Although jetBlue was very early in getting in-flight internet connectivity off the ground with their Kiteline product, they have fallen well behind competitors Aircell and Row44 in the deployment race. Kiteline came into the market with quite a splash back in 2007. Unfortunately the progress since then has not lived up to the hype. Indeed, […]
IFEC
Southwest confirms Row44 rollout schedule
It is really, really, really official now. Southwest is going to have in-flight internet service from Row44. Yes, this would seem to be old news. It was 5 months ago that the carrier announced their intentions to go down this path with provider Row44. But both parties have been rather quiet for the past few […]
Wifi coming to the rails
Amtrak has announced that they are joining the ranks of the various other commercial transit means – namely planes and buses – and adding wifi connectivity to the Acela Express line plying routes between Washington, DC and Boston. The service is being rolled out as part of the 2010 cabin upgrades on the Acela Express […]
Continental plans a true in-flight wifi trial
Continental Airlines intends to trial both the Kiteline service provided by jetBlue’s LiveTV subsidiary and also the gogo service provided by AirCell according to recent reports. This move marks the first time that a carrier has actually set up a competitive trial of multiple vendors in an effort to best serve their customers. Previous trials […]
More troubling numbers from Aircell
Yeah, it seems that beating up on Aircell and the adoption of their gogo in-flight internet service seems to be a recurring theme in the industry. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t possibly deserved. There are a ton of questions out there about just how bad their cash flow situation is. And the answers and […]
The problem with free in-flight internet
For a while now I’ve been a rather strong proponent of the theory that paid in-flight internet isn’t going to attract enough business to survive, at least not with the current pricing scheme. I just don’t think that there are enough people out there willing to pay $8 or more per flight for the access […]
Free in-flight wifi on American Airlines
In a move that hasn’t garnered nearly the same publicity as Virgin America’s announcement that they’re teaming up with Google, American Airlines has announced that they are teaming up with Lexus to provide free wifi to users of the gogo system on their flights. The AA promo is much more limited – only 7 days […]
Great news for in-flight Internet
Two big stories out today about in-flight connectivity, both of which have me very excited. The first is an announcement from Virgin America and Google that the latter is going to be sponsoring the gogo service for a two month period – November 10 – January 15. No credit card, no restrictions. Just an email […]
Riding on BetaBlue – the other in-flight Internet option
There are three main players in in-flight internet service for US-based carriers. Aircell’s gogo service is – by far – the most dominant, with more carriers signed on as partners and more planes in service than anyone else. Then there is Row44 which has made significant progress over the past couple months, signing up two […]
Free in-flight WiFi coming to a satellite near you?
If Row44 and Southwest have anything to say about it then a free in-flight internet option might be coming to the carrier’s fleet-wide deployment of the Row44 system. The biggest hurdle to adoption for the service has been cost. People love it when it is free but as soon as a cost factor comes into […]