Is that just domestic or international flights as well, Brad?

So that is why it now costs money to cary on more than one bag

It may not be great, but it works in a pinch.  Like, say, when you are thousands of feet above the earth.  Can't hardwire that.

Man, Boeing should never have dropped their bid to create service.  That would've been a very profitable business.  Criminy, the only thing that's kept Boeing up lately has been the missteps of the other aerospace companies.

I called my wife via Skype from the airplane.

My best understanding:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_on_aircraft#USA_Channel_reuse

The EMF issue is a touchy one.  Self-righteous tech users sputter angrily and reference Mythbusters and the like.  While they're right that most of the stuff on a modern jet is shielded, it's not guaranteed for all aircraft in the sky (that's everything made since 1903), nor does it guarantee that there is no interference at all times for all situations for all EM bands.  The anecdotal evidence remains inconclusive in spite of the fact that nothing definitive has been found.  So to keep things easy, electronics are off during critical phases of flight.  And being quite familiar with the workload during those times, I as a pilot do NOT want to be troubleshooting ghosts in the guidance in a high traffic area in the clouds during time-critical maneuvering.

What is the pricing structure?  It was available on our flights (one each way) from the east coast to SD, but I had enough other stuff to do and did not want to bother with it.

That would be awesome

Internet access on a plane is awesome though

Oh and wireless signal is pretty much the same up to 15 feet. I'm like 200 feet away from my router and there are tons of obstructions in the way, and I still get 40% signal strength. (This is 4/5 bars in Vista, but it's really only 40% of the strength of a hardwired connections)

Satellite internet is basically just a big, high powered router with a really well made reflector. If they could build cassegrain receivers into computers we would all have great internet via satellite everywhere on Earth. I predict that 20 years from now, most users will use satellite internet at twice the speed we have now on wired connections.

Instead of WiFi...iFly.

Though I guess you could put swarms of cheap satellites in lower orbit, that would help. Along with being crowded.

hahaha, My new desktop background. Looks like a new cause for AGW

Strange - because the guidelines I saw said it was to be used mostly for Email and such (I guess IM is included?  Or not, does not matter) as a matter of courtesy to your fellow travelers (bandwidth).  Well, I do not need to VC with a terrorist to email him a note saying "passing over the Grand Canyon".  It may be policy, but the stated reason is hogwash.

Not to mention that to break high latency from satellite you would need to go faster then the speed of light.