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American Airlines To Offer Wi-Fi In Planes
Firmafest writes "In USA Today there's a scoop that American Airlines will offer Wi-Fi on domestic flights. Price is approx. $10 to get connected. Being a frequent international flyer I hope this will catch on. The LA Times reports that the cost is about $100,000 to equip a plane. While that number seems high, it will probably be worth it. If I had a choice between two flights both equally good, I'd pick the Wi-Fi enabled one." The article also says that JetBlue and Southwest Airlines are at least experimenting with Wi-Fi access aboard, while Delta already offers it.
...we need the cash.
Virgin america also has WiFi on at least some of their flights.
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Backelin said the Internet access will be filtered to block pornographic sites -- the airline at first said it wouldn't do that, but relented after hearing complaints from customers and flight attendants. And American won't allow voice-over-Internet phone service, to keep chattering to a minimum.
International waters/airspace, here I come!
Interestingly enough, Connexion was a partnership between Boeing, American, United and Delta airlines. I wonder what has changed...
Connexion was primarily on international flights, and used satellites. It was a lot more expensive to install ($500,000 per plane) and significantly more expensive to use.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connexion_by_Boeing
if they'll call it "Wi-Fli"?
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That you can't be without it for a few hours?
Never been on a plane, huh? Let me enlighten you:
People on a plane will do anything to distract themselves from the cramped space, uncomfortable seats, stale air, stale body odor, and bad food. Including paying out the nose for booze, headphones to listen to a movie, or internet access.
I don't recall the FAA ever saying that electronic devices WILL cause a crash, only that the planes have not been certified with the devices. So, if you have not done the certification testing (expensive), the prudent thing to do is say don't use the devices. Since, as you pointed out, they can make money on it now, it makes sense to spend the money on the certifications and allow some devices.
Also, while the FAA is concerned about cell phones for the same reason as above, the FCC is more concerned. Having thousands of cell phones hop from tower to tower at 500 MPH is not something the system was designed to do.
Not everything is some conspiracy to infringe on your rights.
no cell phones on planes is an FCC mandate, not an FAA mandate:
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/cellonplanes.html
"Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules prohibit the use of cellular phones using the 800 MHz frequency and other wireless devices on airborne aircraft. This ban was put in place because of potential interference to wireless networks on the ground. "
I was on a Southwest flight that was testing this out about a month ago, where it was free for passengers. I ran speakeasy's speed test on it, http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ , and got about 3000 kbps down, and something like 200 kbps up. I ran the test about five minutes after they announced that we could use the service, and it seemed like more than half the people on the plane had laptops out and were playing with the service, even though none of us knew that the service would be available until we got on the plane.
They tested an old busted up plane (IIRC they installed the instruments themselves even) and by turning the cellphone output up way high they were able to have some effect.
Then they tested a real plane and even ramping up the signal to max they were able to have no effect. At all.
The conclusion at the end had more to do with not getting in trouble with the FAA than the actual results.
That was a VOR they used. Mythbuster's test was completely invalid. All pilots/engineers who watched that test were banging their head on their remotes with frustration. Also, at the end of the show even the Mythbusters mention their errors were brought to their attention and point out their test may not have been accurate because their VOR WAS BROKEN IN THE FIRST PLACE.
The simple fact is, hundreds, if not thousands of planes fly every day with cell phones turned on. The truth of the matter is, cell phones in flight place a higher demand on a carrier's network. This has always been a political issue and has never been a safety issue.
Lastly, AFAIK, there has never been been a substantiated claim a cell phone interfered with the safe operation of a plane in flight. Furthermore, all of the reports which received significant news coverage were later determined to have absolutely nothing to do with passenger electronic devices.
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