Some 25 Years Later, In-Flight Internet Nearing Reality

from the the-slow-pace-of-change dept

Mon, Jun 5th 2006 11:57am — Joseph Weisenthal

It appears that the dream of in-flight internet access on domestic flights may be nearing reality, a few years after some international carriers began offering it. And while many travelers bemoan the slow progress in this area, the vision of on-board connectivity for business travellers is actually really old one. As early as 1982, the company Airfone anticipated the use of portable computing devices that could access corporate data and electronic mail from an airplane. The company also predicted that business travelers would be able to work from hotels, though sadly this too has yet to pan out. While it's exciting that there's finally activity in this area, it's disturbing how long progress can take. Perhaps in 25 years we'll have a fuel cell laptop battery that can last a whole trip.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

7 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

mmrtnt (profile), 5 Jun 2006 @ 12:38pm

Next Step

So when does Airfone whip out the patents and start suing everyone?
MjM
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dave, 5 Jun 2006 @ 12:42pm

Re: Next Step
tut, tut, tut. So Cynical!
:-)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Luddite, 5 Jun 2006 @ 1:16pm

This is progress?
And this is progress?

This just makes one extra place I can't avoid the internet.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jezsik, 5 Jun 2006 @ 1:40pm

Never mind internet access
I fly a lot. One airline has had a sticker on the back of the seats telling us that an “entertainment system” was coming “soon.” It’s been over a year and still nothing. Like most business travelers, I’m not interested in watching a movie and playing a game, I want power. If they’d just give me an AC outlet, I’d be ecstatic.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
stephen, 5 Jun 2006 @ 4:24pm

Re: This is progress?
ya that'd be sad cuz everyone who uses the internet is a moron.. o wait.. i must be 2xmoron because youre on the internet doing what you like to do on it yet you try SO hard to avoid it. sorry you had it coming..

didnt mean to call anyone a moron it's just the fact that someone complains about the internet when they are on the internet and unless you go on a plane every day why would you be annoyed by it?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
BlackCow, 5 Jun 2006 @ 4:24pm

about time
I would love if they had like wifi on an airplane or something! Also a AC power ourlet would be nice but that could pose a security threat so a DC will do if you have a charger that will plug into one of those. I think first class has DC outlets and some other seats have them (for the flight attendents to vaccume after a flight)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
DittoBox, 5 Jun 2006 @ 10:57pm

Re: Next Step
Naw, they already make obscene amounts of money off the rates they charge.
[ link to this | view in thread ]