In-Flight Wi-Fi Makes its Debut

mindless4210 writes "German airline Lufthansa will become the first carrier to provide Boeing's Connexion service to its passengers. The service will be unveiled on May 17 on non-stop flights from Munich to Los Angeles, with plans to outfit their entire fleet over the next year. Passengers will be able to purchase access using their credit cards and Wi-Fi enabled laptops. The cost is set at $30 for the entire flight or $10 for 30 minutes."

Whole new world..

[baudilus]

mid-air LAN party!!

Wink wink

[Anonymous Coward]

Does this mean that us nerds can now join the "mile high club"?

Interesting...

[Sv-Manowar]

Can't wait till someone acidentally starts controlling the plane with MS Flight simulator
"Pull up!, Pull up!"

Re:Whole new world..

[Otto]

I really don't want people yelling out "Look out for the rocket!" during my flights, personally.

The guys doing flyovers for wifi hotspots.

[linzeal]

Will have a moving target now, this ought to be fun. Maybe we will see cessnas darting in and out of 747 flight paths to get free internet access, right?

Re:Wink wink

[F13]

yeah, the "mile high solo club"

pr0n!

[joda]

wohee, now i don't need to wait for the hotspots in arrivals ...

VoIP

[Chairboy]

What are the odds that VoIP ports are either blocked or the latency makes it unusable? The airline industry has put quite a bit of effort into explaining why Airphone is The Only Right Way to talk from a plane.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we must ask that you not use your laptop as a phone over the internet as it... may cause cancer."

Re:The guys doing flyovers for wifi hotspots.

[drinkypoo]

Maybe you could just follow behind them and just below their slipstream off to the sides like geese. You'd get an improvement in efficiency and free WiFi.

Porn? Warez?

[Golgafrinchan]

Is this going to be a totally free service, or will certain sites be "blocked off"? I expect to see a marked increase in the number of passengers arrested for indecent exposure. Or even better, over the loudspeaker: "Passenger in seat 17E: Keep it in your pants. Thank you."

Re:VoIP

[Anonymous Coward]

What are the odds that VoIP ports are either blocked or the latency makes it unusable?

19% with a margin of error of +/- 3%.

Re:Plane 2 Plane

[Anonymous Coward]

I really, really, really hope that at no point while flying will my plane be close enough to another plain to do any communication via WiFi.

Re:How long will it be....

[Gr33nNight]

You dont need the internet to check put porn on a website. Why do you think people have 6 120-gig hard drives on their PC? Not that I am saying I have 6 120-gig hard drives on my computer full of Jenna Jameson DIVX, organized by year or anything.

Re:Whole new world..

[NanoGator]

"mid-air LAN party!!"

Finally! Geeks can join the Mile High club! Too bad it won't have the same significance...

Re:How long will it be....

[Neil Blender]

...before we start hearing horror stories about sitting next to sketchy guys who are checking out pr0n on the plane?

May 17th.

Re:Plane 2 Plane

[NanoGator]

"Any use for plane to plane communications? quickly sending your vital stats, etc. or just as a log of who you have passed. "

Incoming Message from user NanoGator
___________________________________

If u can recieve dis message, UR 2 FRICKEN CLOSE!!!!!!

Re:Interference

[UrgleHoth]

I get around this restriction by bringing aboard my trusty old victrola.

They also implemented a lesser known feature

[Anonymous Coward]

it's pretty dangerous [getacard.com]

Re:stealing the connection

[morcheeba]

I could see that first guy clicking "share this connection" with his other wireless card.

Oh yeah, that first guy would be me :)

Re:Interesting...

[Soko]

Captain: Ummm... Where did you say we were?
Navigator: My instruments read that we're over LAX.
Captain: Then why the FUCK are we over Hawaii?
Navigation Screen: *LOL, d00dz! U R too dumb t00 n0t uze W1|\|d0z3 on ur navsystems!! hanhan, surfs up!!!*

Soko

PPP multilink over Air phones

[Danathar]

Bah...

I'm getting decent speeds by taking three airphones (three seat wide section) and using a uunet dialup account to bind all three together using ppp multilink. I just charge the airtime back to my company!

I tried to use more phones from the passengers seats infront and behind me....but the cords are too short! DAMN!!

Re:Interesting...

[Prince Vegeta SSJ4]

Can't wait till someone acidentally starts controlling the plane with MS Flight simulator

You mean *Crashing* the plane don't you

Either

• Microsoft Flight Simulator has encountered errors and needs to close
• or...
• Microsoft Windows XP has detected a new device (plane) and is unable to find a driver for it

Re:Interference

[zakezuke]

Its much easier to explain to the general populus that NO electronics can be used during take off, as opposed to explaining a whole list of items that can't be used.

Except those people who ask how to turn off their digital watch.

RF Safety Concerns...

[bobdobbs3]

...Addressed with Corporate Revenue Enhancement Technology (TM)

Glad to see the outrageous hazard cellphones and other RF transmissions pose to airplane avionics is handily mitigated by the application of cash.

Re:Interesting...

[docbrown42]

Can't wait till someone acidentally starts controlling the plane with MS Flight simulator
You mean *Crashing* the plane don't you

Microsoft Windows XP has detected a new device (plane) and is unable to find a driver for it

That's simple to fix. Just click the "Check airport bar" radio button.
Even XP should be able to find a driver/pilot in there!

Great for International Flights

[tarsi210]

I'm just waiting for Qantas [qantas.com.au] (crash free since...well...forever) gets this on their 747-438 Longreach [qantas.com.au] crafts. They're already putting in AC and PC power outlets [qantas.com.au] for business class and progressively moving them backwards to accomodate your myriad of consumer electronics. Since my wife is Australian, when we fly back and forth it'd be great to have Wi-Fi to pass the time. The first 4 hours of the flight are interesting, but somewhere around hour 12 of the 14.5 to 15 hour flight to Sydney, you really think about opening a window for entertainment value.

Cross country I can see just wanting to have some booze and relax, but after that, it'd be nice to do something constructive.

On the cabin speakers is heard....

[defishguy]

On left side of the plane....

Shit Bill... look at the tits on her!

Re:Whole new world..

[paul248]

A NOC on the ground is completely unnecessary. They just have to copy the Internet onto the satellites before launching them.

Re:The guys doing flyovers for wifi hotspots.

[ryanwright]

Only on /. can two people named "Penguinshit" and "drinkypoo" have a meaningful, intelligent conversation about the flight characteristics of aircraft, air turbulance and subsequent problems associated with navigating a larger craft's slipstream.

Re:Whole new world..

[netsharc]

Something tells me that the crew has better things to do then monitor the Wi-Fi network to make sure you aren't sharing it.

LOL, that would be some funny job, network admin for trans-continental flights. Where can I apply? You get to fly to exotic places and meet cute stewardesses. ;-)

Re:Doesn't this interfere with

[ryanwright]

When was that last time you could get more then five hundred feet from your access point.

When I used a coat hanger, pringles can, home-made drive circuit and powered by a 12v deep cycle marine battery. I can't /wait/ to bring that on the plane! "Haha, you wussies, I've got a clear signal from the plane all the way back here at the security checkpoint! Yeah, I rock, you all.. hey, wait a minute. No no, let me go! GAH! MY LAPTOP! NO NO DON'T PUT THE LATEX GLOVES ON AGAIN!! HEEELLPPP!!!"