Follow-up: Emailing at 33,000 feet

From Techdirt: In-flight Internet Retooled After Slump

A popular topic at Techdirt recently has been the sudden hype surrounding “internet in the sky”. The News Tribune has a good profile of Boeing’s Connexion offering that seems to be losing out on deals to its rival Tenzing in the US domestic carrier market. The Connexion system seems superior in every way, however - from the full internet access (Tenzing gives you very limited internet access) to the flat rate fees. Connexion even says that the pricing is designed to be customer friendly - unlike their rivals. What has surprised me is that no US carrier, so far, has been willing to sign on with Connexion, and has instead, gone with Tenzing. The reason they’re going with Tenzing is they’re all looking for ways to save money - and Tenzing doesn’t charge them to set up the system. However, the Connexion system is so much more useful than Tenzing’s that it’s not hard to imagine a plane with Connexion getting much more revenue out of the system. Connexion does say they’re close to a deal with at least one US carrier, and suggests that it’s a “smaller, more technologically savvy” airline, rather than one of the big guys. My guess would be JetBlue, which keeps saying they’re going to offer internet in the sky, but hasn’t done much to offer it.

My original post: Emailing at 33,000 feet