Technophiles suffering online withdrawal symptoms while strapped for long periods into an aluminium tube hurtling through the air at 500kph might soon see their torment come to an end.
U.S. airline Jet Blue is set to roll out a test of its in-flight Internet access service. Credit: ThirdWayBlog
Specifically, various U.S. airline companies are currently considering whether to introduce in-flight Internet access into their high-flying passenger experiences on a permanent basis. Due to appear for a limited time over the next few months, the likes of Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and Virgin America will all be rolling out preliminary wide-ranging Internet services to their customers for around $10 USD per flight.
Touching down sooner on the flight schedule, Tuesday of next week will see carrier Jet Blue arrive as the very first airline to begin an in-flight test via its completely free online e-mail and instant messaging service, which will be presented on one of its aircraft.
Forrester Research analyst Henry Harteveldt commented on the inbound in-flight developments by saying that 2008 will mark the beginning of onboard Net access, though carrier adoption will likely be very measured. Harteveldt, talking to the New York Times , added that by 2010 boarding a jetliner without Internet access will be the equivalent of staying in a hotel room without a television.
While various carriers are planning to incorporate Internet access and perhaps even integrate it into seat-back systems for those who don’t bring their own laptops or smartphone handsets with them, most are indicating that voice-based communication will not be included.
While the prospect of in-flight Internet is certainly tantalising in order to help while away the coast-to-coast hours, an initial test flight carried out by Jet Blue on Wednesday of this week revealed that teething problems need ironing out before passengers can connect to a service similar to that which they enjoy at home.
"Sometimes you just have to put things out there and see what happens when people try to use it," commented Nate Quigley, CEO of Jet Blue subsidiary LiveTV, which is tasked with delivering the carrier’s Internet service. "We’ll find the bugs and eventually get them worked out," he added, following a test that revealed slower access speeds and connection glitches attributed to the service’s ‘hand-off’ process as the plane travels across the country.
USA
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