A few random thoughts about in-flight Wi-Fi, cloud computing and connectivity

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Maybe it was the appearance of the fabled Google Phone — also called the Nexus One — over the weekend. Then again, maybe it’s all this recent talk about cloud computing, and the potentially game-changing Chrome operating system.

Could also be the scuttlebutt about the Apple Tablet. Or the fact that I’m writing this from seat 22A on an AirTran flight back to Orlando.

No matter. If someone with some vision is able to blanket the country with WiMax access points in the near future, and all of our data is stored somewhere in the cloud, and we could access all of the data from tablets, or netbooks, or phones, then we are headed for an interesting future.

Travelers may be on the verge of experiencing a computing revolution. I don’t use terms like “revolution” lightly. But imagine being able to access your information anywhere, anytime and from almost any platform. Kind of boggles the mind, doesn’t it?

There are a few major obstacles, though.

Cost. Even at $10 or so to connect to Wi-Fi inflight, it’s still not worth it for most of the passengers on my flight. (Actually, I don’t see anyone using Wi-Fi. Except me.)

Speed. My connection is intolerably slow. Most users will not put up with so-so speed when their data is stored remotely. The technology has to be better.

Availability. There must be a more efficient way of accessing your data through a high-speed connection than installing wireless access points on every plane. If cloud computing is the future (and I believe it is) then we need more ubiquitous, reliable coverage.

I like Google’s idea of paying for high-speed access at America’s airports for the holidays. What if it expanded “free Wi-Fi” indefinitely and began deploying it in other public areas? What if it upgraded the access points to WiMax? What if someone — anyone — with vision tried to help travelers make a better connection to their data.

That would be revolutionary.

(I’d like to thank Elizabeth Smith and GoGo Inflight for making this post possible. I had just wrapped up a column while I was heading home on AirTran flight 181 from Washington to Orlando, and I remembered that Smith (@cestbeth) had tweeted about GoGo’s coupon code for a free Wi-Fi connection — 2285637934zfa) and here I am, getting a little work done at 36,000 feet.)

(Photo: heatfan1/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • http://everything-everywhere.com Gary Arndt

    I was involved with the internet back in the mid 90′s and I remember futurists talking about how one day it wouldn’t matter where people worked from. With the internet, your location wouldn’t matter.

    It didn’t quite happen right away, but we are starting to see the beginning of this becoming a reality. A world where you can live anywhere, travel anywhere, and be able to stay connected and work the entire time.

    It is getting interesting….

  • Justin

    Chris,

    I don’t know if you are a Mythbuster fan or or not. I am not selling the show, but they did a test and showed cell phones do not cause interference with air plane equipment. So why do I mention this one? Sprint and other providers have 3G service. I would think that if airlines can run wireless that does not interfere on the plane, we could use our cell phones for internet on one. Still, 10 dollars isn’t bad on a few hour flight. You risk your battery going dead before anything else, honestly. If you are on a plane 2-3 hours, having the internet @ 10 dollars is worth it. Slow or not! I mean, it gives you something to do for a while. I think I would be willing to pay, even if the service wasn’t rapid. Still, I would prefer to use my cell phone / 3g device to obtain it, but maybe the coverage wouldn’t be reliable at that. Never tried because of current rules.

  • Jake

    @Justin

    My understanding on cell phones on planes is that the plane is moving so quickly (in relation to the ground based towers) that they can’t handle the hand off of the signal…so while one second the best tower for you may be in Atlanta, the next may be in Savannah, then another city…just a technical limitation of the phone itself. I believe you are correct that once the plane is above 10,000 feet whatever instrument it interferes with is turned off, and therefore not a factor for most of the rest of the flight (until descent).

  • joe Farrell

    Just because you can access the internet does not mean you either have to, need to or should. . . writing the article in Seat 22A does not mean that you need to FILE the seat 22a. . .

  • Cassivella

    When I travel, I look forward to the 2-6 hours I can’t be reached and can’t be expected to answer email and work with data located 30,000 feet below.

    @Gary – the downside to the “you can work from everywhere” is that with a job such as mine (I work for a software company), I am expected to work from anywhere.

    I’ve spent too many evenings/weekends/holidays in airports/restaurants/coffee shops trying to help my customers.

    Yes, I can help you with your unhandled exception error while I am sitting on my butt on the floor at ATL with my cell phone propped on my shoulder, on speaker phone so I have a chance of hearing, remoting into your network on horribly slow WiFi, having the signal drop each time a plane takes off or lands, but is that really customer service?

    If I ever use internet access on a plane (and I avoid those Delta etc folks with the free WiFi coupons like they have swine flu), I hope to spend my time looking at LOLcats.

    Another fun thing…with the advent of cloud computing (in the true sense – where your applications and data live on a computer on the internet and not on the computer in front of which you are sitting), if you are trying to finish up that “one last thing” – finalizing a report, finishing a sentence in an email, etc – and the plane dips below 10,000 feet (the point at which the airplane’s WiFi is either turned off or programmed to stop working) before you hit “save” – guess what? You just lost everything since your last save. Where did it go? Into the clouds…

  • Bill

    As long as space is so tight that the person in front of me can move their seat back, crush my laptop and take away my workspace, they are not going to be able to sell me on it.

  • Karen

    Another code for you free WiFiers: good for your first try

    AIRTRANTRYGOGO
    DELTATRYGOGO