This the third time in about three years I’ve asked, and the response each time has been rapid and vociferous, generating at least eight to 10 times more responses than I usually get to a column.

And what do the people – or at least my people – say? They are horrified at the very mention of the idea, with some vowing to stop flying or get into physical confrontations at 30,000 feet if they are subjected to the ill-mannered around them chattering away on the phone in a cramped airline cabin. Out of 58 e-mails and phone calls so far, 56 said they’re vigorously opposed.

Here’s a typical response, this one from a business owner in Chester, Pa:

I can think of nothing that would make travel more unbearable than cell phone use on airplanes. People are loud, rude and inconsiderate in the terminal. It would be even worse on a plane.

If you feel the same way, don’t worry. The prohibition about voice calls is not about to change. But the ability to access the Internet for e-mail and texting in flight is changing, and we want to know what web workers who have to fly on business think about all of it.

First, I need to say more about the whole issue of why you can’t make a cell phone call in flight, and my theory of why my other audience – the readers of a weekly newspaper column that appears in both print and online – has such strong negative attitudes about the subject.

Cell calls in flight (other than on those very expensive seatback phones still available on some carriers) are outlawed because of Federal Aviation Administration uncertainty about their effect on aircraft navigation and communication equipment. The Federal Communications Commission has had concerns whether cell phone service at ground level could be disrupted by in-flight service.

But that hasn’t been the deal-killer each time the FAA or FCC has opened the subject to study and comment.

Flight attendants, joined by thousands of people like my newspaper readers, have pleaded for the prohibition to stay in place out of fear that the annoyance factor would lead to greater “air-rage” incidents.

For the first time, that term could be applied to more sober people than drunks.

Congress has even gotten into the act, after the European Union last spring said airlines that want to allow Internet access could also allow voice calls. A bill prohibiting the practice passed the House on a voice vote but hasn’t been taken up the Senate.

The opinions of my newspaper readers on this topic are not a scientific sampling, of course, in the same way that few “surveys” on the web are, since those who answer are self-selected. My readers also are older and almost certainly less tech-savvy than readers of this blog. Some were also probably influenced by my own opposition to any change.

But many of the newspaper readers also are business people, and only one of them told me he doesn’t own a cell phone. So they probably aren’t unlike those who have told regulators they want to keep the in-flight ban.

The good news about this for those who would like to work on the web on an airplane is that access for e-mail, texting and web browsing is coming soon or is already here.

American Airlines installed a system on some of its long-haul domestic jets in August. Alaska, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest and Virgin America are among the U.S. carriers that have said they plan to offer something similar. Expect to pay $10 to $13 per flight for access. And to answer one obvious question, no, your VoIP service won’t work either.

Time now to open the floodgates and ask what web workers think.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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GigaOM covers some of the implications of this for areas with unreliable power grids, but it could well prove useful for web workers too. With devices like the iPhone 3G getting increasingly hungry for power, the thought of a backup battery solution that you could just toss into your computer and forget about is pretty attractive – especially if it would charge the best when you were on the run and most likely to be away from your regular charger.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks