[Ti] How high can wi-fi fly?

[Trevor J. Hutley]

At 19:29 +1000 28-5-2003, Les Posen wrote:
>Interesting Cnet article today about Lufthansa amongst others 
>trialling broadband in their long-haul aircraft.
>
>They are contemplating ethernet and wi-fi connections on board, 
>charging something like USD35 for an 8-hour flight. Discussion 
>posited the possibility of also paying for it via airmiles (FF 
>points) and receiving certain feeds, like news headlines, free.
>
>The beancounters estimated that each longhaul plane, if it averaged 
>250 pax per flight of which may be 50-80 would use it, would earn 
>the airline $2mill per year.
>
>Full story is here:	http://news.com.com/2100-1034_3-1010231.html?tag=lh

Les - very interesting article.  Innovative idea !  I do not like the 
pricing model ($35/trip).  My feeling is that at this price, people 
will only use it if they HAVE to.  I doubt if there are ever 50 or 80 
on a plane with a decent laptop with wifi, let alone 50 to 80 who 
owuld need a broadband connection at that price.  If it was on an 
hourly basis, pro rata (eg $5/h) then many more will do it, even if 
only for the novelty.  Assuming I actually use my broadband at home 
for 60h/month for the $60 flat fee, that seems an hourly 'rate' of 
about $1.  So $5/h in a plane is perhaps not unreasonable.

I guess it would also make a difference if we knew the cost to the 
airline of supplying the service.
Are they seeking to develop a competitive advantgae by offering a 
service at cost, or are they simply generating extra high-margin 
revenue ($2m/plane)?  The supplier said the fee for installation was 
modest.  $35/flight sounds ultra-high-premium to me, not at all 
modest.

$2m/plane revenue is a pipe dream, not a realistic business 
expectation, as I see it.

The wifi network at Zurich airport propose CHF 35 (~$20) for 24 h of access.
That is just too much, IMHO, for someone who is transit/in the 
Business lounge for less than 20 minutes usually.  That seems like 
$60/h to me.  No thanks.

This is very parallel to the discussion of the iMusic Store business 
model. If they had selected "you can only download all of an artists 
music works, for just $100" as their model, there would have been 
some takers.  But per track at ¢99 is working on a viable scale.  I 
saw one article that suggested the record labels were getting ¢75 of 
those ¢99, so we can get the idea of who is the source of any rip-off 
element in that pricing!

regards,  Trevor