Alaska Airlines Adding WiFi
I’ve been getting a little jealous of word that American Airlines was going to add WiFi in their planes. American Airlines is not an airline I usually take. I would have taken them to Ottawa, but they wanted twice as much as Air Canada this time around. It’s also nice to experience *different airports *every now and again.
It’s nice to know that my usual Seattle to San Jose flight on Alaska Airlines will be covered with broadband, hopefully by the end of 2009. At least that’s what the Wall Street Journal is reporting.
The system Alaska will be installing is by a company called Row 44. Instead of the air-to-ground system American and others will be using, Alaska’s system is based on satellites. This means that you’ll get a broadband experience worldwide, as opposed to just over the continental US.
The pipe is supposed to be up to 81 megabits per second peak, which if you ask me, is pretty sweet at 35,000 feet. I have to assume because we’re talking satellites here, the laws of physics will be working against you should you plan on using this connection for VoIP. High latency or not, being connected on a plane will change the way many business people travel. I look forward to giving it a try.
Via CrunchGear
