August 5th, 2008
Delta rolls out Wi-Fi across U.S. fleet
In the not too distant future your corporate VPN will follow you on any plane you fly.
Delta Air Lines said Tuesday that it is rolling out Aircell’s broadband Wi-Fi access across its 330 planes in the U.S. and rest assured other carriers will follow suit. After all, if airlines are charging you for luggage, pillows, bad food and in some cases even water inflight-Internet access has the potential to be a real profit center.
As noted before I’m a bit conflicted by this development since the plane was the last refuge from the Internet. Aircell’s system–dubbed Gogo–has gotten good reviews and it’s just a matter of time until other carriers offer it. Aircell will run you $9.95 on flights three hours or less and $12.95 on longer flights.
Delta said it will roll out the Internet access beginning in the fall and complete the installation by the summer of 2009.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Smart Planet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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