There are two kinds of attorneys on airplanes: those who view their time in the sky as a respite from communications and those who have memorized the entire list of approved electronic devices. For both camps, in-flight Internet has largely been a disappointment. For the turn-it-on crowd, that’s because of slow speeds, unpredictable availability, and a complete absence on the international routes of U.S. carriers. For the turn-it-off contingent, wellthat’s because it exists. This status quo, however, is about to change, for better or worse, depending on how you look at it.
In use, in-flight Wi-Fi doesn’t look much different from airline to airline. Boot up a browser, connect to the network, and enter a credit card number or a log-in (you can generally expect to pay between $5 and $25 on a pay-as-you-fly basis, or $40$50 per month if a subscription plan is available). But behind the scenes, carriers use one of two very different technologies to bring the Internet onto their aircraft. Both are getting upgraded.
