Internet Access on Flights by 2008

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A little earlier I mentioned Alaska Airlines was going to be offering Internet Access on some of it's flights by 2008 but now another American airline will be offering it even sooner. JetBlue is working with Waterloo-based Research in Motion and Yahoo to provide internet access on one of its' planes today, Tuesday December 11. 2007 on one of its Airbus A320 planes. While it's only a trial, and a free one at that, the email and instant messaging service they are offering is definitely a step up from nothing. The only catch is, you have to be a Blackberry user or have a Yahoo account and it is not full internet access; they will only offer email and instant messaging obviously with only Yahoo and Blackberry services. In 2008, JetBlue says they will offer full WiFi internet access that will be built by LiveTV, a JetBlue owned subsidiary that coincidently won rights to 1MHz of the 800MHz spectrum last year. A quick note to Blackberry users getting on that lucky flight today, you have to connect through WiFi as the FCC doesn't allow mobile calls on planes.

Three other airlines including Alaska Airlines are planning to come out with Internet Access on all of their flights by 2008. A recap of Alaska Airlines plans are: an antenna will be placed on top of the aircraft which will connect to a satellite which will be used by the in-flight system. 802.11b/g WiFi will be offered for use on laptops, phones and PDAs that will be allowed to access the internet as well as email, VPNs and stored in flight entertainment. Unlike JetBlue, Alaska Airlines wants all of their 144 planes up and running with WiFi by Spring 2008 but that still depends on how well Row 44, an airline telecom provider, can keep up with that demand. They claim they can offer downlink speeds of 81Mbps and uplink speeds of 1.6Mbps and is not limited by international borders as they use a satellite to dish out there services. They also plan to roll out in-flight entertainment services including more than 100 channels of live TV. Alaska Airlines definitely seems to be ahead of the game.

Virgin America's plans are not as elaborate as other airlines as they will offer air-to-ground internet connection for 802.11a/b/g WiFi enabled devices and they will allow "customers" to use a variety of instant messaging services including MSN Messenger, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, Skype, and AIM. AirCell is building the network and hopefully they can work on American Airlines as well.

American Airlines passengers will have nationwide internent access using devices that support 802.11a/b/g. Their goal is to to offer internet access at the start of 2008 but there is no mention how many airplanes will be equipped. They have already begun testing on its fleet of Boeing 727-200 aircraft in August. AirCell is building their network as well as Virgins. They own 3MHz of the 800MHz spectrum and they've already demonstrated in-flight WLAN capabilities which took place in 2005. Virgin America first announced its in-flight broadband service plan in
September, and the company hopes to have its all of its planes
connected "sometime in 2008."

By the end of 2008, Internet access will be close to a standard on commercial airlines except for the low-cost airlines like JetsGo and Air Transat. The next airline to move onto the scene should be Air Canada and possibly WestJet. Definitely, this has revolutionized the airline industry and should provide a boost to the sagging industry.