Today in TechSurf the web during intercontinental flights aboard United’s airplanes starting 2012
In the future, you may never have to spend long hours of flight to another country wondering if you've received that important email while on board a United plane. That is because United Airlines recently announced that it's installing wifi internet on all of its airplanes beginning 2012 that you can use to surf the web and even stream videos. Yes, in-flight internet isn't anything new, but this is the first time a U.S. airline will provide wifi for intercontinental flights.
Thus far, wifi on planes have been provided by Gogo — a service with stations all over the United States so you can go online while flying anywhere within the country. Gogo's system can be installed overnight on a plane and it's quite inexpensive, making it the ideal option for airlines. Unfortunately, as its signals are beamed from the ground, internet dies as soon as you begin crossing the ocean. To be able to offer wifi on international flights, United Airlines will install satellite-based internet on its airplanes.
The problem with satellite internet is that it's much more expensive than GoGo, so no U.S. airline has been willing to offer wifi on global flights up until now. After all, in-flight internet hasn't seen much usage at all, and reports indicate single digit percentage use for most airlines except Virgin America. Also, airlines have to take into account that satellite internet takes a lot longer than a night to install, and that the antenna needed to connect to it adds weight to an airplane.
United Airlines chose to opt for satellite internet, as it's betting on in-flight wifi usage to catch on in the future. It expects fleet-wide installation to be completed by 2015. How much the service will cost is still a mystery for now, but Lufthansa has a similar system that charges passengers $15 for one hour of internet and $27 for 24 hours.
[Image credit: Sean MacEntee]
SourceAeromorning via CNN
This article was written by Mariella Moon and originally appeared on Tecca
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