Pearson Airport to ban cellphone service
The Ottawa Citizen
Monday, July 01, 2002
Airport police and other federal agencies in Toronto are stocking up on two-way radios as Pearson International Airport is slated to become the first world-class airport to ban cellphone service.
The Greater Toronto Airports Authority said power will be cut Wednesday to communications equipment owned by companies that provide airport cellular service. It said Rogers Wireless, Bell, Telus and Microcell failed to come up with $1 million each to improve cellular signal strength.
The power cut will also silence pagers, fax machines and Internet access. Officers of 14 federal agencies at the airport have been scrambling for two-way radios, which they say aren't secure and will threaten to national security.
An authority spokesman said emergency and security procedures won't be affected, since two-way radios are Pearson's main source of communication.
**** A sad day indeed.....
Situation:
The Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) and Canada’s four major wireless carriers have been negotiating the terms of new leasing agreements for network equipment currently in place and the installation of new equipment to provide improved wireless coverage at Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson Airport. In a news release issued Monday June 17, 2002, the GTAA ordered the removal of our equipment if a settlement is not reached.
Messages to clients:
Following the announcement pertaining to a possible disruption of wireless phone service at Toronto’s international airport here is information to help you reassure our customers.
Fido customers and anyone roaming on Microcell’s PCS network should expect “business as usual” from Microcell and should not experience any changes in their wireless phone coverage at Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport.
This situation with the GTAA applies to ALL Canadian wireless companies.
As a group, the wireless carriers have submitted a proposal to the GTAA that we hope will solve the leasing issues, and we are awaiting a response.
The GTAA has ordered the removal of our equipment if a settlement is not reached by July 1. The wireless carriers have every intention of continuing negotiations in good faith with the GTAA.
Canada’s wireless carriers are committed to supplying wireless phone service at Lester B. Pearson International Airport. We recognize that the 28 million travellers who pass through the airport each year, in addition to the 17,000 airport employees, have come to rely on their wireless phones for business, staying in touch with friends and family, and safety and security.
Wouldn't it have made more sense to use the $100k to provide power to the cell repeaters and keep talking. . .. nah this is the GTAA we are talking about.
Sure its cheaper but there is not nearly the same amount of exposure to the public!
[QUOTE]First of all I don't yell when I speak;some people do that when they are in conversation.What's the difference between speaking on a phone and listening to two loudmouths brag about whatever in the lounge;there are more of them than cell phone users
Secondly, I use the ear piece and the speaker close to my mouth near my top shirt button;so THAT I WILL NOT BOTHER OTHERS.
Thirdly, cell phones are part of our everyday lives and will become more and more so as the technology improves.
And yes I've heard the same loudmouths on the cell, but I've also heard them yell when they are on a pay phone that is near the couch I happen to be sitting at.When you are in a public area you can and should expect anything
Sorry Parnel, I should have added a "tongue-in-cheek" emoticon. Never having met you, I wouldn't want to imply that you were a "screamer".
I do absolutely resent those guys that yell into cellphones. Even those with the earphone and the mini-mike! I mean why bother with them at all??! It's pretty amazing that here in Japan virtually everyone has a cellphone and yet the only people you hear yelling into them are foreigners. The Japanese cover their mouths when they speak into them and there are lots of places that ask you to either switch them off or put them in "manner mode". I guess it's all a question of culture and etiquette...
Could you provide us a link to some of these newspaper articles, which give the wireless companies' points of view?
FlyerGoldII
For the record, the telecom industry refers to this class of cellular network equipment (found at GTAA) as 'RF Access' or simply 'Antennae' rather than 'transponder'.
1D
Newspapers Thursday are carrying a full page ad giving the cell carriers' side of the story, charging the GTAA with underhanded dealings.
[This message has been edited by Shareholder (edited 07-11-2002).]
[This message has been edited by FlyerGoldII (edited 07-04-2002).]
If I remember correctly the list is quite long:
- insisted on monopolizing deicing process
shutting down the airport for few days in January of 99 in effect.
- as mentioned above: ATM issue
- the only airport in the world charging passengers in transit with an "improvement" fee.
- hotels forced to cancel their complimentary bus shuttle service
- will not allow kiosk at Tango unless Air Canada provides kiosk machines for ALL carriers at T3
As mentioned previously, monopoly not accountable to public or govmt.
Watching their staff cruising around the airport in $60000 SUV's explains "non for profit" part.
P.S. Would anyone have an update on numerous law suits btween GTAA and AC?
P.S.2 Unrelated: How many major airports list departures ALPHABETICALLY rather than by departure time, and not posting the departure gate at the same time?
Thus far unreported is the fact that Microcell's contract with the GTAA does not expire until September, so anyone with a FIDO cell phone will still be able to use it at YYZ. The plug was pulled only on Bell Mobility, Telus/Clearnet and Rogers/Cantell transponders.
Well I use Bell and just used my Cell very successfully in T2 - so who knows what they have or have not done yet.
SimonC
I find there are quite a few areas that are "dead" to my Fido in the airport - baggage claim in T1, some spots around T2. The lounges work fine though, and I've never had a problem there.
T1 baggage claim area has never had service--too much concrete around it.
Well I use Bell and just used my Cell very successfully in T2 - so who knows what they have or have not done yet.).
Seems they're able to reinforce their coverage at GTAA from existing infrastructure in the surrounding area.
1D
[/b][/QUOTE]
[This message has been edited by jakpot (edited 07-10-2002).]
[This message has been edited by jakpot (edited 07-10-2002).]
Looking at my ticket receipt routing YYZ LGA next day to ORD (5hrs stop) DEN/overnight stay SFO 2days YYZ. Charges $10 cnd for YYZ
airport (+GST),LGA3 ($3 US) + SFO4.50 ($4.50 US) ttl charge for US airport fees $11.31 cnd . It appears I was not charged for neither stop at ORD or DEN.
[This message has been edited by Steyr (edited 07-02-2002).]
Not true Shareholder;I usually respond to these the same way but did not pick up his tongue in cheek and he admitted it did not come off properly.
You are the one here who needs to take himself less seriously as Empress has so aptly pointed out many times.
GTAA President responds to CRTC ruling on wireless service issue at Pearson Airport
TORONTO, July 5 /CNW/ - Louis A. Turpen, President and CEO of the Greater
Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) reacted today to the Canadian Radio-
television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decision to deny the four
wireless telephone carriers' (Bell Mobility, Telus Mobility, Rogers AT&T
Wireless and Microcell) application to prohibit the GTAA from disconnecting
power to on-airport wireless facilities.
"Our negotiations with the wireless carriers were aimed at improving
cellular service at Pearson Airport. Unfortunately, these negotiations
resulted in the cellular companies' refusal to make the required investment to
improve the service," said Turpen. "The CRTC has confirmed our right to
terminate the licenses that provide the poor existing coverage. It is not
acceptable to invest $4.4-billion to create a world class airport for Toronto
and to be asked to sustain an antiquated cellular communications service."
Turpen also added, "The Airports Authority is always willing to work with
anyone committed to the provision of a service that meets the high standards
demanded by the travelling public and the airport community. In recognition of
the importance the GTAA places on customer service we are making provisions to
ensure that communication alternatives will be available for passengers in the
terminals at Pearson Airport."
The GTAA advises that cellular service at Pearson Airport may be affected
next week when on-airport facilities of the wireless companies are shut down.
SimonC
http://makeashorterlink.com/?D24563781
andrew
of an ongoing battle for control between carriers and landowners in an era of increased competition.
http://www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?theaction=61&sid=49215
- the only airport in the world charging passengers in transit with an "improvement" fee.
Most hub airports in the US impose their fee, which down here is called a Passenger Service Charge but has the same function, on passengers in transit. In fact, the only one I can think of that doesn't is Charlotte.
Unrelated: How many major airports list departures ALPHABETICALLY rather than by departure time, and not posting the departure gate at the same time?
Alphabetical listing is pretty common these days, I noticed it for example at PHL last time I was through there.
Parnel just doesn't have a sense of irony, Snoopy... Thanks for the WP story.
[B] Parnel, you wouldn't happen to be one of those guys that "beams" us all into your office as soon as you get into an airport lounge would you?
First of all I don't yell when I speak;some people do that when they are in conversation.What's the difference between speaking on a phone and listening to two loudmouths brag about whatever in the lounge;there are more of them than cell phone users
Secondly, I use the ear piece and the speaker close to my mouth near my top shirt button;so THAT I WILL NOT BOTHER OTHERS.
Thirdly, cell phones are part of our everyday lives and will become more and more so as the technology improves.
And yes I've heard the same loudmouths on the cell, but I've also heard them yell when they are on a pay phone that is near the couch I happen to be sitting at.When you are in a public area you can and should expect anything
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum5/HTML/005899.html
Obviously, the journalist writing the headline should be called to task, since this is NOT A BAN but a SERVICE DISRUPTION. Nobody at YYZ will arrest you if you try to use your cell in the terminals. There will be no fines or penalties, other than the likelihood of not connecting with a nearby cell antenna perched on one of the neighbouring hotel or office towers.
On the other hand, wouldn't it be nice to have a few "Cell-Free Zones" in this world?
[This message has been edited by Shareholder (edited 07-01-2002).]
...this will cost the GTAA $100K per month.
Hey, that's still less than what the GTAA spends on Turtle Wax for the duty managers' souped-up Dodge Durangos and the security guards' fleet of SUV's... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif
Look on the bright side; if you're transferring through Pearson, and you make just 28 free local calls while at the airport, you've effectively off-set the $7 airport user fee!
[Edited for spelling]
[This message has been edited by YYZC2 (edited 07-08-2002).]
Suspended Wireless Service At Pearson International Airport.
Starting at noon today, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) will begin disconnecting the on-airport facilities at Toronto Pearson International Airport of the wireless carriers (Bell Mobility, Telus Mobility, Rogers AT&T Wireless and Microcell) whose license to operate expired. This action is in response to failed talks with the wireless carriers for improved signal coverage at the airport. Customers travelling through Pearson may notice some reduction in cellular service that could affect both cell phones and pagers. Customers will have the ability to make free local calls from pay phones located throughout the airport.
TORONTO, May 6 /CNW/ - The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) has
announced a suspension of its program to provide local pay phone service at
Toronto Pearson International Airport until further notice. The free pay phone
service, while very well received, has carried a significant cost that cannot
be justified in the current economic climate.
The GTAA continues to work with the cell phone companies to provide
improved cellular coverage at Pearson Airport.
Too bad that jets cannot land in the City Centre airport or they may try to steal some business from Pearson.
That's okay, I can hardly wait until Mayor Mel calls in the army again, this time to clear the garbage bags away for the Pope's arrival at the end of the month...
That may change with the new terminal, but up 'til now I've not seen much that suggest YYZ is actually even an airport.
Nice 'eh? One of the many reasons we were #5 on the ROB "Best companies to work for in Canada" list this year. Try suggesting it to your employer (those of you that aren't self employed, that is), we've seen a number of other companies in the area follow our lead.
The only problem is the smell in the van while transporting the bags to work! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
[This message has been edited by skofarrell (edited 07-08-2002).]
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum109/HTML/004455.html
This latest by the GTAA is just another reason I avoid them at all costs when required to make connections.
1) the GTAA will provide free payphone service for now - but I doubt that service will be offered indefinitely
2) there may or may not be ongoing negotiations between the 4 mobile phone service providers and the GTAA
3) even if these negotiations are unsuccessful, these 4 operators may build an outside tower, to provide cellular phone coverage to the airport
and
4) if the negotiations are not successful, and if the outside tower is not built, does that mean that the coverage at the new terminal (now being built) for cellular/mobile phones may be virtually non-existent?
Shareholder,wouldn't an airport be just the place for a cell free zone so BUSY people who have time on their hands can sit and stare at walls in an airport or they can use pay phones to contact people or they can just relax because airports are such leisure paradises-----GIVE IT A BREAK;THIS IS PURE THUGGERY OR EXTORTION ON BEHALF OF THE GTAA TO PUT PRESSURE ON THE WIRELESS. CARRIERS.
Parnel, you wouldn't happen to be one of those guys that "beams" us all into your office as soon as you get into an airport lounge would you?
I read this article a while back in the International Herald Tribune. I liked it so much I kept it. Here it is for anyone who's interested:
Speak softly or I'll hit you with a big stick
By Richard Cohen
Friday, April 26, 2002
WASHINGTON: As I sit in an airport lounge, a very loud voice snaps me awake from a drowsy state. It's some guy on a cell phone. He's setting up meetings, making appointments and God only knows whom he's talking to, as it is not yet 7 a.m. on the East Coast. The lounge is empty, but we few, we noble few, marshal our collective eyeballs and just stare in rebuke. Nothing. A volcanic force builds within me. "Louder," I erupt. "We can't hear you."
The man rises from his seat. He keeps rising and rising, taking forever to reach his full height of precisely 8-foot-4. "You got a problem?" he says.
All eyes are on me now. I am heading to California for a meeting, interloping in the first-class lounge on account of an upgrade, but it's always the schoolyard to me. I cannot back down. I pitch my voice low. "You're too loud," I say. I point to where the phones are. "Go over there." To my utter surprise, he does.
Virtual applause fills the room, and as we all file out to our planes, I am repeatedly thanked for my heroism. I would call it high school all over again, but in truth I never had such a good day in high school.
But this incident - a brush with death, in my telling - did not teach me a lesson. Months later I was on a bus, and a young man was talking loudly on his cell phone. He was making plans for the evening - who would meet whom and where. It was a tedious, boring conversation, and I feel, against all expectation, that if you must talk loudly, you have a minimal obligation to be interesting. This guy was not, and so, pressing my luck, I told him to pipe down.
"!$&#!," he replied. And then turning back to his phone he described how some (expletive) was complaining about his use of the cell phone.
Hormones I had not felt in years coursed through my body. I went to battle stations, but, inexplicably, the jerk snapped his phone closed and turned his back on me. I expected the usual round of applause, but I heard nothing. I did make eye contact with a young woman who, I was sure, thought me her hero. But instead of praise, I got criticism. The bus was "a public space," she said, and the jerk was entitled to use it as he saw fit. I was flabbergasted.
How wrong can you be? It was precisely because the bus was a public space that the caller had an obligation not to impose his conversation on us. If he were at home, he could talk as loudly as he wished - and no one would care. But by talking loudly on the bus - this is called "cell yell" - he was, in effect, "privatizing the public space," a phrase, my diligent research tells me, once used by Timo Kopomaa, a Finnish social scientist. The caller had, in effect, expropriated the public space for his own use.
This is a form of theft - and you don't have to be a bus rider to be victimized. You are victimized when you are walking down the street and you get sonically mugged by some car that's little more than a boombox on wheels. Or when you pass some store that drizzles tinny music over you.
You're victimized when such a car overtakes your own and its music overwhelms whatever sweet air or minuet happens to be emanating from your own speakers. That driver has taken over not only the public space but also the private one you maintain in your car. He has even chosen your music for you.
It says somewhere in my research that young people see the cell phone as something to flaunt - something having to do with sex and virility. I concur. In my experience, young people seem inordinately willing to share their personal lives with anyone who happens to be within earshot. If this is indeed a youth thing, then the future looks bleak. They are, as every politician tells us, the future.
Twice now, I have put my life on the line in the name of keeping our public space public. Sooner or later, though, I fear some goon will invade my space with his fist, ending my career as a crusader for silence. If and when that happens, I want the world to recognize my struggle and to say something nice about me. Just, please, say it softly.
The Washington Post
Too bad that jets cannot land in the City Centre airport or they may try to steal some business from Pearson.
GTAA is the operator of YTZ too.
On the other hand, wouldn't it be nice to have a few "Cell-Free Zones" in this world?
[This message has been edited by Shareholder (edited 07-01-2002).][/B]
Shareholder,wouldn't an airport be just the place for a cell free zone so BUSY people who have time on their hands can sit and stare at walls in an airport or they can use pay phones to contact people or they can just relax because airports are such leisure paradises-----GIVE IT A BREAK;THIS IS PURE THUGGERY OR EXTORTION ON BEHALF OF THE GTAA TO PUT PRESSURE ON THE WIRELESS. CARRIERS.
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