One of my favorite things about air travel? Besides listening to Lionel Richie's You Are and hearing the gentle hum of the engines, it's fact that there's absolutely no cell phones allowed. Needless to say, it's very peaceful - and minus Wi-Fi, it's the only place where I can't be found for a few hours. Should ASiQ's technology take off (no pun intended), we could see a change in the way we use our devices while in the air.
The access point eliminates the need for a picocell on board the aircraft, utilizing the satellite connection instead. The company's SafeCell technology, combined with the Bluetooth Access Point, allows for extremely small file sizes, along with the possibility to transmit up to 3 Mbps. With a price of approximately $10,000 per airplane, ASiQ's Bluetooth Access Point would allow passengers to utilize cellular services (SMS, MMS, voice messaging, and e-mail) while in-flight. Two access points are needed to cover a narrow body aircraft, and the technology supports up to 192 passengers.
How do you feel about this? Let me rephrase - frequent flyers, how do you feel about this? One more step towards full phone use on a plane, or a nice step towards communication while traveling?
