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Wi-Fi is now being offered at 10,000 feet up, thanks to a new in-flight Internet service by Aircell called Gogo. Aircell, an airborne communication company, has paired up with Delta, Virgin, AirTran, and American Airlines and others to provide this service for flights within North America. AirTran announced today that it would be extending this service to all of its 136 aircraft by midsummer and Virgin American also promised Wi-Fi on all of its fleet by the latter half of 2009. Prices for the Wi-Fi in the sky range from $7.95 for hand held device access to $9.95 for flights less than three hours, and $12.95 for trips that last more than three hours. Customers will not be charged if a flight runs over its scheduled time.
Other companies already offer some form of Internet access, such as LiveTV, which provides JetBlue passengers with free email and shopping on Amazon.com, and Row 44, which has already partnered with South West and Alaskan Airlines. But the latter, which provides service equivalent to Gogo's, is satellite-based and takes an estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars to install per air-carrier. Gogo uses land and offshore towers to provide signal coverage and costs significantly less than $100,000 to install per aircraft, reported CNN.
Although some worry that having Wi-Fi will compromise the integrity of the on flight cell phone ban, some airlines, including AirTran reported that they would ban sites like Skype and NetMeeting from being used.