Almost missed this… On the heels of FAA’s decision to allow passengers to use their devices during the takeoff and landing, European Commission (EC) announced the same thing. Those flying through the Old Continent will have to place their devices like smartphones, tablets and e-readers in the “flight mode” that will effectively kill all radio communication (but will make it safer to travel on the plane).
Aside from this, EC has also gave airlines permission to deploy mobile networks on their planes. This in turn will propel the rise of Gogo-like services that will provide passengers with Internet access while flying from one point to the other. It’s up to airlines now to decided whether they’ll adopt these services or leave their passengers disconnected on their travels.
Of course, we don’t expect top-notch speeds while flying as connection with satellites can’t come close to speeds we got used to on the ground. We could still check our emails, cyber-schmooze and get some “lite” work done, though.