Delta Airlines are launching the Gogo inflight Internet service on their US internal flights. It can only work on internal flights as Aircell (who run the network) used a ground based transmission network. The system acts as an inflight WiFi hotspot.
VPN corporate access is allowed, but VoIP services are blocked (which probably means the VoIP block can be got around using a VPN tunnel – though FCC regulations don’t allow it).
The service costs a fixed fee of $9.95 for flights under 3 hours and $12.95 for flights over 3 hours. Though Delta are offering a promotion from Dec 16th through 31st where it’s free.
Planes have to be above 10,000 ft before the FCC allow operation.
Other airlines using Gogo are Virgin America, American Airlines and shortly Air Canada.
BMI has become the latest airline to consider ditching paper tickets for a mobile equivalent. According to the Glasgow Daily Record. The paper says the airline is trying a new system which works by sending a barcode to a passenger’s handset over MMS, which is then scanned at the boarding gate as well as when passing through airport security.
The mobile plane tickets were introduced last week in Edinburgh, with BMI set to expand the system – created by local company Real Time – to other Scottish airports including Glasgow and Aberdeen.
The Herald says that “dozens” of customers have tried the mobile boarding system since it was introduced. Dozens? Was it a slow week at BMI or is the airline not really pushing the mobile ticketing system? Surely, given that everyone carries a mobile with them at all times, it’s way more convenient to have a mobile ticket than a bit of paper that can get lost – there’s got to be more than a few dozen people willing to give the system a go.
Who really wants to be able to use mobile phones on planes? It seems not as many of us as the airlines might be hoping, according to a new survey commissioned by Yahoo. The research found that nearly three out of four people questioned wanted in-air mobile phone use restricted to silent features like SMS.
While Yahoo is somewhat optimistically portraying this as a sign that the average Joe can’t be bear to be parted from mobile IM and the mobile web, it actually looks like people are still after using the old favourites: 38 percent of those surveyed want in-flight SMS and 28 percent wouldn’t mind mid-air mobile email.
The survey also says that the ability to play games while in flight would be a hit with 29 percent of consumers, which sort of suggests that consumers may not even want connectivity, just the ability to be able to turn on their phone and use the features, especially after a recent flight where I was told that I couldn’t look at my phone at all, flight mode or no flight mode. If mobile connectivity on planes means I can look at the clock, calendar, calculator, whatever, on my phone whether I use the network or not, I’m all for it.
Europe gave the thumbs up for mobile usage on planes, after Emirates, Continental Airlines and Qantas decided to introduce the service. Now, it seems, New Zealand is next in line.
According to the New Zealand Herald, the Kiwi’s national carrier is planning to introduce an in-flight texting service.
Meanwhile, several reports have highlighted that despite European and antipodean enthusiasm for in-flight SMS, Asia and the US aren’t planning to introduce any mile-high connectivity any time soon. I can’t help but think it’s a bit of a miss opportunity – surely long haul flights are where the boredom sets in and the texting fingers start getting itchy?
The era of pan-European in-flight mobility will be ushered in by two measures announced by the EC this week: a “Commission Recommendation for a harmonised approach on licensing which will promote mutual recognition between national authorisations for mobile communications services on aircraft” and “a Commission Decision which sets out harmonised technical parameters of onboard equipment for in-flight mobile phone use throughout the EU that will allow member states to recognise each other’s licences for mobile communications on board aircraft without risk to mobile networks on the ground”. The EC will also make sure safety concerns are dealt with by the appropriate bodies.
Interestingly, after the EC has pushed so hard on cutting roaming charges within Europe, it’s remaining mum on how to regulate the cost of connectivity on planes, saying the market is too young for it to interfere and it will be up to the service provider to set pricing. It sounds like we could be in for some expensive calls and texts up there.
If you’ve been reading the news about Emirates and Qantas’ launches of in-flight mobile access and wondering when such mile-high talk and text would be coming to the UK, Ofcom has the answer.
The regulator has announced that it will permit mobiles in aircraft as long as the airline has the backing of either the European Aviation Safety Agency or the Civil Aviation Authority. Ofcom gives the proviso that phones must still be switched off on take off and landing and connectivity can only be switched on once the plane reached 3,000 metres.
Initially, airlines will be able to offer GSM and “if the service is successful it could be extended to 3G and other services in future”, Ofcom says. Is this the death of work downtime on planes as we know it? And how long before there’s an air-rage incident because someone couldn’t keep their voice down in-flight?
The launch follows a trial which finished earlier this year. During 2008, Qantas will start rolling out the service on some domestic B767-300 and A330-200 aircraft. Aussie flyers wanting to use the service will need either a roaming-equipped GSM mobile for texting or a GPRS BlackBerry for email – voice calls aren’t on the cards.
No word again on the pricing or where the service will be used. It’s interesting that Qantas is only offering the service on inter-Australia flights – you’d think that longer haul trips would be more likely to induce the sort of boredom texting relieves. I wonder if it’s a regulatory issue?
The world has finally got its first commercial in-flight mobile service, thanks to Emirates and supplier AeroMobile. Emirates saw its first call on flight EK751, on a plane travelling between Dubai and Casablanca yesterday.
According to AeroMobile, it’s the first time that voice calls have been allowed on commercial airline flights, after the European Aviation Safety Agency and the United Arab Emirates-based General Civil Aviation Authority gave the system the thumbs-up.
It looks like AeroMobile and Emirates have really done their research here. There’s a second aircraft coming online soon, so the service isn’t just a one-off, BlackBerry email and other GPRS data applications will be available later on this year and there’s even a politeness policy enforced making sure that passengers keep their mobiles on silent. If Emirates get the pricing right, it could be the testbed that proves demand for in-flight mobility.
