Originally Posted by
TWA Fan 1
The system weighs 300 lbs total and costs $100,000 to install.
At $12.95 a pop (the cost on DL and AA) that can be recouped pretty darn quickly...
Sure, and there is no need to consider long-term operational costs or anything else, right? On the Aircell/gogo front my understanding is that a significant portion of the capital investment is coming from Aircell, not just from the carriers. The costs for Aircell to maintain and operate the system are reasonably high so they need a pretty decent subscriber stream to stay in business. It is the same "problem" that Connexion had.
The initial HW install on the planes isn't so bad but the other costs are significant.
Also, it is only $12.95 for flights over 3 hours. It is $9.95 for shorter flights and $7.95 for PDA/iPhone access rather than a laptop. There are rumors of daily passes (for connecting flights) and monthly passes coming along soon.
Originally Posted by
TWA Fan 1
U.S. carriers with internet service are currently AA, DL, and VX. WN is currently testing an internet solution. B6 has one internet-equipped plane.
B6 has zero internet-equipped planes. They have one with a version of the Kiteline product that is a horribly limited selection of specific sites that they want to expose. FL is going to be fully gogo-equipped by the end of the summer. AA has only the domestic 767s now but they are adding more planes to the deployment shortly. DL is done with the MD88s and almost done with the MD90s; not sure what is next for them. And United has announced plans to pilot gogo on some planes so that is coming soon. Ditto for AC, though it will only operate within range of the US border and on trans-border flights for now.
Originally Posted by
TWA Fan 1
The biggest problem for CO is probably the lack of seat pitch, the fact that, for many people, the economy section on CO is so cramped that it is very hard to comfortably use a laptop.
I guess that just depends on the size of the person and the laptop. I can use mine just fine.
And, to the OP, CO is looking at it but it isn't happening anytime soon based on the comments they've made. There will likely be kiteline (for free) eventually, but not until late 2009 at the earliest and that depends a lot on LiveTV making it functional.