Singapore Airlines to roll out ‘total connectivity’ in 2011

Travelers have long found the electronics ban to be a mixed burden and blessing – for some, it’s an oasis of peace and quiet during an otherwise hectic day. For others, flights, particularly long ones, are time sucks of lost productivity. In recent years, the roll-out of in-flight Wi-Fi services has dramatically improved the ability of business travelers to stay on top of their work.

Now, Singapore Airlines is entering the race to become the first major “fully connected” airline in Asia, rolling out the ability to make and receive phone calls, texts, and use Wi-Fi Internet on long-haul flights. Part of a collaboration with in-flight connectivity provider OnAir, the carrier will debut a range of on-board communication offerings as early as the first half of 2011.

These services will will be introduced progressively on flights operated by the Airline’s A380, A340-500 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

“The environment that our customers have gotten used to on the ground can soon be replicated in the air, when they fly with Singapore Airlines on aircraft fitted with this new connectivity platform. Traveling for business or pleasure, they are just a click or a text message away, with access to live information, social networking and news updates, as well as in-flight shopping,” said Singapore Airlines’ Senior Vice President Product & Services, Mr. Yap Kim Wah.

“The agreement is extremely significant. It sends a strong signal to the industry that in-flight passenger communications has come of age – and is a must-have for airlines looking to remain competitive in the future,” said Ian Dawkins, CEO of OnAir.

Customers who use the mobile services will see their usage reflected in the monthly bills from their telecommunications provider where international GSM roaming rates apply.

We’re curious to see the backlash from this, particularly as abuses of the new-found “power” begin to occur. Will your overweight, unshowered middle eat companion now be allowed to yap endlessly to their friends about last night’s escapades, or will calls be limited in time and duration? Will flights have a designated “quiet zone”? We’ll be sure to follow up on any developments, and any airlines that follow suit.

[Flickr via William Hawkins]

US Airways inflight Wi-Fi service available on all A321 aircraft – with a freebie

After a brief introduction period, US Airways has become the next big airline to bring the Gogo Inflight Internet service to most of its planes. Starting this week, the service will be available on all US Airways Airbus A321 planes, and for the next seven days, access will be free of charge (June 1st – June 8 11:59pm)

When you board a Gogo enabled plane, you’ll see a Wi-Fi symbol next to the boarding door, as well as an instruction card in the seat pocket. Once the plane passes 10,000 feet (and the captain permits it), you can turn on your laptop, PDA, iPad or smartphone, and access the network.

After this week, access will cost $4.95 on flights up to 1 1/2 hours, $9.95 ($7.95 for small mobile devices) on flights up to 3 hours, and $12.95 ($7.95 for small mobile devices) on flights over 3 hours. On select flights, you’ll even be able to access the service up to 100 miles beyond the U.S. border.

To learn more about the service, how to connect, and where it’ll be available – check out the US Airways Gogo Inflight Internet page.

How to get free WiFi on your holiday flights!

One of the best innovations in travel over the past year has been the roll-out of wireless Internet access on flights. It has allowed us to check e-mail, get work done, and update our Facebook status, all at 35,000 feet. What cold be better? It truly is a wonder of modern technology on par with the Hubble Telescope and the Large Hadron Collider.

Fortunately, if you’re traveling this holiday season, there is a good chance you’ll get to test it out for yourself, and for no cost. Our pals over at Gizmodo have the scoop on how you can gain access to free inflight WiFi at least through the end of the year, thanks to some well timed promotional codes that may have been delivered by Santa himself.

According to Giz, the following codes will work through Dec. 31st. If you are flying Delta, then use DELTATRYGOGO, if you’re trip is booked with AirTran, then AIRTRANTRYGOGO should gain you access, and finally, if you’re on American Airlines, then give AATRYGOGO a shot. If for some reason you have issues with those codes, Gizmodo has a few other promotional codes , that are good through January 7, you can try as well. Travelers flying on Virgin America don’t even need a code at all, as they have partnered with Google to offer free inflight WiFi until January 15th.
And before you head out for the airport, be sure to check out Jaunted’s awesome Inflight WiFi Guide, which offers a quick and easy way of determining your chances of having Internet access on your upcoming trip and how much it’ll cost you if you do. Not all airlines have installed the service as of yet, and others are still rolling it out, so it’s nice to know ahead of time if it is even an option.

A big thank you to Gizmodo and Jaunted for sharing this information. It’ll definitely come in hand for many of us over the next few weeks.

Gadling’s ultimate guide to powering your gadgets on a plane

Welcome to the Gadling “ultimate inflight power guide”. After reading this guide, you’ll know everything you need to know in order to power your gadgets, and keep them going during any flight. I’ll explain what all terms mean, and give you some handy tips that will make you a real pro at inflight power.

The basics

The inflight basics really are simple – there are 4 scenarios when it comes to powering technology on a plane:

  • Powering your laptop on flights with seat power
  • Powering your laptop on flights without seat power
  • Powering your gadgets on flights with seat power
  • Powering your gadgets on flights without seat power

To make the whole thing more complicated, airlines offer seat power through four different systems:

  • EmPower
  • DC power
  • AC power
  • USB power

Finding what your airline and seat have to offer

Before you know what you’ll need to purchase in order to power your equipment, you’ll need to know what your airline has to offer.

The easiest way to find this, is to head on over to Seatguru or Seatexpert. These sites specialize in displaying very accurate seat maps, along with all the amenities you can expect in your specific seat. For those of you that fly coach, only a handful of US domestic flights will provide power in the back. Newer airlines like Virgin America understand the need for power, and offer an outlet at every seat, including Coach.

The various seat power systems

EmPower

The EmPower system was the first airline seat power product – it offers 15 volts DC through a special (EmPower) plug. In order to plug your gadget into this outlet, you’ll of course need a compatible cable/charger.

The EmPower system has a limit of 75 watts – which means it can power and charge most laptop computers and low power gadgets. EmPower is becoming a rarity, but there are still some major carriers that installed it back in the early 2000’s and have not yet upgraded their cabin to something more common.

DC Power

Airlines with DC power offer the same kind of outlet you’ll find in your car (often referred to as a cigarette lighter outlet). The advantage of these is that they offer a higher current, the disadvantage is that they only supply 12 volts. Many laptop computers need 19 volts to charge.

DC power can easily be converted into AC power, which means you can invest in a cheap converter, and use your own laptop power supply. These converters do tend to get hot, and many require some additional cooling, so don’t keep them in your bag when you use them. The disadvantage of a DC converter is of course the bulk – using one of them along with your own laptop charger makes for a rather messy pile of cables.

AC Power

AC power is the easiest of all the inflight power solutions. The plane simply offers a regular AC jack by your seat, just like you find back home. These outlets are also limited to about 75 watts – so don’t expect to be able to power your hair dryer from your seat. The AC power comes from the same kind of jack you’ll find at home or your office, and most of them accept US and European plugs.

USB Power

The addition of USB power ports on some airlines has to be in the top 5 of great things they have done for geeks. A powered USB port means you can bring your usb cable with you, and charge your device, without having to invest in special chargers or cables. USB power ports are still pretty rare, but on longhaul flights with an up to date entertainment system, you’ll have a good chance at finding one.

Laptop power on flights with seat power

Lets start with the first scenario – powering your laptop on a flight with seat power. In an ideal world, this would be really simple to accomplish, but the airlines have (as usual) decided to make things complicated by using the different systems mentioned above:

EmPower – Use a DC/Air laptop charger from your manufacturer, or a third party version
DC Power – Use a DC/Air laptop charger from your manufacturer, or a third party version
AC Power – Use your regular laptop charger
USB Power – N/A, won’t charge your laptop

For virtually every laptop brand, you’ll be able to find an affordable and compact DC/Air charger. Pay attention when you pick one – some third party chargers only power off AC, others only do AC/DC (no EmPower). If you want to be 100% certain your investment will work in any scenario, go for a good AC/DC/Air charger. Some good examples of these chargers are

The Kensignton wall/air ultra thin notebook power adapter
($129.99)

Mobility Electronics iGo everywhereMAX ($119.99)

Innergie myCube90
($99.95)

To make matters worse, because of the power restrictions on each outlet, some laptops may only charge – they can’t actually be powered. This means a dead battery will have to be recharged before you can use it again. Thankfully, most recent laptops have low power requirements, which means your charger will power and charge at the same time.


Laptop power on flights without seat power

So, you’ve booked your flight, and the seat map site show no power outlets anywhere near your seat. You’ll have to make a decision – is keeping your laptop working for the duration of the flight that important? Before you invest in any accessories, there are several things you can do to keep that machine running longer:

Turn things down or off

How long is your flight? How long will your laptop work off its battery pack? If you have a five hour flight, and your laptop only works for four hours, you’ll probably be fine – the first and last 30 minutes of the flight won’t allow you to have it turned on anyway. If the flight is longer, or your battery won’t last that long, you’ll need to start saving some power.

Turn your display brightness down as far as you can, without losing the ability to read what is on the screen. Enable as many power saving features as possible, turn off WiFi (unless you are on a WiFi enabled flight). Disable Bluetooth, and unplug any accessories you won’t be needing during the flight. A really conservative power setting can easily add about 30% more run time on your machine. Of course, the harder you make it work, the quicker it’ll burn through your battery – basic word processing will use a lot less than watching an HD Movie off your hard drive.

A second battery

If your battery and flight time really don’t go together, you’ll need to go shopping for something that will keep it working longer. The easiest solution may appear to be a second battery, but these have a couple of disadvantages you’ll need to keep in mind:

  • You’ll need to turn your computer off to do a battery swap
  • An original second battery is very expensive
  • Third party/OEM batteries can be very cheap, but also poorly built
  • Your battery investment will usually only work on this machine

You’ll also need to find a good way to carry the second battery, as they almost never come with a case or other protection method.

An external laptop battery pack

I’m a huge fan of external notebook battery packs – they are usually a bit more expensive than a second battery, but they are future proof – most of them come with power tips that can be used on a variety of brands. If you switch from one model to another, you simply swap out the power tip. Some external battery packs also include a USB charging port, and many of them come with a carrying case. Recently, we reviewed the Tekkeon myPower on Gadling, this battery pack doubles the run time of most computers, and comes with power tips that will allow it to work on almost any brand of laptop.

Powering your gadgets with seat power

Let’s assume you loaded your iPod/iPhone/Zune or other device with some cool movies for the long haul flight. You’ve already burned through 3 hours of battery power on the trip to the airport, and chances are, you’ll only make it through the first of your movies before the “low battery” message appears. There are simple and affordable ways to keep your gadgets going.

EmPower – Find a dedicated EmPower charger cord for your device or an EmPower to AC converter
DC Power – Use a regular car charger cord
AC Power – Bring your AC adapter
USB Power – Use the USB cable included with your device

Powering your gadgets without seat power

If you are not flying an airline that provided seat power, you’ll need to carry your own power source. Just like with the laptop solution, you are going to need a battery pack. Of course, for gadgets, these are much smaller than what you need for a laptop. Many of these devices have an internal battery pack sufficient for 2 or 3 full charges of your mobile device. On an iPhone or iPod, this means you’ll be able to watch movies for up to 12 or 13 hours. There are countless options on the market, and a decent quality battery pack will cost you about $40.

Gadling visits Aircell – the company behind Gogo Inflight Internet

There is no denying it – Gadling loves Gogo Inflight. So much in fact, that we begged to take a look behind the scenes at what makes this inflight Internet service run, and grill their executives on when we can finally have Internet on every single flight we take. It was a fascinating day, spent with people that really love what they are doing.
The geeky side of Aircell

The Aircell network consists of 92 ground stations. Think of them as the same kind of cell tower you have in your back yard, but looking up at the skies. The technology is very similar to what you use on Sprint and Verizon (EVDO Rev.A). Thankfully for Aircell, looking up at the skies requires a hell of a lot less towers than looking towards the horizon (like cellphone companies need to do). For starters, there are no trees and buildings blocking your view, and when you look up, there is no curvature of the earth to deal with.

Some other background information for the geeks – their network uses cellular equipment from Chinese manufacturer ZTE (their first major network sale in the US. The rest of it runs pretty much the same way any major network operates – a lot of Cisco and IBM equipment, and a backbone powered by AT&T. At the moment, each airplane gets 3.1mbit of bandwidth.

Their network operations center was surprisingly boring – a handful of people keep a close eye on the ground based network, and one guy watches the planes. The reason for this is actually great for Aircell – their equipment has proven to be extremely reliable, and they really can keep the entire network running with just a couple of guys.

In their network operations center, the wall has the screens you’d expect from any NOC – a couple of network status screens and a large plasma TV with 100’s of planes. The planes are all color coded to show their status. Thankfully all but one or two planes were green which may have explained the serenity in their room.

Aircell equipment installations

At the moment, Aircell has gear installed on just under 700 aircraft (this does not include installations on private planes). When you realize that just 12 months ago it was only on 23 planes, you’ll understand what an amazing accomplishment this has been.

The really amazing number is that the Aircell team can install the entire system on a plane in just 8 hours. Airlines hate taking a plane out of operation, and obviously, Aircell can’t ask the airline to hand them a plane for a couple of days. So at the moment, the Aircell team arrives at the airport, gets access to a plane at 10pm, and by sunrise, the plane has been equipped with everything it needs to offer Internet access in the skies.

The company

During the day, Aircell opened up every office in the building for me – nothing was off limits. I spent some time chatting with their CEO, their VP of airline operations and even spent some time in their mock airplane cabin complete with coach and first class seating. This cabin-in-an-office is where Aircell did some real hands-on testing of how people work on their computer, and probably realized like the rest of us that using a large laptop in a coach seat is a major hassle.

The future

As Aircell adds more aircraft to its network, and more users learn the joy of inflight Internet, you obviously run the risk of towers becoming too crowded, and the speed grinding to a halt. Thankfully the company is fully prepared to deal with that. When they showed me their current base station map, they showed how easy it is to just add new towers. So easy in fact, that they can even add towers for one specific high-traffic route. So, if too many people start using it between LA and San Francisco, keeping speeds acceptable involves nothing more than a new tower looking up to the skies on that route.

In addition to this, Aircell already has a future plan laid out for a migration to 4G technology. They have picked LTE as their next generation system, and as the market evolves, they’ll be able to beam as much as 100mbit to a single aircraft.

Of course, when I asked which airlines we can expect to join the ranks of the current Aircell customers, the room got rather quiet. But it is safe to say that pretty soon, almost every major US carrier will have committed to offering Internet in the air. There is only one competitor for domestic US inflight Internet access, and they have yet to see a major rollout to any aircraft.

One big topic at the Aircell HQ is video – video is big on the ground, and if it is up to them, it’ll be big in the skies as well. There were very few details about their plans, but if you picture turning your laptop into an inflight entertainment system with content coming from equipment on the plane, you’ll get an idea of how Aircell envisions the future of flying.

Wrap-up

I’d like to thank Aircell and everyone that took the time to speak to me. It was fun to see so many people speak so passionately about what they are doing. Despite some grumblings from the media wondering how they’ll ever make money, the company has a pretty solid outlook on the future. Usage is up month after month, they just reached the one million user mark, and are going to hit two million within the next month.

Obviously most passengers would prefer the service to be free, but when you look at the amount of money that has been pumped into building this network, it is pretty amazing they can offer it at this current price point.