Patent ID: 8489090

Claim:
A wireless base station for providing wireless services to mobile devices located onboard an aircraft, the wireless base station comprising: a plurality of transceivers for sending and receiving cellular signals at a plurality of cellular frequencies corresponding to a plurality of service provider networks associated with a plurality of mobile devices located onboard the aircraft for providing cellular service to the plurality of mobile devices; a conversion unit for converting the cellular signals from the plurality of cellular frequencies corresponding to one or more service provider networks to one or more coded cellular signals that are not detectable by conventional ground-based cell sites; a data storage component that includes access rules and quality of service (QoS) rules; a processing component configured to execute instructions to provide cellular services to only registered mobile devices using the access rules and for providing priority communication to particular mobile devices based on the QoS rules; and an interface for communicatively coupling the wireless base station to a cellular transmission system of the aircraft for transmitting the one or more coded cellular signals to a terrestrial tower configured to communicate with the cellular transmission system of the aircraft for enabling cellular communication to the plurality of mobile devices onboard an aircraft.