B737 captain reported possible interference from cell phones in the cabin that could account for the...

Attributes
ACN	1242472
Time
Date	201502
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	EWR.Airport
State Reference	NJ
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR PHLBO3
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 44 Flight Crew Total 8783 Flight Crew Type 7800
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Passenger Misconduct Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Passenger Electronic Device

Narrative:

Over the course of the entire flight; we experienced frequent and multiple ACARS interruptions with 'ACARS no comm' messages. In most cases; reselecting the ACARS comm frequency did not help - we also had to cycle COMM3 from data to voice and back to data. On the PHLBO3 STAR into ewr; in VNAV path with a/P a engaged; the path was maintained; but the programmed speeds were not (the forecast descent winds were generally accurate). Approaching 10;000; I switched to level change in order to slow to 250 knots as the a/P was attempting to descend at 271 knots.it's possible that both were caused by interference; so I requested a PA to insure that all cell phones were switched off or in the airplane mode. After this announcement; there were no further issues.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain reported possible interference from cell phones in the cabin that could account for the electronic anomalies they were experiencing during the flight.

Narrative: Over the course of the entire flight; we experienced frequent and multiple ACARS interruptions with 'ACARS NO COMM' messages. In most cases; reselecting the ACARS comm frequency did not help - we also had to cycle COMM3 from DATA to voice and back to DATA. On the PHLBO3 STAR into EWR; in VNAV PATH with A/P A engaged; the path was maintained; but the programmed speeds were not (the forecast descent winds were generally accurate). Approaching 10;000; I switched to LEVEL CHANGE in order to slow to 250 knots as the A/P was attempting to descend at 271 knots.It's possible that both were caused by interference; so I requested a PA to insure that all cell phones were switched off or in the airplane mode. After this announcement; there were no further issues.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

B737 captain reported possible interference from cell phones in the cabin that could account for the electronic anomalies they were experiencing during the flight.