More On Airplanes And Internet

fonixmunkee writes "as a sometimes-traveler for work, and a huge nerd, I am always excited about news like this. it appears that some airlines may start offering internet access next year when you need to get that internet fix at 35,000 feet. I was pleased when they started selling wireless internet in airports, so this is another welcomed suprise for techie travlers. apparently they want to use satellite to get high-speed connections to the planes in the air. pretty cool. " Too bad Northwest isn't going to have it for my DTW -> NRT -> KUL -> PER for CALU.

I can see the use on transcontinental flights..

[3.5 stripes]

I haven't flown in a while, do they also offer power connections for your laptop?

Cuz a 12+ hour flight wouldn't be very much fun after your backup batteries die.

And remember, the foldable tray will stop your willie from overheating:)

In flight electronics

[CausticWindow]

I've always wondered why airlines got the policy that using a portable cd player or radio in flight is dangerous while laptops aren't.

At least that's the situation on all domestic flights I've taken. I've got a suspicion that they want to compete with trains etc. for business customers and therefore don't give a damn about their own rules.

So all of a sudden

[elementik]

It's safe to use laptops etc on a plane... ?

Emergency procedures

[Anonymous Coward]

If you commit a crime via the Internet at 30,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean, whose jurisdiction does it fall in?

IPSky

[MosesJones]

A plug for a mate IPSky [ipv6.garr.it] talks about the market and the issues and is a pretty good starting doc on this sort of stuff from a technical/management perspective. The interesting part of some of these elements is that it enables additional information to the pilots and potentially between planes. Getting the internet to the passengers is relatively simple, combining it with elements like TCAS [caasd.org] to reduce the risk of collisions and also to enable less reliance on Air Traffic Controllers in areas where they have no Radar coverage.

Pricing

[tangledweb]

They are talking $30 per leg.

I imagine that at those prices it will go the same way as inseat phones. One of the phone carriers is killing their $5 per minute service because there was on average 1.5 phone calls made per flight.

If you are carrying all that extra weight, you have to be able to get people to buy it or it is just going out backwards.

Re:Two words - VoIP and Routers...

[Surak]

Secondly, how long until we see groups of people smuggling on battery powered Linksys (et al) routers. $30 split a few ways is always cheaper..

It wouldn't be hard. Most of things draw DC from a power brick. RadioShack [radioshack.com] used to carry a power brick-type thing that would hold batteries in what would normally be the brick. And I imagine that there are or will be other third party solutions such as a rechargeable power brick for using routers with batteries before too long as portable, wireless high speed access becomes more and more important.

Re:Two words - VoIP and Routers...

[Jacco de Leeuw]

And I imagine that there are or will be other third party solutions such as a rechargeable power brick for using routers with batteries before too long...

Hey, what about those fuel cells you have these days!?

:-)

Privacy, anyone ?

[forged]

Email in airplanes..... Great idea.

Now all three passengers behind my seat and my two neighbors will know the name of my wife and kids, what a great week-end I have had, how bad the food was, and how much money the deal closed.

Err, what if one of the three happened to be an executive from a competitor ? Think about it for a minute :)

And I think that most people will not want to watch pr0n on my screen throughout the flight either !

Re:In flight electronics

[Anonymous Coward]

I wouldn't try that trick now. They'll probably assume you're using the GPS for evil purposes to know when to strike or something like that.

I asked if I could turn one on in February and the head passenger herder guy barked a firm "no" at me. He gave some BS excuse about FAA regs. Yeah, OK, whatever, it's up to the pilot anyway. He didn't even ask on my behalf.

So, I did it anyway, but I left it in my bag, and just held the bag on my lap for a few minutes. It got enough of a signal long enough to get a position fix and speed - 505 mph. That was all I wanted to see, so I put it away.

Until the current hysteria is forgotten, I'd advise leaving the GPS in your checked luggage.

It's been done

[Anonymous Coward]

Almost ten years ago, I worked for InFlight Phone Corp., which offered dial-up connectivity (19.2K, which was fast for the time) from commercial flights, along with digital voice phone, faxes, games, etc. Each seat had an embedded PC, talking to a file/radio server buried in the cargo bay.

The system actually worked, and was installed in over 100 planes (mostly USAir). Unfortunately, it cost enormously more to set up and operate the system than customers were willing to pay, and the company went out of business.

Years later, I was on a plane that still had the system installed (but turned off). The rumor around the office was that it cost $250K to remove the now-dead system from a plane, and the airlines weren't willing to foot the bill, so the dead system stayed in planes for years to come.

Power connection

[Richard Kirk]

I would rather have a power connection than the internet connection. Usualy, there is plenty I want to do on a laptop, without getting an internet connection, and all the sysadmin fun and games that can involve. Sometimes I have almost flattened my laptop batteries waiting for the plane, just cleaning up my files and doing those jobs that you never get around to if there is anything else to do.

PS. The folding tray may stop your todger from doing a Hindenberg, but the little magnetic catch may zorsch your hard disc.

Re:It's been done

[Sacarino]

Years later, I was on a plane that still had the system installed (but turned off). The rumor around the office was that it cost $250K to remove the now-dead system from a plane, and the airlines weren't willing to foot the bill, so the dead system stayed in planes for years to come.

Well, sure. All that crap was installed and computed in the zero-fuel weight of the aircraft. In order to remove it, you'd need to pay the mechanics to yank the parts out, drain the fuel (ALL the fuel - in the tanks, the fuel lines, etc), re-weigh the aircraft, resubmit the paperwork to the FAA in order to get the work approved, and possibly repeat a step if the feds dont like something.

Never underestimate the red tape mess the FAA is capable of producing. Such a task could take an aircraft out of service for quite some time. Ask anyone in aviation; a plane that's not flying isn't making you money and could be costing you instead.

...selling wireless in airports...

[Anonymous Coward]

"I was pleased when they started selling wireless internet in airports..."

In Singapore airport, wireless and cable based internet access is free. When travelling last year via Singapore I wandered out of the plane and into the internet access area, booted up (using my cable as I had no wireless adapter) and I was online in the time it took for w2k to boot. You can get wireless adapters there to use too, or use an IR port if you have one.

Cut off?

[Fuzzypig]

What about when your about to land? They just cut you off mid connection? About to send that document to the office, or in the middle of an important system/database callout fixing session and they just cut you loose! "Sorry about that Boss, I know we had 20,000 clients who couldn't connect for 4 hours, but Delta cut my service halfway through and I couldn't get back in til I got into the airport lounge, after customs, the gift shop, duty free, cavity search, etc!"

Re:It is safe.

[Geek_in_Marketing]

the problem, IMHO, is not with the equipment used - most of us are knowledgeable enough to know what we should and shouldn't operate in the air. But the same doesn't seem to apply to the cabin crew. On a recent BA flight to Paris, I was asked to turn off my MD player(note this - a player. Not any form of radio at all) because 'it could interfere with the flight instrumentation'. I politely explained what the mysterious object I was listening to was, but the cabin crew were adamant. How are they going to know the difference when it comes to people waving laptops and PDA's around? Some additional training for crew will be needed - cue an increase in flight fares to cover it?

Why this is the dumbest idea ever

[Goobah]

Has anyone ever thought of the security implications of allowing someone to have silent access to the rest of the world on an airplane? Let's set up the scenario: Some nutbag with a portable GPS device [delorme.com] on his laptop is able to provide real-time coordinates to someone on the ground via AOL Instant messenger [aim.com] or some other chat program. With the elevated threat of surface to air shoulder-mounted rockets on the news [worldnetdaily.com] lately, isn't this giving terrorists a new way to track planes? Call me paranoid, but as cool as it would be to be able to get an IRC fix at 40,000 feet, I just don't think its a very wise idea in these troubled times.

Windows file shares & other fun

[TarPitt]

Is the media shared? Can I set up dsniff or something and what what the executive in first class is up to? You know, watch him plotting corporate intrigue, closing that big deal, shredding accounting records, etc.?

Will Windows file sharing be blocked? If not, it would be lots of fun to see who is in your network neighborhood. Kind of like the old days with cable modems.

Could someone have a little pop-up window show up on passenger laptops that says "This plane has been boarded by alien space invaders. Stay calm. They mean us no harm"? Or maybe "I am Colonel Ogo Mumbasso from Nigeria. If you help me transfer money, I will arrange frequent flyer miles..."