“THE nice thing about a long-haul flight is you’ve got time to do a lot of different things,” said Jack Blumenstein, the chief executive of Aircell.

True. You can read. You can watch the movie or, on a few airlines, enjoy live satellite television. You can work, eat, drink or sleep. And now, thanks to new technology by Aircell, you can get broadband Internet service on your laptop.

But one thing you may not do is use that Internet hookup for VoIP, the voice over Internet protocol services provided by companies like Skype. In other words, you may not use your newly empowered laptop connection in flight to make a voice phone call, even though the technological capability to do so is there.

Reflecting the continuing battles over cellphone use in other public settings, Aircell and American Airlines  so far the only airline offering Aircell’s in-flight Internet access, called Gogo  have erected technological barriers to block Skype and similar software programs from enabling voice calls in the insulated environment of the airplane cabin. American Airlines began offering Gogo last month.