Alaska Airlines has initiated customer trials of a satellite based in-flight internet service on specially equipped Boeing 737 aircraft on flights between Seattle, WA and San Jose, CA. Alaska Airlines has partnered with Row44 to provide the in-flight broadband service. Passengers can use the service using any Wi-Fi enabled device such as a laptop, smartphone or portable media player. The trial is expected last for approximately 60 days after which the airline will determine the roll out schedule for commercial availability of the service to its entire fleet. Final pricing for the service has not been announced.
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Delta announces plans to equip their entire fleet of more than 330 aircraft with in-flight WiFi service to be available in first and economy classes by Summer 2009. The Aircell Gogo service will run $9.95 or $12.95 for trips under or over three hours, respectively, and will allow connection of any WiFi enabled device.
Inflight Online news reports on progress being made by two big names in passenger broadband. Aircell which is rolling out the Gogo in-flight WiFi services has secured additional funding that will be used to keep the company afloat during the roll-out of their service. Panasonic has announced VT iDirect as the source of the satellite IP router technology that will be used for their Ku-band satellite broadband service, eXConnect, expected to launch in the first half of next year.
Engadget reports that American Airlines will be testing the Gogo in-flight WiFi service on unspecified round-trip flight from New York’s JFK and Los Angeles’ LAX beginning on June 25. The service will be free for passengers during the testing, but will eventually run users $12.95 for flights greater than three hours and $9.95 for trips under that threshold.
The Wall Street Journal’s technology columnist Walt Mossberg takes a test flight on a business jet equipped with Aircell’s Gogo in-flight WiFi service to give the service a test run. It is a data only service and he used Dell and Apple laptops, a BlackBerry, a Windows Mobile phone and an iPhone (all WifI equipped) to perform all the most common online tasks.
Gogo launches in 2008, likely in July, on select flights on American Airlines and later in the year on Virgin America. The Gogo service will cost a flat fee of $12.95 for flights of three hours or longer, and $9.95 for shorter trips.
Engadget reports on a Harris Interactive survey that states that 74% of US Americans say NO to in-flight calling and that cellphone usage in-flight should be restricted to “non-talking features” such as emailing, texting, or surfing the Web. Additionally, 69% of those surveyed agreed that if voice calls are permitted, a special “talking zone” should be established so that other passengers are not disturbed. This “talking zone” brings to light what the etiquette should be for making in-flight voice calls regardless of the technology used. Airlines have offered in-flight phone services before, but their unusally high costs limited their usage but if one can use one’s own cell phone or VoIP via in-flight Internet access that doesn’t mean one should be yammering endlessly on a voice call. An MSNBC article also points to a 2005 poll sponsored by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA and the National Consumers League that showed that 63% of those polled were against in-flight cell phone usage.
What’s your position on in-flight voice calls?
A CNET News blog post reports that iPass is partnering with AirCell’s Gogo service to include in-flight Internet service as part of iPass’ WiFi roaming connectivity. iPass provides mobile Internet access for a monthly fee. Users can connect via WiFi, dial-up or Ethernet using a single user password in hotels, Internet cafes, airports, and now with this partnership, in-flight.
The post also speculates that as there are other WiFi aggregators, such as Boingo, out there the Gogo service may be adding additional partnerships in the future.
Heard it on BOL #724.
via CNET
