We remained quiet about the issue of in-flight internet of late. Certainly, it is controversial. We think it is a better alternative than allowing voice communication on aircraft. Let people quietly text away, send email, etc.
Of course, people will abuse this service. We recently heard of a problem on a coach bus that provided satellite internet. One person downloaded a large movie file, slowing down the whole bus, as bandwidth is shared. We have no doubt some inconsiderate person will do this on a plane, although there are measures hardware can take against it.
Jetblue tested wireless internet this past week on one of its planes. Thanks to LiveTV, Jetblue’s inflight entertainment subsidiary(which supplies other airlines as well), the test program is the first time a domestic carrier has done a promising test. Admittedly, the service can only be used for Blackberries and Yahoo Mail/Instant Messenger. Fortunately, unlike some other carrier’s plans for net, it is totally free.
While the agreement with Yahoo and RIM(the Blackberry people) is exclusive now, they plan on soliciting feedback for features to add in the future. They won’t have the bandwidth to offer people the chance to stream video or open attachments, but anything else they can make work, they will try if it will enhance the experience.
It is an important step, as other airlines promise internet is coming, Jetblue is delivering. They are not the only one working or looking at it…American, Virgin America, and Alaska hope to offer a broader web experience to be unveiled in the next year, but it will likely cost $10.
