Inflight broadband
From WikiCover
On September 13, 2007, AirCell announced it is partnering with Virgin America to offer broadband Internet services for passengers traveling in the continental U.S. sometime in 2008. AirCell's new service will allow Virgin America guests to check e-mail, surf the Web, tap into an office network and stay current on the latest news, using either Virgin America's Red inflight entertainment system or their own Wi-Fi enabled laptops, Smartphones, PDAs, BlackBerrys and portable gaming systems -- while in flight.
As part of the partnership, AirCell and Virgin America will integrate AirCell's broadband service into Virgin America's groundbreaking inflight entertainment system, Red. In a first-of-its-kind deployment, Virgin America will launch the service across its entire fleet of aircraft.
This high-speed broadband Internet service is made possible by AirCell's unique air-to-ground cellular network, which transmits and receives data between the ground and the aircraft at broadband speeds.
Upon launch, Virgin America guests will have:
- U.S. broadband coverage, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific and the Canadian to the Mexican borders
- Connectivity on 802.11 Wi-Fi enabled devices
- Real-time access to the Internet (using the passenger's own browser, bookmarks, etc.)
- An array of context and destination-related content