@Tony Rayo: smoke a lot of crack? Ethernet connections on planes? Not on the last... three dozen planes I've been on in the past six months. People chatting up storms on Airfones? Hah! Surely you jest, good sir! At $3-5 per minute (not hour, mind you, minute, as in 60 seconds), no one ever uses those things, except to call SkyMall. Either way, I'm sure with Verizon working on getting cellphones in the air forthwith, VoIP will quite likely be blocked on this service- at least as a way for the FAA to entice them.
I, for one, am happy. The last time this whole internet-on-planes business was tried it was by Boeing, and it didn't do so hot. The difference here, as I understand it, is that it's entirely ground-to-air as opposed to satellite and radio-based. Much cheaper, and requires way less upfront capital.
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@Tony Rayo: smoke a lot of crack? Ethernet connections on planes? Not on the last... three dozen planes I've been on in the past six months. People chatting up storms on Airfones? Hah! Surely you jest, good sir! At $3-5 per minute (not hour, mind you, minute, as in 60 seconds), no one ever uses those things, except to call SkyMall. Either way, I'm sure with Verizon working on getting cellphones in the air forthwith, VoIP will quite likely be blocked on this service- at least as a way for the FAA to entice them.
I, for one, am happy. The last time this whole internet-on-planes business was tried it was by Boeing, and it didn't do so hot. The difference here, as I understand it, is that it's entirely ground-to-air as opposed to satellite and radio-based. Much cheaper, and requires way less upfront capital.