INFLIGHT WI-FI: WHERE'S IT AT?
Inflight Wi-Fi: Where's it at? - Luxury Travel Magazine
| By: Lucy Jones |
| Date: 7 October 2011 |
| Some travellers like the seclusion of the airplane. It’s a time when you can’t be reached by the outside world and can relax and watch movies or read guilt-free. But some passengers yearn to be constantly connected to the outside world and are increasingly frustrated at being out of range for hours at a time. Many passengers might not know it but the technology for inflight internet is available in most parts of the world, so why aren’t more airlines offering it? Inflight internet access isn’t a new development. In the early 2000s Boeing invested more than $1 billion in the Connexion connectivity service which would provide high speed internet access via an Ethernet cable or a wireless connection with downlink speeds of up to 20Mbit/s and uplink speeds of up to 2Mbit/s. The system operated through a series of antenna on the planes, satellite transponders and ground stations. By 2005 many of the world’s big airlines were onboard, including United Airlines, American Airlines, Lufthansa, Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Etihad. But by mid 2006 Boeing announced that it was pulling out of the project after it had failed to attract sufficient customers. Though it was a success in Europe, the US$500,000 cost of installation and the extra weight of the hardware were too much for a US aviation industry still reeling from 9/11. Given the recent, and rapid, rise in handheld telecommunication devices consumers have become more accustomed to having continuous access to their emails, social networking and the wider web. This has lead to a renewed push for internet access on planes. The service is currently available across many (continental) American routes because the signal is able to be transmitted through hundreds of mobile phone towers spread across the country. The most popular inflight service is provided by GoGo and there are more than 1,100 wi-fi enable planes in the air from American Airlines, Delta, Virgin America, United Airlines and Air Canada. Passengers can use any wi-fi enabled device to connect and prices are reasonable: US$4.95 for a flight up to 1.5 hours, US$9.95 up to three hours, US$11.00 for a 24 hour pass, US$34.95 for a month, and US$49.95 for an any-length six-flight pack. In Australia infrastructure is the main barrier to implementing a similar system – across large parts of the country there are no mobile phone towers for thousands of kilometres, so a reliable signal could not be obtained. There is also an ongoing clash between ACMA and Telstra over the best mode of inflight connectivity to use in Australian airspace. ACMA, and a number of airlines, are in support of a pico-cell system which uses satellites and mobile phone technology. Telstra argues that its NextG system would be more efficient and that pico-cell technology restricts users to only one network when there are many terrestrial networks that could (in theory) be used in the air. Whichever way it goes either system is likely to be expensive and fairly slow in its early stages. When Qantas announced plans for its much-hyped A380s back in 2006 it promised that inflight internet would be available. The planes are configured for the service - the Panasonic inflight entertainment systems have a web browser and each seat has an Ethernet port – however the service hasn’t actually been connected as yet. Most major airlines have plans to rollout inflight internet within the next two years. In 2010 Singapore Airlines announced plans to offer inflight wi-fi on selected flights from the first half of 2011, though the service has yet to materialise. Etihad aims to have two planes operational by December and has committed to a further five by March 2012. Emirates and Cathay Pacific are planning to install systems in mid to late 2012. Air New Zealand began testing a service on some of its domestic routes earlier this year through Vodafone, though prices are prohibitive for all but the most dedicated emailer – an eye-watering NZ$20 per MB of data. Before frequent flyers get too excited about the prospect of uninterrupted connectivity, recent reports have suggested that inflight wi-fi might not be completely safe. Boeing released a statement in March this year stating that wi-fi can interfere with the plane’s navigation system, causing Phase 3 Display Units to ‘blank’ in the presence of wi-fi equipment. Boeing assures passengers that the fault doesn’t affect currently operating 777s or 737s and did resolve itself in an “acceptable time frame” during testing. |