The Countdown to (Free) In-Flight WiFi on JetBlue Starts Now

September 19, 2012 at 2:34 PM | by JetSetCD | Comments (0)

Holy smokes it's been far too long since we last had anything to say about JetBlue's efforts to bring precious, precious in-flight WiFi to their fleet. It was April 2011 when the airline boasted that they were pouring $30 million into the project to make their WiFi "the industry's best inflight broadband for commercial aviation," and October 2011 when they launched the satellite.

Then...silence. Until this week.

Don't get too excited; internet isn't onboard yet. Or do get excited, since we finally have a general date for the beginning of service: early 2013. The news comes direct from Robin Hayes, JetBlue's Chief Commercial Officer, who was probably pretty thrilled to let the fact slip at the low-cost carrier conference in London. But wait—that's not even the cool part!

What's very cool is that Jetblue plans to offer free basic in-flight WiFi once they flip the switch. Naturally you'll then have pricing options for faster WiFi, or more devices or whatever they decide to do to make some cash off the service. Fingers crossed that they'll revive the beloved All-You-Can-Jet Pass, but make it, like, "All-You-Can-Jet (Plus 'Net)." We salivate at the thought.

With only like six months to go until they've got to make good on their promise, JetBlue's decided to spend some time majorly geeking out on how advanced their Ka-band satellite internet will be. Just look at the neat-o, boasty graphics on their blog.

If you only remember two things from all this news, let it be these facts: JetBlue is starting up in-flight WiFi in early 2013 and, since it's supercharged satellite-based, you'll be able to use it even on their international routes. Foursquare check-ins from over Cuba, ahoy!

[Photo: Jaunted]

Jaunted

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