Russell Shaw is a specialist in mobile computing, telephony, networking and covers these fields regularly for numerous print and online publications. Russ writes the popular IP Telephony blog on ZDNet and contributes regularly to The Industry Standard blog as well. Author of seven books, Russ' latest book is Wireless Networking Made Easy.
John Yunker is president of Byte Level Research. He closely tracks emerging wireless technologies and their impact on consumers and carriers alike. Over the years he has written a number of major reports on technologies such as Wi-Fi, WiMAX and cellular technologies.
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Lufthansa now has 13 jets outfitted with Wi-Fi with more on the way. I'm told that usage is running at about 3% of occupied seats; this may not sound like a lot but given how new the service is and the fact that not every passenger travels with a Wi-Fi-enabled device, I'd say this is a very good number to start with. In addition, I'm told repeat usage is much higher than expected, although I was not given numbers; I would not be surprised as we see similar patterns with Wi-Fi usage in hotels.
Now when will an American carrier suck it up and embrace Wi-Fi? it would be a real shame if the major carriers let it slip them by while a JetBlue embraces it and puts them to shame, once again...
By the way, if you're thinking of flying Lufthansa, here are the routes currently offering Wi-Fi:
And here are the routes next in line:
With Lufthansa, you'll eventually be able to circle the world without losing your broadband. Battery life, however, is another story.
Re: Battery life on Lufthansa, the last time I flew that airline, I called to determine whether power would be available. They said yes, and that it would be on a standard cig-lighter interface, so I brought my cig-lighter power adapter. It wasn't. Contrary to the agents' assurances, there were NO seats in coach with power. I wound up lugging a useless half-pound interface around Europe for two weeks. GRRRR.
So when LH announces WiFi on your flight, distrust and verify.
Permalink to CommentOn the other hand, I just flew Northwest to and from Thailand, and they have electrical outlets in coach on their Airbuses. (No wi-fi yet, though.)
Permalink to CommentHere in Japan, they just announced that ANA and JAL are starting in-flight internet service. The link is here:
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20041031-00000012-san-bus_all
It is in Japanese tho.....The details?
ANA started service on Narita (Tokyo) - Shanghai flights on November 15. JAL will start on Dec. 9 from Narita - London. They both use geostationary satellites to provide upload speeds of 1MB, and download speeds of 5MB. There is a wireless and a cable connection. For unlimited use, the prices in USD are 14.95 for the China flight, and 29.95 for the England flight. Timed service is also available.
The article also states that Lufthansa allows up to 20 people to use the internet on its Munich - Narita flights, and next March will introduce internet service on its Frankfurt - Narita flights also.
Permalink to Comment
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