Articles tagged “wi-fi”

Travelers' expectations for connectivity will only intensify in 2014. Hotel brands that don't adopt quickly risk becoming obsolete while others that cater to guests' digital needs remain relevant.

As airlines worldwide introduce connectivity and ease device usage rules, the competition among service providers including Gogo, Panasonic, ViaSat, and Row 44 will intensify.

These are the opinions of one executive at one of several in-flight Wi-Fi providers that would gain great profits from expanded in-flight connectivity. We can't take his goals as gospel, but it's a vision that all flyers would like to see actualize.

Making in-flight Wi-Fi free for good would change the competitive landscape forcing other airlines to consider free connections for the future. JetBlue might be late to the game, but it's making up for it in a big way.

Suddenly, Southwest and other airlines to come have a new ancillary revenue source: fees for texting. Southwest is offering its new iMessage fee at an introductory price of $2 per device. Introductory fees tend to be replaced by higher fees at a later juncture.

Gogo's reputation as the top in-flight wi-fi provider just received a serious setback. Satellite-based Wi-Fi will soon be the only accepted service as airlines work to compete for the best in-flight service.

If Southwest starts letting its passengers use Wi-Fi when the aircraft leaves the gate or soon thereafter that will amount to a lot more time online than other airlines are offering. That's more opportunity for increasing Wi-Fi fees, too.

Gogo's air-to-ground Wi-Fi network has been rendered even more of a legacy system by the new FAA rules on portable electronic devices because Gogo would have make massive changes to it to make the Wi-Fi system work below 10,000 feet.