American Airlines and technology provider Aircell staged a dress rehearsal of their WiFi service in planes on a round-trip flight between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport today. BoingBoing and WiFiNetNews helped promote it.
Broader customer trials on flights between New York and San Francisco and between New York and Miami is expected to begin in the next couple of weeks. The carrier is also considering expanding the service beyond its Boeing 767-200 planes, says the Dallas Morning News.
Aircell’s “Gogo” service will be free today. Users can check e-mail, use instant messaging and access secure corporate networks using their laptops or handheld wireless devices, such as BlackBerrys. It will not enable voice-based functions.
Once the system goes live, it will cost $12.95 for those who log on during flights longer than three hours and $9.95 for shorter flights. Access to American’s Web site, Frommer’s online travel guides and some news headlines will be free, however.
In-flight broadband is taking off — with and without voice:
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American Airlines:
Aircell won the rights to 3-MHz on the 800-MHz spectrum to deliver broadband to airlines from terrestrial towers. Passengers connect via Wi-Fi inside planes. AA began testing the service on its fleet of Boeing 767-200 aircraft in August 2007, with the goal is to provide broadband service to all passengers in 2008. -
Alaska Airlines:
Row 44 is providing Ku band transponders with downlink speeds of 81Mbps and uplink speeds of 1.6 Mbps. Passengers get a Wi-Fi connection for Internet, e-mail, VPNs, and stored in-flight entertainment for $10 for up to two hours, $15 for 2-5hr and $20 for more than 5hr. If the airline chooses, the link can also be used to support VoIP from dual-mode phones. Row 44 leases Ku-band satellite transponders from several operators, but is managed through HughesNet. Alaska hopes to have Wi-Fi connections on all 144 of its planes and more than 100 channels of live television. -
Air France:
As well as AirAsia, Oman Air and Jazeera Airways offer OnAir inflight passenger communications services. -
Virgin America:
Virgin America will be the second major U.S. airline to employ Aircell for Wi-Fi enabled devices. Additionally, the airline’s Red Inflight Entertainment network will allow customers to use a wide variety of instant messaging services on their seatbacks, including MSN messenger, Google talk, Yahoo! messenger, and AIM. The company hopes to have its all of its planes connected “sometime in 2008.” -
JetBlue:
Plans a nation-wide PlaneFi service using LiveTV, a wholly owned subsidiary of JetBlue that won rights to 1 MHz of the 800-MHz spectrum last year. They’re currently trialling free e-mail and instant-messaging on one Airbus A320. Wi-Fi connects user devices (no voice). If the trial goes well, JetBlue is expected to expand the service.
In other news, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, has announced commuter boat WiFi service following the successful launch of free Wi-Fi on some MBTA rail service. The commuter boat service connects several oceanside communities with downtown Boston and Logan Airport.
“It’s natural,” said MBTA general manager Daniel Grabauskas in Information Week. “There are tables. People can sit. They’re here for 30, 45 minutes. This is something you can’t do in your car.”
Related DailyWireless stories include; JetBlue Buys Airfone, Row 44: Cleared for Take Off, FAA: Go For Aircell Launch , Aircell Vs Row44: Two for Two, FlyFi Takes Off, Lufthansa & AA Trying WiFi — Again, Inflight Phones Banned by FAA?, AirCell on Virgin by 2008, Wireless Voice on Airplanes? Yes & No, AirCell Demos Inflight WiFi, Aircell for Planes, FCC Rules on Airplane Cellular, Connexion On Again?, Dis Connexion, Connexion Dying, AirFone Dead, Airplane Internet Auction Over, Airplane Wireless Auction (Virtually) Over, AirCell Demos Inflight WiFi and Connexion Press Junket.
