Airline cell service can be pricey but popular

• Passengers would have to pay roaming charges
• For two major providers%2C the charges don%27t show up separately on the bill
• Passengers on same flight could pay different amounts

U.S. airlines will face a decision about whether to provide cellular service on their flights and how to price it, if the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Transportation decide to allow calls, texts and data from flights.

But the cost for the service already available on international airlines falls under roaming contracts that typically involve a monthly fee and a change for calls and data used, according to companies involved.

Two major providers of cellular service aboard foreign airlines – OnAir and AeroMobile – say the costs for using your phone during a flight don't show up separately on the bill. If a passenger has a roaming agreement with their phone service, the phone will work on the plane without even using a password.

"It's no different than on the ground – it's exactly the same," said Ian Dawkins, CEO of OnAir, which offers mobile service on 16,000 foreign flights a month. "As a user, you have a package whether it's monthly or hourly or whatever it is for data and voice, and we are part of that."

The FCC agreed Thursday to collect public comment on lifting the 1991 ban, which was adopted to prevent interference with ground-based communications. But even if the FCC lifts the ban, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said that department will consider its own ban on cellular service such as voice calls.

In conjunction with the FCC vote, the wireless association CTIA said that AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon have committed to unlock their phones and tablets, so that they could be used with other services for a fee. The group warned that carriers could still have different frequencies and interface technologies, so that a phone may take calls but not receive data services on a different network.

If airlines are allowed to offer the service, the keys will be which phone companies have agreements with which cellular providers aboard which planes. OnAir, for example, provides cellular service aboard 14 airlines and has agreements with 350 phone companies worldwide.

Gogo, which offers wi-fi service aboard U.S. airlines when planes are at least 10,000 feet in the air, plans to offer calls and texting if airlines want it. Steve Nolan, a Gogo spokesman, said pricing would match the customer's own phone billing for roaming costs.

"Under Gogo Text & Talk, they will charge according to your plan in the U.S.," Nolan said. "In other words, if you pay for unlimited text messages, you wouldn't incur any additional fees from your carrier."

Billing is under the passenger's agreement with the phone company for international roaming, without even mentioning OnAir or AeroMobile providing the service on a specific flight.

The billing varies by customer, company and country. Two passengers sitting next to each other on the same flight could pay different amounts to make a call or check their e-mail.