Mile High Wi-Fi Still Pie in the Sky

It’s been almost 7 years since major airlines in Europe and the USA first mentioned in-flight Internet access but if you’ve flown recently you will know that apart from a tiny handful of carriers it just hasn’t happened. It proved to be a lot more difficult and expensive than everyone expected. Part of it is to do with the rigorous certification and safety testing required for any piece of airborne electronics, before it’s allowed aloft. There have also been problems, developing systems that will be useable in all types of narrow and wide-bodied aircraft but the other, more fundamental difficulty is the lack of standardisation in the various systems being trialled.

Domestic US carriers dominate the word’s aircraft market and carry tremendous weight with plane makers and regulatory authorities and they prefer cheaper and lighter ground-based relays, but that’s obviously not much use on intercontinental flights, over water, which have to rely on more expensive and technically more complex satellite links. Things could be on the move once again, following renewed interest in a satellite system called Row 44. This provides up to 30Mb/sec capacity per aircraft, which translates to around 100kb/s per user. There’s no doubt there’s a huge demand amongst travellers but the only questions now are how much longer will be have to wait, and how much will it cost?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How To Avoid Hacker Attacks On Firefox

Security problems with Microsoft’s dominant Internet Explorer browser helped pave the way for Mozilla Firefox to emerge as a perfect alternative for Web surfers. However, Firefox users should be aware that hackers can exploit software flaws and design features to launch drive-by attacks. Following are steps to disable various features in Mozilla Firefox. Note that some menu options may change between versions or may appear in different locations depending on the host operating system. You should adapt the steps below as appropriate. The following configuration changes, can disable various features and set up the browser to run in a secure state, limiting the damage from malware attacks. To get started, select Tools, then Options. firefox You will then see an Options window that has a row of categories along the top. The first category of interest is the General category. Under this section, for instance, you can set Firefox as your default browser. firefox Under the Privacy category, y...
Read more

Firefox, now on TV

It’s remarkable enough that the Internet has come so far that an ad about a browser isn’t out of the ordinary, but it’s even more remarkable that these ads were made by Firefox fans off their own back, and paid to air by the same. It all started last year when the Mozilla foundation started the Firefox Flicks campaign, in an effort to drive grass-roots support and generate short, fan-made, 30 second clips. Naturally, these could be shared across the Net and drive awareness for the browser. The program was so successful over 200 entries were submitted, and while there are plenty that wouldn’t have a hope of seeing the light of day, some are actually quite well made and genuinely entertaining. The full list of entrants starts here and includes funny and humorous entries including this one that actually cracked me up. You’ll also find the bizarre, ninjas (can’t go wrong there), the clubby, the crazy, the animated, and I swear I know people like this. There’s even an Aussie themed entry. T...
Read more

How to run Microsoft Update using Firefox

The IE Tab extension lets you switch between Firefox and IE rendering. Once installed, I had no trouble using the IE Tab add-on to run Microsoft Update. According to Mozilla’s Web site, the IE Tab works with Firefox versions 1.5 through 3.0a5. I used it with 2.0.0.6. To install the IE Tab, go to the add-ons site using the above link. Choose Install Now. The installer will restart Firefox when finished or prompt you to do so before the changes will take effect. To add the IE Tab button to your Firefox Toolbar, right-click the toolbar and choose Customize. Drag the IE Tab icon and drop it where you want it. When clicked, the IE Tab button will swap rendering engines. Once you’ve done this, you can use Firefox with Scheduled Tasks in XP; however, keep in mind that only administrators can install updates. The scheduling steps are slightly different from the ones provided in the last issue: Step 1: Choose Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Scheduled Tasks. Step 2: In the Schedu...
Read more