Things may be looking up for internet access on board commercial aircraft in the future.
The frustrations of internet access aboard commercial aircraft may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to the Seamless Air Alliance. Formed by Airbus, Delta, OneWeb, Sprint and Airtel, the group aims to improve the connectivity experience for passengers aboard aircraft by allowing mobile operators to provide internet access directly via satellite tech.
The group aims to reduce the costs and headaches associated with the installation and operation of the infrastructure required to provide connectivity on aircraft. The end goal is to work together to cut costs and provide passengers with fast, reliable internet onboard aircraft. It would combine higher speeds with a better user experience because passengers wouldn't have to pay separately for internet access once on board.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 27 2018, @03:00PM (2 children)
When do they want users to pay? Included in the ticket price?
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @03:29PM (1 child)
This ought to be the case, and it ought to get you just one thing: better QoS priority for your packets
More likely, it'll be like checking extra baggage. That keeps the list price (as seen on ticket web sites) lower.
Set the price by Swiss auction, with the number of winners being the most for which some level of "good" service can be provided, and set the expectation of "good" so that it is about 5% of the passengers on a typical flight. Hopefully this would allow the paying people to do videoconferencing and gaming, while everybody else gets a connection that is mostly good enough for web browsing. The non-paying people probably get nothing if all the paying people simultaneously max out their shares of the connection, but that'd seldom happen.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @06:39PM
I'll take that bet, the internet generation is well into their 40s! The 20-somethings will be doing lots of business travel soon enough and I bet they'll prefer to browse the net instead of watch in-flight movies.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @03:02PM
Dude, the best way to use in-flight internet is to use your bro coding skills to get free internet for free. Steal internet while you're on a plane and surrounded by oldman air marshals. Bro, it's the best high.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @04:12PM (2 children)
Give me 10~20 cm more of leg room instead.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 27 2018, @05:36PM
Saw off my arms and legs and give me VR instead.
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(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @06:41PM
I'd rather like one ass virginity less TSA.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Tuesday February 27 2018, @04:29PM (7 children)
Why do they want to cut costs? Aircraft passengers are a captive audience, and have no competition to choose from for internet access. So the only "competition" is really between passengers buying overpriced internet access for the flight duration (minus all that time you're not allowed to have electronic devices running), or not buying it at all and reading a book. Plus, there's limited bandwidth on an aircraft for several reasons. So why not just keep the prices high and soak the customers?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @04:40PM
They don't want to cut the passengers' cost. They want to cut their own cost. That is, they want to pay less for providing internet (but at the same time have the passengers pay extra). Or in short, they want to maximize their profits.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Tuesday February 27 2018, @04:45PM (5 children)
Delta Air Lines' competition is another airline that offers a cheaper combination of flight and in-flight Internet access than Delta does.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Tuesday February 27 2018, @05:25PM (3 children)
Delta Air Lines' competition is another airline that offers a cheaper combination of flight and in-flight Internet access than Delta does.
Not really. Due to the routes airlines have, a certain trip is naturally going to be more advantageous on one carrier than another (for instance, a flight from Atlanta to DC, I'm guessing, will tend to favor Delta because of Delta's hub in ATL). And air travelers have shown over and over that the only thing they really care about is ticket price. An airline offering free in-flight internet, but a slightly higher ticket price, is going to lose.
Also, remember that not everyone actually cares about internet access in-flight. Personally, I don't. I *might* use it if it's available and free, if the flight is long enough. But I wouldn't even pay $1 for the privilege, and it sure as hell won't sway my decision to a different airline. I can easily keep myself occupied working offline, or reading a book.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday February 27 2018, @05:28PM (1 child)
Silly old man! If you can't stream your flight live to your audience, did it really happen ?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Tuesday February 27 2018, @05:37PM
Getting beaten and dragged off the plane didn't happen if you didn't film it.
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(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday February 28 2018, @05:52PM
Computer manufacturers have conspired to make that difficult, replacing general-purpose compact laptops with tablets and Chromebooks that are locked down to run limited-purpose operating systems. Or is it practical to install Android app support in a Chromebook and then install GNURoot and XSDL into that just to have a GNU/Linux laptop?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @09:16PM
But will they offer discounted internets for NRA members?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @07:13PM (2 children)
Why in all the world satellite internet?
Are they talking only about intercontinental flights?
Because for everything else there is already the much more sane solution of (specially adapted) LTE from the ground - similar to what is done for trains.
Satellite internet makes 0 sense as long as there is a land mass within around 70 km (approx. range of LTE base stations designed for reception by planes) of your flight route.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 27 2018, @08:54PM
https://www.inc.com/lisa-calhoun/3-ways-elon-musks-starlink-is-going-to-change-everything.html [inc.com]
Thousands of Internet satellites are planned to be put in low-Earth orbit by SpaceX (Starlink), OneWeb, and others. These will have much less latency than geosynchronous satellites.
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(Score: 2) by richtopia on Wednesday February 28 2018, @12:27AM
It the SpaceX network takes off aeroplanes would be one of the best applications for their satellite broadband.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Tuesday February 27 2018, @09:14PM
I'm so sorry [boredpanda.com].