Inmarsat's European short-haul wi-fi spacecraft launches

Re:Inmarsat's European short-haul wi-fi spacecraft launches by krallja on Thursday June 29, 2017 @09:34AM (#14663139)

Airlines can creatively work around this. They could provide a browser on seat-back touch screens, which would be satisfactory to most customers, who just want to watch HBO, Netflix, Hulu (maybe not in Europe), or YouTube.

Also, smartphones have WiFi, so that's a way for the security-aware to control the device for typing your very important passwords into. Bring a Bluetooth keyboard and a phone mount with a built-in magnifying glass, and it's almost a laptop!

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Re:Inmarsat's European short-haul wi-fi spacecraft launches by willvarfar on Thursday June 29, 2017 @09:40AM (#14663182)

I don't think this system's price-point nor bandwidth is going to be suitable for having large numbers of passengers idling hours by watching movies?

I think the target is more likely to be business users doing work during the flight?

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Re:Inmarsat's European short-haul wi-fi spacecraft launches by ghaff on Thursday June 29, 2017 @09:49AM (#14663264)

Although a number of airlines have been moving toward streaming entertainment to user devices rather than having seat-back screens in economy. But those movies are supplied locally. I wouldn't expect in-flight WiFi to work with streaming video from external sources.

In any case, broader laptop/tablet bans seem to be off the table for now.

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