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Virgin America‘s in-flight Wi-Fi service will launch on Monday for a beta test that is intended to last just one week before a planned commercial launch Dec. 1.
The fledgling domestic airline is making one of the most aggressive moves into in-flight broadband, though most U.S. carriers have announced at least trials or other tests. Virgin plans to have the system from Aircell deployed on all its planes by the middle of next year. On Saturday, it will unveil the service with a flourish, streaming part of the YouTube Live online video event from a plane flying over the San Francisco Bay Area. That plane will go on to serve as the beta test plane, and all passengers who take it will get free Wi-Fi during the test period.
Interest in Wi-Fi on commercial airliners is growing despite the closure of the highest-profile in-flight system, Connexion by Boeing, in 2006. The services, which in general won’t allow VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) calls, could be a critical revenue source for ailing airlines as well as a convenience for passengers.
Virgin will charge US$9.95 for a flight of three hours or less and $12.95 for longer flights. Internet access won’t be filtered for content or applications, except for the VoIP restriction, said Virgin spokeswoman Abby Lunardini. Aircell has said it has mechanisms to manage the shared bandwidth to prevent one user from taking it all.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/154301/virgins_inflight_wifi_coming_monday.html
