there is equipment affected and not that it's just good practice or something. Or so I've heard. I've never thought of it the way this video does likely because of proximity. The content of this video is still a very good reason for the practice to continue. CAT III stuff is extremely low tolerance though, so I wonder about what phones have to do with that specifically now, maybe there is still stuff going on there just because of the accuracy you want. Thanks for that though, I've not heard that before so when I originally left this comment I was only really thinking of the older stuff, I was betting there was still a reason regardless though even with newer or advanced equipment.

[@placeholderdoe]

The pilot personally crashes the plane out of spite

[@benkim6969]

Many individuals are reverberating this fact to be true

[@jelmermulder7276]

I love how you connected this story to astronomy and science. Very important that people understand.

[@thechugg4372]

I love how not even the video seems to know what it's talking about, look at this comment section, it's completely confused....

[@andrewthewisp]

Finally! I was wondering what the answer to this question was lmao cause all they say is put it in airplane mode and never explain why

[@brooksschwarz743]

They should.

[@Jay-nh6um]

​@@brooksschwarz743I mean... Do they? Are you saying they should teach it to you every flight, even to those uninterested or in a hurry, or who already know? I don't see the problem in not explaining it, when you can just search it online if you're interested and want to learn more.

[@theawecat27]

​@@Jay-nh6um i've tried searching online, it's surprisingly contested there & every source says something different

[@ElusiveTy]

Why should they? They don't need to explain it every single flight - it's already enough that they have to explain how to tighten a seatbelt every single time anyone flies. The expectation is that as you're in a metal tube, high in the air and travelling at speed, you're expected to take instruction from the people keeping you alive on the way to your destination. Do we also need to have them explain why tray tables need to be stowed and shades are to be opened when taking off/landing? No. We just do it because we're told and can use a bit of common sense - otherwise, we look it up to find out more.@@brooksschwarz743

[@markylon]

Really LMAO? not even a grin TBH you weren't really LMAO were you

[@vhynekervinrepato7117]

I use this feature everyday to save phone battery One of the best tricks I've heard so far

[@sayochikun3288]

Whats the purpose of a phone if they cant call me and access me whenever they want. Turn it off. Or be a reasonable person and enable maximum battery saving. Any android smartphone younger than 5 years can live up to 2days on maximum battery savings mode -considering you have healthy battery usage habits-

[@Daviduarte_27]

@@sayochikun3288 Turning off and on drains much more battery.

[@jagadeeshk6652]

A moving train acts as a 'military jammer' as well. I experience the slowness/disconnect of the network for a few minutes multiple times in a day, whenever a train passes by.

[@groentjuheu]

On one flight i accidentally left airplane mode off. The phone actually did manage to connect at least twice to cell service and received "Welcome to " SMS-messages. I was both surprised and impressed it managed to do that!

[@thecompanioncube4211]

One of my fun activities is to see where I'm at on Google maps, but somehow my phone doesn't update GPS position unless I turn off my Airplane mode. Once I do that I magically start to see the blue circle move on top of the map

[@WickedMuis]

@@thecompanioncube4211 I can still use GPS in Airplane mode, using Organic Maps.

[@planefan082]

​@@thecompanioncube4211Airplane mode annoyingly also turns off your GPS chip/radio

[@LiEnby]

@@planefan082 hm, doesn't gps work entirely from receiving and not actually transmitting

[@planefan082]

@@LiEnby No, but even if that was so, the radios would need to be on to receive anything

[@greenredblue]

What an excellent and informative video, I've always wondered about this. The only caveat is that cell towers don't only assign "colors" to individual phones. That was just a metaphor to get to the more interesting bits, but really all the different ways we've figured out how to multiplex phone signals is fascinating in its own right, and would make for a great video. Plus I'm sure a ton of people would be interested in and usefully informed by "what's the difference between 3G, 4G, and 5G anyway?"

[@ovencake523]

its a much much more complicated puzzle, to cram as much information as possible into the same* spectrum of wavelength for hundreds (or maybe even thousands or more in cities, idk) of users every trick we can exploit to free up real estate in the spectrum means more users and/or better connections

[@gigglysamentz2021]

Yeah you're right! Wendover explained some of it pretty well: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZpfEdJSaZ9B-m8k

[@bobthegoat7090]

Well, it is correct that frequency is different when sending and receiving calls, so not really a caveat. EDIT: Yes TDD exist so in a few cases the frequency can be the same, however in most places around the world FDD(frequency differences) is used so in a short video like this I find this explanation completely acceptable, especially when you consider the aim of the video.

[@brenolc]

​@@bobthegoat7090that's just for FDD bands. TDD bands use the same frequency for uplink and downlink, and they're pretty common in the US, particularly for 5G.

[@adamboggs4745]

Code division multiplexing is also very common and all radios are broadcasting on the same frequencies, each essentially adding "interference" to the others. It's capacity is interference limited, making it much more susceptible to phones in the air which are talking "louder" than they need to and covering a very large number of stations simultaneously.

[@TheOneCleanHippy]

I fly a lot and had no idea this was what airplane mode was about. I thought it was something to do with the instruments the pilot used for the flight. I honestly don't use airplane mode much, because there was no perceivable difference between when I used it and when I didn't. But now that I know why it exists, I'm going to start using it much more in the future.

[@ElusiveTy]

Bit concerning to know that even while thinking it had something to do with the instruments the pilot used for flight, you didn't use it because of your own perceived difference (or lack thereof). When in a metal tube high in the sky travelling at hundreds of kmph, I'd certainly hope everyone would listen to what they're told by the staff, regardless of whether they 'perceive' a difference or not.

[@dipsyteletubbie802]

@@ElusiveTy Well, millions or billions of people have flown before. You'd think that if airplane mode really messed with the plane itself, phones would be forced in airplane mode and stashed away and the dangers would be much more common knowledge anyway

[@dampaul13]

​@@ElusiveTy Yup, OP sounds like a real genius.

[@dampaul13]

@@dipsyteletubbie802 Yeah, what ​@Jezzda2 is saying is that OP, even though they thought their phone could affect the "instruments the pilot used for the flight" they still didn't use airplane more, but now they know it's NOT to do with potential airplane safety, they will use airplane mode more. Seems counterintuitive for others' safety and pretty idiotic, don't you think? As far as your argument, who cares what you think. How hard is it to put your phone on airplane mode, especially given most people including OP are unsure why, given you can't get any type of signal anyway?

[@TankJr.]

@@ElusiveTyIndeed! OP sound like someone, i don´t want to meet at parties.

[@Youthure]

1:33 Calls are not relayed wirelessly between cell phones via towers. Cell towers are connected to a wired network that handles routing etc. Cell phones connect wirelessly to a cell tower, but in between the cell tower of the caller and recipient is a wired network. Although in rural areas, it is possible that the cell phone connects to a tower that is not directly connected to the network. In that case the tower could relay the signal to another tower that is connected to the network. A call will always pass by a wired network

[@litetaker]

They also rely on microwave backhaul connections and not always rely on wired networks.

[@Youthure]

@@litetaker Yes, but their point is to bridge a gap in the wired network. All cell towers need to be connected to the wired network either directly or indirectly. The wired network is the backbone of a mobile network.

[@garage-corp]

Lol. This script was a joke. Airplane mode exists to reduce the likelihood of interference with ILS/DME/VOR. Not to be nice to the cell networks.

[@larrycase2762]

Exactly, after he made this statement, I pretty much tuned him out. Not denying that he had some useful info but this was a big error.

[@jamiemoo2000]

Yes all mobile phone masts are hard wired to a PSTN /PABX infrastructure.

[@williamtheartist1066]

"I do not think that the radio waves I have discovered will have any practical application." Bro can't just take the compliment

[@l.f.9060]

It's really amazing how strong waves can a cellphone generate using so little energy that it can do it for hours using only a simple battery and not plugged at the wall and draining huge amount of energy from the power grid.

[@1gorSouz4]

Yes! For quite a long time i was wondering how could a cellphone comunicate with a tower if it is so small and doesn't have a lot of power... it was hard to me to believe that it could be able to send a signal to a tower miles away. But then i remembered that radio waves travel far, and assumed it to be the reason, but only now i am sure!

[@inuhundchien6041]

Technology is just magic to me

[@7ColorsofLifeYT]

Yep

[@youtube_omaro1879]

Phones produce waves at about 0 dBm, which is 1mW. Not a lot of power at all. The size of the antenna at the base station is why they can get that far.

[@ewicky]

That's because the information in the video isn't true.

[@daredemptionn]

it's just crazy how i parse a particular question for a while and then ted-ed makes an excellent video on the topic the following day

[@beverlywilcox4349]

I think the idea that cellphones interfere with an airplane's navigation instruments is a relic of the time when people started using videocameras on airplanes, back in the 1980s and 1990s. As a flight instructor, I once tried to have a friend film an instrument approach from the back seat. The old analog nav radios were ok while we were being vectored around but they went nuts when we tried to fly the ILS (instrument landing system). Those days are long gone (as are giant, badly shielded videocameras that record on vhs tape), but it took the FAA a very long time to start looking into which radio devices interfered with aircraft systems. It just seems like the safety announcements on commercial flights ought to tell people why they should turn on airplane mode. More people would probably comply (or at least they would know why the rest of us were glaring at them.

[@ImperrfectStranger]

The problem is, not every device (aircraft or personal) operates as it should 100% of the time. I don't want to take the chance that some combination of faulty phone operation and/or faulty aircraft wiring/shielding will cause my aircraft to fly into the ground.

[@evangregg3495]

This is exactly the kind of content we need

[@ProTayToeGamer]

The plane instantly does a 90° turn and we all plummet to our deaths. Trust me it happened to my uncle. He works at Nintendo.

[@Akuankka000]

are you a furry bro

[@ProTayToeGamer]

@@Akuankka000 NO. Do not associate me with those things.

[@Akuankka000]

Had me worried for a second lol

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

Well THAT got super dark quickly. 😳

[@cazh666]

yeah I heard it also does 360° bank angles, scary

[@augustawind69]

This also explains why every modern phone even _has_ airplane mode to begin with. Phone service providers benefit financially from airplane mode, so of course they will devote engineers to build this.

[@matheuscabral9618]

It also explains why a Nintendo switch has an airplane mode... Oh wait it doesn't at all

[@ralfbaechle]

Airplane voice communications on VHF uses AM and AM signals are pretty sensitive to interference by mobile phones. Depending on distance between phone and the receiving antenna and the radio being used the interference can be pretty strong.

[@monsterftw4481]

I’ve never knew this. Very interesting stuff. In fact these talks are one of the few that actually makes me listen deeply which I struggle.

[@jhwheeler7]

This makes sense. Would it be possible for cell phone manufacturers to create a failsafe to prevent the phone from sending such high amplitude signals when it's moving at high speeds?

[@ninabrad9530]

This is an interesting point however I have a question in refute to this. If they were to curb phones from sending high signals moving at high speeds what if the person is in an emergency and needs to send a signal?

[@piksodriver]

All new phones with 5g modem are super efficient when comes to signal lost. Especially iPhones and phones with Snapdragon gen2. Battery drain is close to 0 when searching for signal

[@monicarenee7949]

Some cell companies are allowing texting on planes. I know T-mobile does, for example.

[@user-hg9yi8nv2i]

This video explains so much, so quickly, and so well. Bravo!. Thanks ted ed for such interesting and informative videos .

[@phoenixflamegames1]

Informative as always! Random information I didn’t know I needed but very interesting! Now I want to learn more about how my phone works and the stars!

[@LS-ei7xk]

That was my reaction, too!

[@reiszwecke007]

I was on a domestic flight in a rural area of Indonesia, when several people didn’t even stop their phone calls through the entire start-off process, until they had no mobile service anymore. It was pretty disturbing back then but retrospectively I can say, the statements in this video seem to be correct 😂

[@darkwoodmovies]

It kinda works exactly like light would, except where most materials are semi-transparent to those long radio waves. So imagine the POV of a cell tower, all it sees is flashing "lights" miles and miles all around, passing through the glass-like walls of houses and objects. Your phone's antenna is a powerful lightbulb shining radio waves in all directions and capable of "seeing" the big flashing "lights" from the cell tower. After that, it's just a matter of "seeing" those flashes and decoding them (light on = 1, light off = 0). Frequency modulation is akin to visual light's color, and different bands (colors) can be used to service more devices at once or send different information based on the wavelength. If there's too many signals at once or they're too powerful ("bright"), the result is the same as light pollution, where everything is just too bright to be distinguishable from each other. This is a bit of an over-simplification but that's the gist of it.

[@peterellison2220]

the video everyone's been needing to hear! Thank you for changing my perspective no airplane mode

[@johnhaller5851]

This isn't how any of modern wireless telecommunications work. Phones don't transmit unless they are told they can transmit. The first step of this process is attachment. Frequencies haven't been dedicated to a particular phone since the original cellular network called AMPS developed in the 1980s. The original reason for airplane mode is that phones trying to register would transmit in a way that many cell towers would hear the registration request, and the CPUs of the 1980s weren't fast enough to handle all the registration requests from the same phone. It was only a problem during the low altitude parts of the flight of a jet, but civil aviation flys at the altitudes for most of their flight, as opposed to commercial her traffic which rapidly leaves those attitudes during takeoff. In Europe, they actually put a wireless transmitter in airplanes, allowing wireless phones to work in the air. As they are so close to the phone, transmission power levels are very small. If you are going to give a talk about airplane mode, you need to at least research wireless protocols of 4G or higher, as no one in the developed world uses 3G or lower. Otherwise you will give a talk filled with incorrect misinformation. I worked for a major telecommunications equipment manufacturer which has built equipment for every wireless protocol ever used from AMPS to 5G, and just about every piece of information presented in this talk was wrong or obsolete.

[@gcvrsa]

THANK YOU.

[@James-pw6yo]

So interesting! Not at all what I expected. Thank you TedEd for your excellent mind expanding education 🎉

[@DrGru]

Airplane mode = The last battery saver

[@younis3234]

Agree

[@LopatiCZka]

I took a first flight in my life a few days ago and it got me wondering why is the airplane mode a thing... what a nice coincidence 😊

[@curtiscox6469]

It's more than coincidence

[@SuperDestroyerFox]

@@curtiscox6469 I was about to say you were a crazy conspiracy theorist but then I remembered they probably booked it online. That information was definitely sold off.

[@Maniac_l23]

Run

[@B0ULLIE]

If you mentioned or asked the question about airplane mode while being near your phone, it’s entirely possible Google heard you and just threw this video in your queue. “What a coincidence!”

[@WishMaker3000]

The sound design in this is exquisite!

[@cmdraljaz77]

Airplane mode will turn off every radio on the phone except Bluetooth if connected. It's useful for many things. Saving battery when there is no signal (or in general), preventing the signal from interfering with navigational systems of airplanes ( while there were never any accidents because of this, and the instruments are hardened to not get disrupted, still do it). A nother use would be to make your self unreachable, if someone tries calling you they will get "this number is not available". Or I guess if you are paranoid about being tracked, well they won't use your cellphone for it if you turn on airplane mode ;)

[@planefan082]

Also Wi-Fi can be configured to stay on, as it doesn't generally interfere and is available on most flights

[@ewicky]

That's not true. In fact I think the only radio that airplane mode forces off is the cellular modem. Wifi, Bluetooth, and even GPS are still available to be turned on while in airplane mode. I'm not sure about NFC; I've never tried.

[@gcvrsa]

Also, you are being tracked through Bluetooth all the time if you have it turned on. All these Bluetooth location tags? They operate by piggybacking on everyone's cell phones that have Bluetooth turned on, whether you like it or not. There's no way to opt out of Apple's AirTag system, for instance, except by shutting off Bluetooth.

[@andiyl23]

I don't think only that reason you should using airplane mode while flying. My telecommunications professor once said aviation system is one of the system which need zero failure since one failure can lead to another thing that might be dangerous while flying, like a miss communication between tower and pilot can distrub flight route

[@singhsaysandwrites]

This is my one of the favourite channels.

[@Laurie2013]

Thank you, I have learned something new.❤ I get do humbled when am reminded that there's so much that I don't know about.

[@daringbeast]

Thanks ted ed for such interesting and informative videos 😀

[@kyoonxm]

Ted ed i really really love your channel the most....its been 2 years since i started to watch your each and every videos which is so fascinating and with a great animation like WOW ...how a video can be so addictive and smooth at the same time

[@okite374]

Yesss, I really like how even while slacking off I can learn something new 😂

[@kyoonxm]

@@okite374 😂same fr!!

[@prakash_77]

Very insightful video. Thanks Ted-Ed.

[@giuliacoene2445]

Wow I wondered about this but never expected this answer! As always super informative❤

[@LeicaM11]

Very important: Do not interchange waves with rays. Well done.

[@Paul-vi3on]

The number of different radio waves or "colores" is *not* limited; you can always find one that is in the middle between two other ones. Only our ability to differentiate between actually different wavelengths is limited by current tech, but better tech could easily have a better "resolution". Kinda like sometimes think two shades of red are the same when they are actually different.

[@diamondsw]

I found this interesting right up until satellites came in, and then realized that if the author made that huge a mistake, then the rest of the content here couldn't necessarily be trusted either. More calls, wifi, and internet usage does not drive massive satellite growth. Traditional phone calls are not commonly carried by satellite, wifi certainly isn't, and internet traffic rarely is. Even with the advent of LEO constellations a tiny fraction of a percent goes via any satellite - not a small percentage, but a small fraction of a percent. That all goes via cables in the ground or under the sea. Which makes me wonder further about the passage where the video confidently stated calls are bounced from cell tower to cell tower. Wouldn't they use cabled backhaul in the ground to free up spectrum and increase reliability? Like I said - one major flaw invites skepticism of the whole.

[@indigofenrir7236]

Ted-Ed is the epitome of researching only the first page of Google search results.

[@clayel1]

You assumed incorrectly, although you are not entirely at fault. Recently launched satellites such a Galaxy 37 were only launched because their predecessor used signals near 5G. This is what ted ed is referring to, not satellite internet.

[@tombrennan1996]

Your on target skeptism has a name - the Gell-Mann Effect.

[@ivanlau7262]

@@indigofenrir7236you see 1 negative comment that may or may not be true and immediately teded is an untrustworthy website that has never been factual

[@artifintel]

this video is so full scientific errors. It's useless to enlist and adress them one by one..But let me say one thing, the waves that our devices use can not interfere with the neighbour electronics in the planes. The copywriter of the video is so wrong about everything :)

[@dlucey123]

Very interesting. I think a lesson learned from this is that it’s also good to put your phone on airplane mode if you’re somewhere you wouldn’t expect signal like at sea because of the effects on astronomy as well as cell towers. People are so used to the idea of being in a very remote place with minimal service and keeping their phone on just in case. I think a great innovation is WiFi calling which works fine on airplane mode. 5G might not be affecting our health but the extra signals are having other impacts.

[@revorocks123]

I was shocked at just how stubborn some people are about turning phones off. We experienced very bad weather and the pilot advised that due to the bad weather we had to make an automatic landing and that all phones MUST be switched off. They spent about 20 minutes going round over and over really highlighting how important it was to turn off phones as some can interfere with the system. It was painfully clear. Yet after landing I noticed the passenger next to me still had her phone on as normal. Total disregard for everyone else for the sake of a little inconvenience.

[@Micahfliesplanes]

Okay but why did they need to turn their cellphones off if all they do is mess with astronomers? What actual effect did the phones have on the safety of the flight?

[@ImperrfectStranger]

@@Micahfliesplanes The trouble is, the video narrator doesn't have the experience of say, an aircraft maintenance engineer, who has had to figure out why a personal devices has interfered with aircraft navigation and communication systems. There was a case where a laptop was interfering with a navigation system (but not when it was turned off). However, during extensive tests on the ground on the aircraft and in a laboratory, the error could not be reproduced. There can be unknown factors. I believe aircraft manufacturers have just recently fixed an issue with 5G towers interfering with aircraft radio altimeters.

[@kurtilein3]

Something seems unconvincing. Like, when i think two of the things you said are wrong, i doubt the rest. Nope phones do not all go to different frequencies or "colors". Many use the same frequency and each put out their data packets in short bursts. If two packets come in at the same time on the same frequency, some cell towers can disambiguate based on direction, while in other cases both packets drop and have to be resent. Nope, the signal does not ALWAYS get relayed using radio from cell tower to cell tower. Whenever possible, and it is nearly always possible, glass fiber is used to get the signal from tower to tower. Nope, your ccellphone is not strong enough to be a military grade jammer. It will to the best of its ability uselessly keep screaming out signals, drain its battery, and get warm.

[@Dexaan]

> Nope phones do not all go to different frequencies or "colors". It's an overly simplified explantion for laymen, but when we say "5G", we really mean a range of frequencies around 5G. I've used musical notes to give a very similar explanation, that if there's two groups yelling at each other, one at middle C and another at low C, that's how we can tell our conversations apart, even though everybody is yelling.

[@kurtilein3]

@@Dexaan Maybe you know more. At a music festival with spotty cellphone and mobile data coverage, i mean they added more towers but it peaked at 90000 visitors, i noticed my cellphone battery draining faster than usual. Then, driving as a passenger on a highway or in a bullet train, switching from tower to tower sometomes works but there are sometimes gaps. Subway, ok, no problem, that is underground. People just walking / hiking / moving out of range. Is the occasional cellphone on an airplane that is not in airplane mode really not so bad? There are so many situations on land or on the water where cellphones would unsucessfuly growl out signals at maximum power, is it so much worse when its on a plane? Maybe we also should use airplane mode when we are out of range, or in places where the system is overwhelmed and we do not want to communicate right now anyway. I doubt the festival would have so noticably drained the battery of my phone had i used airplane mode when not communicating. What 5G really does, the new big thing, is that the antenna is 360 degrees directional. Once it has a connection, it sends the signal not in all directions or in a general direction but focused into a small segment of the full circle. For many users at once, it calculates where all the users are and which ones are stationary and which ones moving and sorts them into thin slices of the whole cake based on direction. It then sends the signals into these slices only.

[@DesignReema]

🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆 The way you explain everything is so fine there's no need to watch another video. 🔆🔆🔆

[@edithsmith4485]

I love how Ted Ed starts with one teaching and end up teaching u about 10 other things by the time the video finishes

[@Pkxdexplorer835]

I didn't know that not pressing a button can have such consequences.

[@gold9994]

If it's that easy to make a plane accident, nobody would hijack a plane.

[@tealsquare]

Watched Lost?

[@ListedFirst]

This video explains so much, so quickly, and so well. Bravo!

[@Rhialto]

I'm not english native and listened at x1.25 so it was even quicker... ;-)

[@sketchyskies8531]

Genuinely was wondering this a few days ago on my flight to LA

[@united3689]

brilliant explanaation. I know nothing about this stuff, and still kinda dont, but the colours analogy was so good.

[@Hiro_Trevelyan]

We should just tell people that not using airplane mode drains your battery since you're too far to get signal from a tower (even more in the middle of the ocean). I think some people would use it more.

[@LeoDragon34]

I guess some people might do that, yes, but I suspect a majority would still leave it on and just plug their phone into the USB port that many planes have in passenger seats now.

[@blakeaaron5698]

My logic is that if it were truly imperative to safety, cellphones would be confiscated (or required to be checked) during flights. Everyone knows, many if not most, ignore the request to use airplane mode (and it’s actually not an explicit directive by flight crew).

[@amisteiner66]

Excellent topic and presentation. Thank you so much

[@tanehaines7040]

This is cool. Thanks for the lesson.

[@TheDreamLeaf]

If the signal my phone broadcasts is so strong it can be seen from Jupiter, why does my voice sometimes sound like I'm underwater? 😆

[@HaggisMuncher-69-420]

The scenarios mentioned here are applicable to FDD and not TDD radios. You can split the TX and RX channels by either frequency which is mentioned in this video or time.

[@RiccardoTomasi]

And also: recent 4G/5G standard are based on forms of Code Division Multiplexing - but I guess that would be hard to explain in a short video - so good idea to stay in the "color" methaphor ;-)

[@ashisharyan1232]

One of the best teded vids recently

[@lazygirl2058]

Ну наконец-то кто-то рассказал, почему нужно выключать телефон в самолете, нормально! Спасибо автору за видео и яндексу за перевод)))

[@lp1a_]

When I was little I used to think not turning on airplane mode caused turbulence 😅

[@georgew.p.b5315]

😂

[@user-lb3eu4wv6z]

This is exactly the kind of content we need. Thanks ted ed for such interesting and informative videos .

[@steves9250]

I’ve seen various tests of if a phone would interfere with an aircraft. What I haven’t seen is the effect of 200 phones on a plane all searching for signals at the same time.

[@alejandrox1274]

You always deliver great videos

[@chnalvr]

I imagine the capacity of cell towers around huge and busy airports like Atlanta and Los Angeles are amazing. When an A-380 or A-350 lands and suddenly 200-500 cell phones all turn on and grab a signal it must be quite a sudden explosion of cell service going on over and over all day as huge aircraft keep landing.

[@multimolti]

Think about a sports event with up to 50k people in the stadium, sharing the moment when a goal was scored on social media... the few hundred phones in the airplane don't seem relevant in comparison.

[@RoxanneM-]

It’s a wonderful feature! I fly with it to many places for free all the time! ✈️

[@GarrytheIII.]

What a great video, extremely interesting!

[@DrakiniteOfficial]

I didn't know this! Thanks for the explainer!

[@dsimpson530]

I remember having my flip phone left on during a flight in the late 90's and wondering what all the issues were as the flight landed safely. 😅

[@dtnbabcock1841]

Surprised at the errant data in this all over the place. Cell towers do not relay your call between them, they each pick up and drop your calls as you pass from cell to cell. Each takes that data direct to a wired backbone, not to another tower. All call are not given their own frequency; for the very reason in the video. That stopped happening a while back. Time data multiplexing is a major tool in managing all the calls on shared frequencies… the list of errors goes on. Just honestly surprised at the errors here. :-/

[@8088I]

👍 to this realization, I put my Phone on Airplane Mode most of the time and rely on the Phone'through WiFi' feature/option - since, I'm indoors most of the time. I only take my it 'out of' Airplane Mode when I step away (ie. outside) - from my WiFi(s) connection range (eg. can be learned or validated by looking at your phone's Signal-strength Icon periodically.

[@wmcomprev]

"Airplane mode isn't to protect your flight..." I can tell you, as a retired air traffic controller, we could here ring signals if they came in while the pilot was transmitting to us. It was an interference signal, not just his mic picking up the sound of the ring. We've also had pilots tell us that they would get spurious ILS (instrument landing system) signals and have to go around in poor weather. They'd make a broadcast to the passengers that, "when we say off, we mean off." They'd have no problem on the next approach. Newer aircraft are better shielded against electronics in the cabin and Airplane Mode is probably sufficient. On older aircraft, having the device turned on, even in Airplane Mode, was a potential issue. And, after all, is it really so important for the few minutes they ask you to turn things off, that you need to risk your flight?

[@pedrojorge1912]

People doesn't use the mode even when believing it's dangerous for the plane, imagine after discovering it actually offers no risk at all for the passengers.

[@TheGarmisch]

As a pilot with a EE degree I feel the need to say, your phone on an airplane is not a military radar jammer

[@madenita1693]

Amazing, i never thought about this before

[@dkhepra2842]

Modern aircraft electronic equipments are well shielded against radio waves, its mainly to prevent pilot getting annoyed from the beeping sound picked up on their headphones.

[@53125]

I turned airplane mode on but my phone didn’t turn into an airplane, and it didn’t even fly

[@Leannatayloracrobat9]

I’ve never been this early to a TED ED video

[@Immortal-Daiki]

When I was learning the electromagnetic spectrum back in my high school physics class, I remember we did touch upon this. I think this was more in-depth tho

[@Dysputant]

I use it mostly to change towers connection, somrtimes it helps cose it joins to one with best signal.

[@AlexeiSvitkine]

I'm pretty surprised there hasn't yet been an effort to make airplane mode "automatic" by having the airplane broadcast some signal within the plane that would activate it for all phones on board (that support that feature). (Of course, it would have to be done in a secure way, e.g. so someone couldn't do that randomly on the street, but this type of problem has solutions like certificates.)

[@katherineknapp4370]

I'll definitely put my phone on airplane mode everytime I get on a plane, I promise! Thanks for the lesson Ted-Ed, you really opened my eyes.

[@lukegtempleton4257]

You got one thing incorrect. Calls do not go from tower to tower to get from caller to recipient. Each tower is connected to the wireline phone network. Your call only goes to the nearest tower from your phone, and then travels through the wireline network to the tower nearest the recipient.

[@NickLB_]

It’s called ElectroMagnetic Compatibility (EMC). All electronic devices need to adhere to it, even planes. But planes have a tougher time due to the increased Electromagnetic interference (EMI) that phones emit once connected to a base station or searching. EMC was never tested or regulated in earlier times. But now this is a much more followed and standardised practice so they aren’t as rigorous on preventing electronics usage. However when new bands open up like they did with the 5G release. This caused concerns, as the new bands where in a new higher frequency band. Which weren’t covered in the latest EMC immunity standards. Although now electronics have caught up and various immunity to interference is better practise within circuit design, therefore it will one day just be a weird quirky setting of the phone.

[@laitostarr777]

Remember folks! Always comply with the plane's flight safety of "Switch off your Devices" OR "Set it to Airplane Mode"!

[@twinturbostang]

Sounds convincing. But has anyone actually measured the emission power of a small portable cell phone inside a metal tube, aka: airplane, aka: faraday cage? There's a reason why airplane communication antennas are mounted to the OUTSIDE of the fuselage.

[@zodiacfml]

true. most people not aware how much a battery drain it is for a phone without a cell signal. even if one is plugged in, it is still bad as it heats up the phone.

[@rattankumar4973]

Happy to have this narrator back

[@SioxerNikita]

You are not going to be a "Military Jammer" flying at 30k feet... The issue is more "prominent" in the case of landing and take off. Even then, the effects are RELATIVELY minor, unless everyone is trying to make a call at the same time on the plane. The more pressing issue is that you send a request, you receive the response, respond, and get reserved a band, but you disappear. Now that band is reserved for a while.

[@iWhacko]

yes, its not nearly powerful enough to jam, if it was, fcc would be all over you and send you to jail.

[@SioxerNikita]

@@iWhacko Yes!

[@AaronShenghao]

Any one struggle to get a stable connection at a public WiFi even when signal is good can relate…

[@merandasmith2140]

I really appreciate this video!!

[@PeterAdiSaputro]

So, the more devices that emit radio waves in an area, the more it will affect the speed of wifi and the smoothness of voice (telephone) communication ? If we activate air plane mode it will helps to save our battery and others batteries ?

[@MikeJupiter66]

An interesting topic TED-Ed could cover in the future is Scotland's "not proven" verdict, being the only country to have three possible verdicts in criminal trials, rather than just "guilty" and "not guilty". Its controversial status, especially in recent years, and attempts to remove it, would definitely make for a good video.

[@TheHybrit]

Definitely sounds interesting. I, for one, was not aware of this.

[@MikeJupiter66]

@@TheHybrit I myself only found out about it randomly last year while scrolling through Wikipedia. 😅

[@VIRACYTV]

Not proven has been used in Canada and the US before. But typically, we don’t.

[@MikeJupiter66]

@@VIRACYTV From the little I've read, attempts to use "not proven" in the US have occurred, but they were converted to "not guilty".

[@Subgunman]

Most cell sites have directional antennas on their towers which beam the radio energy in a limited pattern beam width of several degrees to 30 some degrees and a vertical Down tilt to cover the surface of the city. Now the antennas do not "look up" for cellular signals and a cell phone "active" in an aircraft, well understand that the aircraft is made of aluminum which is electrically conductive. The only thing that the radio waves of a cell phone could travel through are the windows. But one must consider that radio waves emitted from the plastic windows of an aircraft will be traveling outwards horizontally from the aircraft. There is no reflector outside the aircraft that can bounce the waves down to the earths surface. Therefore the issue presented here is false. Do the math, most commercial airliners are at altitudes of 30 thousand feet. Do the math, how many feet in a mile??? You are at an average distance of five miles above the surface. It just will not interfere, there is no way to defy the rules of physics of radio waves. Now on take off and landing, consider the fact you are in a shielded tube with plastic windows allowing your radio waves to emit horizontally from the aircraft. If you were even to hit multiple cell sites, anti hacking firmware is at work here. If your signal is received in multiple cell sites, firmware within the system says this is probably an illegal clone and will command your phone to quit transmitting. In early days of cellular there was an issue of people cloning phone identity data and placing it into another phone thus depriving the industry of their profits while individuals and criminals alike saved on having multiple accounts with a provider. So basically you know know how industry protects their profits as well as a cell phone overwhelming multiple sites. There is a possibility they could terminate your account based on fraud but their system still runs unaffected.

[@alexc8512]

Thank you for teaching us.

[@rufen78]

There's very little difference between my 2 pixel 6 battery usage when I travel and forget to put one in airplane mode. But this the best explanation I've heard so far. Although with 5G spectrum the problem is probably less than it was 20 years ago.