Articles tagged “wi-fi”

Business travelers’ expectations for Wi-Fi will only grow as more airlines, subway systems, and now cabs are offering connectivity and those that don’t offer the service will seem even more archaic.

In-flight Wi-Fi is an expensive undertaking for airlines that can stand to wait for future profits, a luxury that Qantas couldn’t afford but Etihad is more than able to swallow.

Qantas, already troubled with all kinds of operational and management issues, wants to focus less on forward-looking-profits-in-future services. Understandably.

Airlines juggle a commitment to outfitting their jets with Wi-Fi alongside bankruptcy, remaining profitable, and finding time to take aircraft off the runway. The process is slow, but Wi-Fi will eventually be ubiquitous on airlines used by business travelers.

Airline passengers around the world, including most of those who will be flying on the Dreamliner dream-machine, will have to wait for ubiquitous Wi-Fi.

Golden Eagle Acquisitions sees an opportunity in melding content and Wi-Fi technology, but Row 44's relatively small foothold may not make it the ideal tool for the blending experiment. Also, users will evolve more and more towards their own entertainment, so the content part will become redundant over time.

It's about time.

Internet ignorance is bliss. Public Wi-Fi use has jumped 240 percent in the past year, but privacy fears aren’t strong enough to stop users from sharing credit card numbers and work files on open servers.

Airlines must create a goal in delivering Wi-Fi: either subsidize a basic connection for all passengers and make money from higher ticket sales or offer a high-priced service to a limited number of business flyers.

JetBlue chose ViaSat over Gogo with the hope that fast, free Wi-Fi will attract business fliers to the airline that may stay loyal to JetBlue even when it starts charging for Wi-Fi.