by 
Carmella
ANSWERS: 3
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They are being trialled at the moment, and the first airlines will probably be offering them this autumn. They will be aimed at business passengers, and probably expensive.
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It seems that American will be the first to offer this service according to their press release on August 1. http://www.aa.com/content/amrcorp/pressReleases/2007_08/01_connectivity.jhtml
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I'm just going to add to the existing two answers. Remember that anything being transmitted to or from an airplane needs to be done over a) radio or b) satelite. Since internet isn't usually transmitted over radio waves, that leaves satellite. Given that satellite phones are about $2000, and $1/min, satellite internet will not be cheap on planes. I agree that it would be a FANTASTIC thing to have on a flight, especially for those 8hr overseas flights. However, also remember that satellite transmission has limited bandwidth, and the average airplane holds 200-300 people. Even 50 people with laptops would slow the connection down considerably to around dialup speeds. So, even if it is finally put into airplanes, don't expect T1 speeds (unless they rig up some elaborate network for the planes). So, no internet right now, but hopefully there will be in the future.
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