North American Network Operators Group
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Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

  • From: Christian Kuhtz
  • Date: Sat Oct 14 20:35:14 2006 
On Oct 14, 2006, at 2:13 AM, Roland Dobbins wrote:


On Oct 13, 2006, at 1:52 PM, Rodney Joffe wrote:
Maybe the Connexion folks on the list could tell us what is needed to make it work on the network side - I'm sure we have enough resources between us to handle that. And there are a number of aircraft that already have the equipment...
The biggest obstacles to success for a service of this type are a) high cost and b) the lack of AC power throughout most commercial airliners. Some folks are willing to put up with a), but not for just a couple of hours due to b).

Until AC power is prevalent throughout the cabins of commercial airliners, it's unclear whether such a service will attract sufficient subscribers to become economically viable, IMHO.
Sorry, I must be missing something here. What prevents you from equipping EmPower equipped planes with the service? Ubiquity isn't required to add this to those aircraft that have the facilities. It's not like an entire fleet today has the same features across all planes as it stands today.

Such a service would probably only make sense for transcon U.S. flights, where the lack of connectivity can be noticed. And on those routes (at least the airline that I fly) I have about half a dozen or so EmPowered choices each day between, say, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

If there is demand, somebody will find a way.

Best regards,
Christian