SouthWest goes WiFi!

Geo "I was on the road for the last 6 years and recently settled into a cube position and NOW SouthWest goes WiFi!. I love their comment about price points. Makes me wonder if they will charge by data use or speed. For all you hackers out there.... Rogue AP works great in Air Ports and even better on plans. On a flight not long ago I exchanged files in Adhoc @ 30,000 feet"

From South West:

As you know, we’ve been testing Wi-Fi on four aircraft since March.  I’m happy to announce we have concluded our testing for inflight Wi-Fi and we are very happy with both the technical performance of the system and the response of Customers who have used it. We are pleased to be continuing with our plans to offer satellite-enabled broadband access through California-based Row 44.

This fall we will be moving to the next step of certifying Southwest’s full fleet with plans to begin fleetwide rollout of the Row 44 satellite service in the first quarter of 2010.  Southwest is ready to have this service up and running as soon as possible and we are excited about these next steps.
 
Over the testing phase Customers have been utilizing the service for anything from e-mail to streaming video.  Those interested in using the service during the test period have had the opportunity to log on to the service via their own personal Wi-Fi enabled device (laptops, iPhones, Wi-Fi enabled smart phones, etc).  Additionally, Southwest has been testing a variety of price points for the service and will continue testing price points through the end of 2009.

The technology works, the product is great, and we look forward to offering more Customers Wi-Fi service in 2010.

Leeched from SW.com