With all the excitement over on-board WiFi announcements here in the United States, it's easy to forget that carriers abroad have already wrapped up their testing of in-flight Internet. More than a couple airlines have had passengers successfully texting their sucker friends "Guess where I am right now?!" Among them are Qantas, Ryanair, Air France, Singapore Airlines and Emirates.
These carriers are using a satellite technology developed by a company called EMS Technologies. Because the system is space- rather than land-based, passengers can use cell phones, PDAs and laptops over the ocean. That's a major plus for carriers like Qantas and Singapore.
While pricing is still, ahem, up in the air, we can't imagine it will be that much. And for a lot of people, EMS's CEO realizes, the cost won't really even be a factor:
If I'm flying from Paris to New York and Air France lets me use my Blackberry in-flight while United Airlines doesn't, which one do you think I'm going to choose?
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