{"id":967,"date":"2009-12-09T00:01:21","date_gmt":"2009-12-09T08:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=967"},"modified":"2013-02-10T21:38:07","modified_gmt":"2013-02-11T04:38:07","slug":"high-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=967","title":{"rendered":"High Internet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finally it happened. I stumbled across a flight that offered WiFi Internet access. At 30,000 feet.
\n
\nWay back when, a long time ago, when wireless networking was just a preemie, I turned on my laptop on an Alaska Air flight. Up in the air. Against the rules.<\/p>\n

The wireless networking gizmo was in the on position. I didn\u2019t know it! I swear!<\/p>\n

Yes, I\u2019ve heard the tales of how wireless anything<\/em> causes a plane to turn into a fireball and instantly go thundering toward the ground. Such a disaster would obviously be blamed on the only dork on the plane who bothered to turn on his laptop\u2019s wireless networking. The arrogant fool.<\/p>\n

Of course, the plane didn\u2019t crash. I didn\u2019t even get an urgent, panicked announcement form the pilot. \u201cTurn that damn thing off!\u201d Nope, nothing.<\/p>\n

So, while I was being naughty, I opened the wireless networking browser window just to see whether I could pick up any wireless networks.<\/p>\n

And I did! I found several networks available from 30,000 feet – including one called ThermonuclearTesting. But there wasn\u2019t enough time to log on; the networks appeared and disappeared quickly as I flew over them.<\/p>\n

Times have changed. Now some planes come equipped with wireless Internet access. I\u2019m on such a plane right now as I type this blog entry. The wireless service is called GoGo.<\/p>\n

Like most wireless services, such as those you\u2019d find in a hotel lobby or at the airport, you connect to the service as you would any wireless network. Yes, that means you must activate your wireless network adapter, which is kind of cool given how forbidden it\u2019s supposed to be in an airplane. But anyway.<\/p>\n

After connecting, you open a web browser window. The only place you can browse to is the service\u2019s site. That\u2019s where the money happens.<\/p>\n

Yep, none of this stuff is free.<\/p>\n

Well, I suppose it\u2019s free if you\u2019re in First Class. I\u2019m not in First Class, of course. Yeah, once upon a time I flew First Class when I was on business. But now, for the higher price, all you get is a bigger seat. After losing 70 lbs, I don\u2019t need to pay three times the ticket price just to sit in a wide-ass seat. Money is money.<\/p>\n

\"gogo-internet\"<\/p>\n

Anyway, GoGo surprised me at not being as hellaciously expensive as I thought it would be. Yeah, you may balk at $13 for a 24 hour pass, but that\u2019s typical for some hotels and convention centers. In fact, it\u2019s in the mid-range of what I\u2019ve paid before. The $25 monthly pass isn\u2019t that bad, either. Heck, I once paid $35 a month just for crappy old dial-up Internet!<\/p>\n

To answer your next question: No, I didn\u2019t pay to get GoGo so that I could update Facebook and brag that I\u2019m updating Facebook while flying at 30,000 feet from Cincinnati to Salt Lake City. My life has more going on than that (which makes you wonder why I bother with Facebook at all!)<\/p>\n

Actually, what I\u2019d really like to see on an airplane would be a power socket. I\u2019d pay for that! Yessir!<\/p>\n

Update.<\/strong> Got a free GoGo pass on my next flight. Next post (Friday) I’ll let you know how it went.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finally it happened. I stumbled across a flight that offered WiFi Internet access. At 30,000 feet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main","tag-laptop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=967"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":973,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions\/973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}