Wi-Fi in the Sky?

"could connectivity prove to be a safety concern?"

No. Particularly if passenger electronic devices continue to be regulated during critical phases of flight.

WiFi is already offered by some commercial carriers such as Delta.

Another cash cow for the airlines.

And why not?

It is no different than the over-priced phone service you can get on some flights, but few people took advantage of it, so it never got traction.

If enough people buy into WiFi they can pay off the investment and then prices will go down.

You're right. It's another service that many people will use.

I'd much rather see WiFi than unlimited cell phone useage on planes.

How will you feel when everyone is having a Skype (or other VOIP enabled) conversation during the flight?

Once passengers have the freedom (or very low costdom) to connect to their virtual realities then you'll see and hear it all.

It could be really good or kinda freaky. Let's see.

Before Wi-Fi, my concept about in-flight connectivity was based on IR.

It's sometimes hard to believe it's 2012

Generally I find no problem with not being 'connected' for short duration flights - 1,2,3, hours. It's "time out"

Most world airports have free Wifi. Some US ports have a charge - usually a ripoff in the $1/minute range along with 56kb/minute performance.

Few US 'long haul' flights are not broken, it's no big deal unless the transit port wants $'s and/or it takes the entire layover to fail to connect. Denver and Chicago come to mind.

When you really want it is mid ocean and this is not being addressed in this US domestic carriers ground based approach.

And, what you want in 'long haul' (6 - 14 hrs) is power for your devices, or it's pointless.

And as anyone reading the links and noting who is doing it, or planning it, the answer to "is it a safety issue" is fairly obviously - no.

Though band-width may be a problem on 3 - 500 seat aircraft.

But if your worried - fly US Air