Cell phone ‘silence’ ignites debate

A man speaks on his cell phone while riding on a tram this week in Vienna, Austria. Austria's second-largest city, Graz, has ordered public transit commuters to keep their phones on silent mode.

? The world has never been more connected, but in some corners, it’s developing a real hang-up over the ubiquitous cell phone.

Taking a cue from France’s national railway, which offers phone-free “zen zones” on high-speed trains, Austria’s second-largest city this week began ordering public transit commuters to keep their phones on silent mode.

The crackdown in the southern city of Graz has triggered a noisy debate between advocates of free speech and people who say they’re simply fed up with having to listen to annoying ring tones and intrusive cell phone chatter.

“I know I insulted the cell phone goddess a little,” Graz Mayor Siegfried Nagl said.

“But people need to know they don’t have the right to be on the telephone permanently and constantly,” he told Austrian television. “It’s just not healthy to never be able to get any peace and quiet.”

Graz’s response to the proliferation of cell phones reflects a growing backlash against their abuse around the world, where mobiles and other portable communication devices outnumber people by a margin of 2-to-1 in many countries:

¢ Last month, police in New Jersey started slapping drivers with a $100 fine for talking on a hand-held device or sending a text message. Across the U.S. this year, at least 21 state legislatures are considering some kind of ban on texting while driving.

¢ France’s SNCF rail company, determined to spare travelers cell phone cacophony, now operates “zen zones” in select compartments aboard intercity TGV bullet trains. The railway asks passengers seated in those areas to turn off their phones so everyone can “travel in a totally relaxing environment.”

Denmark, Germany and Finland – home to mobile phone giant Nokia Corp. – offer similar “quiet compartment” sanctuaries on trains.

And aviation experts say the risk of in-flight cell phone use interfering with jetliner navigational equipment is minimized because the new systems won’t connect in-flight phones directly to the ground. Instead, they’ll use an onboard base station to link up to a satellite and then to ground networks.

But silencing chatterboxes isn’t always easy.

Last May, Sweden’s Stockholm Transport did away with “cell phone free zones” on subways, buses and commuter trains just 10 months after launching the spaces.

“It relied on people showing respect, but it didn’t really work,” spokesman Bjorn Holmberg said: Too many passengers wanted to use their commute to catch up on work calls, and some just felt safer with cell phones in hand.

In Graz, 120 miles south of Vienna, officials concede the new ban is purely voluntary, and say transit police won’t be conducting inspections or handing out tickets.

Bus and streetcar commuters are still allowed to tap out cell phone text messages, or use their laptops to make wireless connections to the Internet.