

HasWifi Shows You Which Flights Have Wifi - fname
http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/10/13/haswifi

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vidar
This is a neat service for sure and will be useful to many. I would however
like to address the following quote from the TechCrunch article:

"In fact, I now assume that all flights will have Wifi, so when they don’t
(eh, hem United Flight 0059) it’s like someone cut off your oxygen. And it’s
such a rude awakening when you get off the plane and realize that there’s a
thousand emergencies that went down while you were watching the inflight Adam
Sandler movie and you have to scramble for the rest of the day fighting
fires."

If you are working with that kind of pressure for a long time, thats really
counter productive. It can be kind of addictive being that irreplacable but
its bad business.

~~~
ben1040
On the other hand, when I had a travel-heavy job I relished time on planes
because it meant there were 18 hours a week when I was in the air and
absolutely unreachable by anyone.

I'd land and end up with three dozen emails, but at least I could just lie
back and sleep confident that everyone knows I'm out of contact and doesn't
expect an immediate response.

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fname
Hey Guys, this is my little project that keep seems to slowly be turning into
a startup of sorts. Looking for some feedback on the idea, execution and
thoughts going forward with it.

Thanks!

Here was the previous discussion:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1747797>

~~~
jacquesm
Wow, what a neat thing you have on the go there. It's a pity I don't fly much
any more (and most of that was intercontinental anyway), but I can really see
how this is - for a while at least - going to be useful to people.

The reason why I added the 'for a while' bit is that I think that internet
access is like seatbelts, airbags and power steering. First it's a luxury,
then it's common and finally it is simply standard.

So over time there will be a lesser requirement for this but during the
transition period you'll make out handily.

For an 'encore' you could try to find if there are other things that airline
service can be discriminated by and add those, that might give your site more
relevance in the long term.

Much good luck to you!

And congratulations on getting covered by TC, hopefully the rest of the Tech
writing community will pick up on this news.

~~~
fname
Completely agree with you. It's just a matter of time before every flight has
it available. The problem now is that some people have become highly dependent
on it and almost expect it to be available, or go out of their way to make
sure they book a flight where they know it's available. My goal is to make
that a little easier for them.

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timf
Note that one of Kayak's options is to filter by wifi availability.

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jackowayed
Hipmunk should integrate with this (or buy them or write their own) as soon as
possible

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gordonguthrie
In the UK the trains had free wiki which was fab - made going to London
productive. Found out last night that they are now charging for it - cue
grinding of teeth and endless rage.

~~~
sadiq
It actually varies with the train operator, where you're heading and what
class you travel.

That said, you can pick up mobile broadband packages for around $10/month here
with 1GB usage which should have coverage for most journeys in to London.

~~~
daleharvey
mobile broadband is pretty much useless on a train, at least in my experience
on the edinburgh / london train (using a 3 dongle), you pretty much only get a
connection when you are pulling into a station

east coast used to be free wifi, I think virgin charge? and crosscountry dont
have it at all. damnit now I want this service for uk trains.

~~~
corin_
I've had the same experiences with all networks on trains, but for what it's
worth, 3's mobile broadband is by far the worst in terms of both coverage and
speed (from personal experience and that of numerous friends). I'm with
vodafone now and they're great (trains excluded).

