So I’m sitting in the US Airways (I know I know) terminal at LaGuardia right now. And guess how I got online? Yep, I paid $7.95 to a company called Boingo, which supplies the wireless connection.
But now that I’m online, I just found a great little trick that lets you save that $7.95 and get free wireless Internet at any airport. Here’s all you have to do:
Add “?.jpg” after any website address. That’s it. For instance, if you want Google, just type in www.google.com/search?.jpg/.
Enjoy!
If you’ve been following technology in the airline sector for the past few months, you’ve probably heard that a number of airlines are getting ready to integrate wireless internet into their fleets. Earlier this month, Jetblue launched service (albeit limited) in one of their jets, and Virgin America, American Airlines and others have similar plans for the first quarters of next year.
With added flexibility in the skies, however, comes a higher probability of abuse. Earlier in a discussion about cell phone usage in the sky I pointed out that with wireless internet will come the ability to Skype and VOIP from above. In such close confines, both internet phone calls and browsing create tons of privacy and etiquette issues. Is it possible for a businessperson to sit between two people and jabber about confidential company information at top volume? Sure. Is it ethical? Probably not. What about the kid looking at graphic internet content while sitting next to a family in the back of the plane?
To curb some of these issues, airlines are taking a variety of defensive steps. Some, like Qantas, are blocking questionable sites completely so that they can’t be visited from above. Others have chosen to let the populous govern itself, pointing out that they can’t control the magazines or books that people bring on the planes either. I like this idea a lot, but when I think about all of the numbskulls out there, I don’t think it will end up working. Maybe we’ll get lucky.
Me? I just want to check my gmail and get my reading done. I’m looking forward to the wifi, even if it is regulated.
Here are some tried and true tips from Rob Pelton (of National Geographic) on how to get the cheapest airline tickets. His take home message? “Low, low airfares aren’t always on the Web.” His top tips?
I remember how thrilled I was when wireless became so common place at airports, and although talked about for a few years now, it always surprised me how it hadn’t got onto flights yet. Little did I know that the Internet-on-flights saga has had its twists and turns.
Although never introduced on any American airlines, Internet has been on certain carriers since 2004. The broadband service was initially provided by a Boeing company called Connexion that shut down last year because it didn’t work out to be economically viable — not enough people were making use of broadband Internet in the air.
I suppose things have changed over the last three years and having wireless on aircrafts seems to have come back onto the agenda. From next week, JetBlue Airlines will start offering free email and instant messaging on the aircraft; American Airlines, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines plan to offer wider usage in the following months; and beginning 2008, all Lufthansa long-haul flights will have broadband.
Emirates seems to be leading the pack as it has maintained email and SMS services on its flights since 2004! You don’t even need a laptop, you can do it on a screen behind the seat in front of you. They even have in-seat phones that allow you to call anyone from the sky for US$5 a minute — on average 6,000 calls are made per month, basis which Emirates recently announced that it will be the first airline to allow mobile phone use on board.
Although some awesome material could be gathered from live in-the-sky-blogging, and even though there will be restrictions on connectivity, I don’t see how they would be able to stop people from disturbing others by speaking loudly on the phone or having cybersex through the web-cam. I’m not so sure anymore if I would want this in-flight option, would you?
To update you on the story that Erik posted earlier, it has been confirmed that JetBlue is launching its wireless product on (one of) their airplanes next week.
But with a hitch.
Due to marketing partnerships that the company has forged with Yahoo and Blackberry, fliers will only be able to check their Yahoo mail wirelessly. They can also use one of two approved Blackberry models to get onto the Jetblue network and check personal and work email, but only on those two models.
My preliminary data indicate that this should make about 7% of Jetblue fliers happy while pissing off the other 93% who don’t use Yahoo mail or a crackberry.
Apparently, general surfing is still not allowed; they haven’t got the bandwidth yet to cover it. Not to worry though — most forward thinking airlines including Alaska Air, Soutwest and Virgin America have plans to integrate wireless in the next year or so. I think that sooner or later Jetblue will open up their bandwidth as well.
Via MSNBC
