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surfing the friendly skies
in-fligth calling
Congress Takes First Steps in Banning In-Flight Calling Permanently
Like a gaggle of schoolgirls, Congress traded stories about how they too were annoyed by people using their phones before and after takeoff on flights. Well, I never! One House member relayed the story of how his delicate sensibilities were stomped all over by some woman who talked about her sex life on the phone, shortly to be one-upped by another congressman saying that his wife overheard someone receiving a "Dear John" call before takeoff. Good sir! After the jab-fest portion of this sleepover was concluded, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved, via voice vote, a bill that would make the current FCC ban on in-flight calling permanent. And then one of their dads took them out for ice cream. Best night ever. [Yahoo]
12:30 PM on Fri Aug 1 2008
By Jason Chen
2,614 views,
107 comments
Latest by n/a: wow... reminds me about the old joke, "If con is the opposite of pro, then Congress must be the opposite of progress." They should be passing laws that protect our way of life, personal safety and take care of us. more »
in-flight
Gogo To Bring In-Flight Wi-Fi By Spring; We Can't Wait
We already knew that Virgin America and American Airlines were planning to bring in-flight wi-fi in 2008, but we seriously didn't expect it be ready by spring. Aircell has just launched its US in-flight wi-fi service called "gogo" and they claim it will be available in the first half of 2008. Virgin America and American Airlines have both signed on to use gogo but it looks like Virgin America is the only airline taking the service seriously. More »
We already knew that 
in-flight wi-fi
Update: Jet Blue Wi-Fi Crippled For a Reason
Jet Blue's air-to-ground cellular network (provided by LiveTV on the same spectrum as those in-flight phones no one uses) is still experiencing too many dropped connections between cell nodes to support the bandwidth necessary for full-on surfing, the NY Times is reporting. Hence the Yahoo Mail/IM and Blackberries only restriction, and the lack of cost. American, Virgin America, and Alaska Airlines are expected to join the fray with more robust, pay-per-use services "in the coming months," the latter using a more reliable and international satellite connection for more bandwidth and range. [New York Times]
wireless
American Airlines to Test In-Flight Wi-Fi in 2008
Some time in 2008, you may be lucky enough to get on a 767-200 transcontinental American Airlines flight that's testing the AirCell in-flight broadband service. The wireless net access will be available to all classes—yes, even us poor people—for a price. There will be three antennas outside the plane to transmit your 802.11a/b/g "Lolz im on a plane" messages to your buddies. No word on when this will move to widespread deployment. [AA - Thanks Mike]
cellphones
Oh No: Cell Calling on a Plane Coming...in French
Starting in July, Air France customers flying on the Airbus A318 will be able to send text messages and emails from their cellphones. Fantastic. Not so fantastic: Three months later, they'll be able to make voice calls (shudder). More »
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