SDRNews: WiFi on a Plane ? Divide by Zero
SDRNews: WiFi on a Plane ? Divide by Zero
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Divide by Zero – Wifi on Airplanes
by Andrew McCaskey
Divide by Zero
The excited announcement by Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines implementing the JIWire and Row44 inflight services sounds great. Until you ask “How does that happen, really ?
Just having spent a number of hours in the airline system Chicago-LA-San Jose and return, the possibility of getting this thing to work is going to be a challenge. And the WiFi part of it is just the tip of the iceberg.
There’s no doubt that there is lots of demand for the service. But unless it lives up to billing, it is going to take the same route as the GTE Airphones that gathered dust on aircraft for years. The problem is that in our homes – where most mobile professionals work when they are not on the road – we are pretty spoiled. I’ve yet to find a hotel below say $300 a night that has anything close to the level of media, connectivity and snacks that I enjoy each day. Particularly in wireless connectivity and media choice.
This is not ten years ago – when the ability to dial up and pull email or FTP a small file while traveling was a source of wonder. File sizes, connectivity, security, and lag or delay tolerence standards are now up by at least one or two orders of magnitude. And, with cloud based services like SalesForce.com, Googledocs, and similar systems, that is going to accelerate. Expectations are even higher, set by home office standards.
Lurking in the chilly waters below the visible iceberg? No primary power. The DC power jacks that made a brief appearance in business class on some widebody aircraft about ten years ago turned into a literal and figurative flash in the pan. AC power opens a can of worms and more importantly adds weight to the aircraft which hits fuel and operating costs.
The real reason this is going to be a non starter ? Everyone wants it – but most are not going to pay for it. Visions of Wifi on the plane are great. Now find a comptroller that will sign off on moving 80% of their frequent travelers to Business Class on every flight on an airline that now is passing along the true costs of providing primary power for those laptops at “no charge”. That number has got to be small. Find and add the airlines that will put in power for “free” in coach and offer “free” ad based wifi, then divide the first number by the second.
That’s what is known as a ‘divide by zero’ error.
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