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Pricing seems to have been not unreasonable

http://www.connexionbyboeing.com/index.cfm?p=cbb.p ricing&lang=en

Internet Flight
Get flat-rate access for your entire flight.

$26.95 for entire flight, including connecting flights within 24 hours of signing in.*

Internet Time
Get 1, 2, or 3 hours of access. Internet Time begins when you sign in and counts down whether you are signed in or not.
Access Price
1 hour $9.95
2 hours $14.95
3 hours $17.95

*Price shown in US dollars. No taxes or duties will be added. Prices are reduced during maintenance periods.

This service is available on 8 airlines and more to come... Check out this http://www.connexionbyboeing.com/index.cfm?p=cbb.s erviceavailable&lang=en After 6 odd years, economics is the only thing on Boeing and the stock holders minds. Boeing is not the US Congress, they can not make money at the stroke of a pen. No campany can afford to keep feeding a "black hole" forever. They have to show a break even or profit sometime.

Aha, that was the name. I was thinking that was the name, but it seemed too similar to the name of the bar at the Steigenberger Hotel in Frankfurt, named "Con.nex.ion." Given how little sleep I got going from that bar, to my room, to the plane, I figured my memory was playing tricks on me. I guess it wasn't. :-)

Anyway, looking over on Boeing's website, it appears it was slightly cheaper than I was remembering. (I was thinking the cost was in euros, not dollars.) From the site:

$26.95 for entire flight, including connecting flights within 24 hours of signing in.*

Compare that to the $30+ my employer paid per night for my land-based WiFi while I was in Germany, that was quite cheap. Here in the states, it's more like $10-$12 per night, but again, that's on the ground, not at 30,000 ft.

http://www.connexionbyboeing.com/ - They already do.

While "testing" does take place there is no way to ensure that everything will operate properly in real conditions - only a complete design analysis could come close to providing that information.

But for the frequencies that Bluetooth uses, either that complete design analysis must already have been done at least for the 747 (and I assume the 777 as well) because Boeing allow you to use 802.11b on Connexion-equipped aircraft. I flew Tokyo-London last month on a 747-400 (which I admit is a more recent revision of the 747 design) which offered Connexion, I saw several people using it, I didn't use it myself because it costs a fortune, and we didn't die.

Now, it's possible that Boeing subjected every configuration of every certified airliner to full design analysis before deciding to roll out Connexion. They certainly have no shortage of resources. Thus it may be coincidence that one of their oldest current commercial airframe designs is apparently safe from interference in the 2.4GHz band.

But it seems to me that the more likely explanation is that the actual danger, from Bluetooth at least, is negligible. And that's negligible in airframe manufacturer "we'd rather not have this plane crash under any circumstances, really" terms, not Harry Homeowner's "three bottles of beer has a negligible affect on my ability to drive" terms.

As for cellphones, Qualcomm and American Airlines have already tested a CDMA system that works internally to an aircraft. Arinc/Telenor and Airbus/Icarelink are doing the same for GSM. If mobiles are really so likely to interact with the flight systems as to be dangerous, who in their right mind would put a GSM broadcast cell in one?

Check out the pricing.

Looks like $30 is for the long flights over 6 hours. Only $15 for flights under 3 hours.

A link to the real provider to this technology.
http://www.connexionbyboeing.com/

According to the same source, the only German airport that is ready for the A380 is Munich's. However, some "minimal modifications" will be made to the terminal building to make simultaneous boarding of both main and upper decks, via a number of bridges. Modifications are also underway at the Frankfurt-Main airport. These include 9 parking positions and enlarged waiting rooms. Fraport (the company that manages the airport) has already "set aside" about 50 million euros for the modifications. However, it is still "not clear" whether simultaneous boarding on both decks will be possible in Frankfurt.

Lufthansa has ordered 15 A380s (most likely all of them in the 500-passenger configuration, Rolls-Royce engine option) and will start flying them in the summer of 2007. The destinations have not yet been completely decided, but will be chosen by the end of 2006 among 19 "potential destinations." It looks like it will be mostly long-haul flights to the "emerging markets" in Asia.

Also related:
Airbus Beluga "Super Transporter"
This is used to transport some of the "smaller" parts---I guess, if you want to build the largest commercial passenger plane, it helps if you have already built the world's largest freighter plane! :-)

And a last tidbit: the diameter of the A380s jet engines is the same as the diameter of the A320 fuselage. What the...?

Finally, in other news, one other first for Lufthansa (BTW, no, I don't work for them, I'm not even German :-) is FlyNet, which uses Boeing's Connexion to offer live Internet via on-board WiFi (11Mbps) and a satelite link (1Mbps). Lufthansa is already offering it on many flights. Connexion was ditched by the US companies initially involved, citing "financial concerns" after 9/11 (and this, only a couple of weeks after 9/11... hmm :-). Of course, this is also a first for Boeing (which will be outfitting some Airbuses as well).

This sounds like a good idea, until passengers end up watching live TV coverage of the next 9/11 and then start hunting in the plane they are riding in for assumed "terrorists" causing a riot in-flight.
Of course this is violation of the Terms of Service so you are protected:

# # Interference with Flight Crew: Do not Disclose any Content that would intimidate a flight crew member or flight attendant aboard an aircraft, interfere with the performance of the duties of the flight crew member or flight attendant or lessen the ability of the flight crew member or flight attendant to perform those duties. #

Interference with Airplane Operations: Do not Disclose any Content, knowing the information to be false, about an alleged attempt being made or to be made to hijack, bomb or interfere with the operations of an aircraft.
http://www.connexionbyboeing.com/index.cfm?p=cbb.t ermsofuse&l=en.US&ec=

Pricing is actually pretty reasonable:

• $14.95 for service on short-haul flights under 3 hours
• $19.95 for service on medium-haul flights between 3 to 6 hours
• $29.95 for service on long-haul flights over 6 hours

It's Mac Compatible.PDF, sorry. (Unfortunately, there is a step 3.)

A Flash-free website with information on Boeing Connexion can be found here.

Additionally, I'd imagine that there are going to be many public places which have walk-up terminals where you can access your data if you need to check something and you're away from any other sort of device. Right now, hotels and the like offer some pretty nice setups as far as data ports go and free wireless go. I'd imagine that places like that will offer similar services for wireless personal servers.

You're on your plane, and chances are by the time these devices are commonplace, the airline you're flying on, in conjunction with the plane maker will have gotten 802.11 authorized for use. Boeing has already done so, so it's only a matter of time before others in the flight industry follow suit. Even if the plane maker doesn't do so, I'd imagine that such devices will have more traditional communications means, such as USB or Firewire, to facilitate higher speed transfers, or transfers with computers without wireless hookups.

As far as your security conscious client goes, once again, I never said you'd just be carrying around your portable drive. The drive's just a way to make moving data between devices a lot simpler, so that one doesn't need to swap CF or SmartMedia cards back and forth between devices. You just have one device that handles all those needs for you.

While this is "just" a wireless microdrive, a wireless microdrive is something that is extremely useful for the reasons I outlined in the previous post, and above. Yes, it's another box you have to carry around, but at the same time, it means that you have less worries about other devices running out of storage space.

Check out more info here and here.

You'd need to drag out some type of hardware on your plane trips, because WiFi isn't really going to be big in Boeings with Connexion until 2004.

Unless it is ideal to miss those important business calls...

Or more legitimately that call from the ex-spouse.....

You'd need to drag out some type of hardware on your plane trips, because WiFi isn't really going to be big in Boeings with Connexion until 2004.

Unless it is ideal to miss those important business calls...

Or more legitimately that call from the ex-spouse.....

This Lufthansa flight and the British Airways one that starts between JFK and LHR on Saturday use the Boeing. This technology is very different than the one being touted by Airbus. For one, the Connextion is up and running.

Airbus tapped Tenzing of Seattle to create a system which periodically connects to the net to upload/download email update a few webpages stored on a server aboard the aircraft. That's right, it's not live access to the net. Connection speeds for the Tenzing solution are slower than most dialup connections.

So whats the difference? I'm guessing Tenzing is using the same technology as airphones, while Boeing is probably using a newer satellite technology (they have a satellite division)