[MLUG - DISCUSSION] broadband soon coming to domestic airlines

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

They've been talking about this for a few years but it looks like it will 
become a reality within the next couple of years.  But how much will they 
charge us for it?  --Mike

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Board the Plane, Turn Off Your Phone ... and Surf the Web

from the Christian Science Monitor

NEW YORK - Coming soon to an airplane near you: broadband. That's right,
wireless Internet service that will allow passengers to send messages, surf
the Web, and, yes, check in with the boss at 30,000 feet.

American Airlines is first out of the starting gate domestically. It
expects to have a test plane operating by December, and its whole
transcontinental fleet of 767s ready in 2008. Virgin America is close on
its heels with plans to equip every seat back with high-speed capability by
mid-2008. And Alaska Airlines will run a test next spring and, based on its
outcome, the company hopes to outfit its whole fleet.

Surveys show that as many as 70 percent of passengers want wireless
Internet, also known as Wi-Fi. Many of them would be willing to change
airline loyalty for the service. And so every other major US carrier is
watching these experiments closely. They're also engaged in serious
discussions about if and when to wire their fleets, according to broadband
innovators AirCell and Row 44, the two major companies providing the
technology for planes.

To read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1009/p01s02-usec.html
Or: http://tinyurl.com/2zusvk

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