In-Flight WiFi to be Available Within a Year
If you spend every waking moment on the web, you know that feeling of anxiety you get when you’re on a flight to a conference and you aren’t able to check your email accounts, moderate your blog comments, see if anybody responded to your MySpace bulletin…
Come this time next year, when you are cruising at altitudes upwards of 30,000 feet, you’ll be able to read about the latest Viagra offerings before you mark them as spam and post comments on your friend’s MySpace profile about the stinky dude sitting in the seat next to you to your heart’s content.
From the Wall Street Journal Online:
AirCell will install equipment on airliners that will act as a WiFi hotspot in the cabin and connect to laptop computers and devices like BlackBerrys that have WiFi chips. In all, it will cost about $100,000 to outfit a plane with less than 100 pounds of equipment, and the work can be done overnight by airline maintenance workers, AirCell says.
What makes the service particularly attractive to airlines is that they will share revenue with AirCell. The service will cost about the same as existing WiFi offerings. Mr. Blumenstein says it will charge no more than $10 a day to passengers. It will also offer discounted options for customers and tie into existing service programs like T-Mobile, iPass and Boingo. Speeds will be equivalent to WiFi service on the ground.
The article also covers VOIP and cell phone service potentially becoming available on flights, as well… which is a whole other issue.
Check it,
—kid disco
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6 pimp-style comments, so far... 
Leave a pimp-style comment, yo!
April 4 2007 @ 11:27 am
Some airlines heavily invested themselves in In-Flight entertainment systems. Others didn’t to help keep costs down.
The new trend is “Self Entertainment” via the passengers own personal electronic devices. People have Laptops, hand held video games, ipods, portable DVD players, etc…
Passengers prefer their own devices to the entertainment systems the airlines provide and the costs are less for the airline. Installing a power outlet or a wireless internet connection is way cheaper than installing flat screen displays on the backs of every seat.
Airports need to catch up as well. Outlets are rare because they only installed enough to run the maintenance and cleaning equipment. Every single outlet seems to be occupied at the terminal wherever I go.
Now that I think about it… I’m going to start packing an adapter so I might be able to split an already occupied outlet.
April 4 2007 @ 12:23 pm
Makes sense, though JetBlue seems to have raised the standard with great in-flight entertainment and low rates.
Good idea with the outlet splitter for the terminals!
I wonder if they will be increasing the number of outlets in the cabin, though?
April 4 2007 @ 4:56 pm
Yeah! They are. Many airlines believe it’s not only cheaper to provide an AC outlet on the armrest or wherever, consumers also prefer it. (I know I do)
I don’t know all the details but… To my understanding… Existing jet engines can be adapted to produce a significant amount of electricity once the aircraft has taken off. Also to my understanding… This is a LOT cheaper than installing all the equipment needed for the fancy in-flight entertainment systems.
BTW – In the annual Airline Quality Rating report that was just released… Jet Blue, which rated highest on the list for the past three years, was bumped out of the top slot by Hawaiian.
April 5 2007 @ 11:23 am
Good stuff! I’ll have to fly out to Hawaii someday and try it out…
April 26 2007 @ 8:41 pm
I know this post is old and stale already but…
Check this out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....2Dvideo%2F
It looks like it has everything but WiFy.
April 27 2007 @ 4:55 pm
@Hawaii SEO – Hey, “old and stale” ??? Speak for yourself! j/k
VA looks sweet! I can’t wait to see how the prices look… and that inter-cabin chat dealie is sure to increase the membership in the mile-high club!