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Wi-Fi Coming on U.S. Domestic Flights

Posted by timothy on from the but-terrorists dept.

jvptoad writes "The NY Times is reporting that United Airlines has received approval to offer Wi-Fi Internet access on its planes. Although it will be over a year before the service is available, I wonder if this will impact the discussion on cell phone usage in planes (which seems to be centered around the annoyance of people talking loudly on the phone). Add a headset and Skype, and you don't need a cell phone to have loud, annoying phone conversations on an airplane."

2 of 317 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Okay, I give up by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Actually, people seem to yell (or talk very loudly) into cell phones because the reception sucks on both ends, and repeating things too. I don't appreciate being yelled at, and I don't appreciate someone next to me yelling.

    Then there's the irritating chirping of the two-way systems. I can try to blank out the talking, but the chirps are on a different order of hard to ignore.

  2. Re:VoIP on planes by TummyX · · Score: 4, Interesting


    but the jitter as your packet is relayed via satellite back to firma terra will be enough to discourage most calls (i have to imagine).

    Well, despite what most people here on slashdot would have you believe (armchair critics who have no experience whatsoever which is nothing new around here), that's not the case. I had internet access on a singapore airlines flight from London to Singapore last week. I used MSN video conferencing as well as skype-out on my tablet pc and both worked flawlessly. Using a webcam and conversing in ink while on a plane was awesome.

    Skype-out worked really well - a tiny lag (not annoying at all) and perfect audio quality. Calling someone from my tablet on a plane without paying the ridiculus $5.90/min charge for normal plane-land calls was awesome and despite the fact that I had to use the inbuilt microphone on my tablet, the people on the other end say they heard me suprisingly clearly. I got a bluetooth headset for my tablet as soon as I got to singapore airport :-).

    I should also note that the service had a web based live "chat" support and they were very helpful with my queries regarding the usage costs.