NavList:

Remember, the reason that cell phones were banned on airliners had nothing to do with safety of flight, or interference with aircraft systems. The ban came from the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission, not the FAA. The reason was, that from high altitude, the line of sight cell phone transmissions would hit many cell sites, even those far away from the plane, and cause interference with cell phone calls in a very wide radius. If the cell site antennas did not receive signals from planes in flight then there would have been no reason for the FCC's concern.

gl