"the real reason has always been that mobile network operators don't like the interference high-altitude phones can cause: They're in view of potentially many base stations". This makes zero sense: the aircraft is on the ground and not moving when the ban is put in place. The ban is removed at altitude, when, you say, that the phones are potentially 'in view' of many 'cell towers' (not base stations). In fact, the plane is essentially a Faraday cage at altitude, and a phone has almost zero chance of connecting to a tower, even shoved into a window pocket.