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Low cost airline Ryanair is fitting 14 of its 166 aircrafts with miniature mobile phone masts to enable passengers to make and receive calls, texts, and emails via their mobile phones.
As expected, calling from the sky won’t be cheap and it is expected that the costs will go up to 2 GBP per minute (that’s almost $4 per minute!). Plus, in order to actually use your phone in the air, you’ll have to use either O2′s o 3′s services, at least until other mobile operators sign-up.
O2 will charge between 1.65 and 1.99 GBP for making or receiving a call, depending on the destination, while sending an SMS will cost 40 pence.
There are some limitations, though. While people will be able to send unlimited texts and emails during their flight, only six passengers at any one time will be able to make a call. If someone tries to make a call when six other phones are already in use, they will receive a “network busy” message.
The service, which was introduced in partnership with OnAir, will offer Ryanair another revenue stream, and the airline will roll out the service across its entire fleet if it is deemed a success…
[Via: Times Online]
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
