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Virgin to put Bluetooth into planes, BMI to follow

Can it be possible that we will be allowed to use our phones on flights? Probably not; but what we do know is that both Virgin and British Midland are testing Bluetooth for use on long journeys. Mobile Internet, anyone?

Most new phones have Bluetooth at least as an option, these days, and so when news leaked out from the Enterprise Wireless Technology show in Olympia that Virgin and BMI were in "an advanced stage of testing" bluetooth connections in premium class seats, the first guesses were all based on the assumption that people might be able to use their Bluetooth headsets for making satellite phone calls.

However, increasingly, notebook computer users are being targeted by airlines. British Airways already provides power sockets for notebook PCs, as do several other carriers who want to increase their club class income. And increasingly, today's PC notebook has Bluetooth built in along with WiFi.

Primarily, the purpose of the Bluetooth link is for connecting to phones; but on an aircraft, this is normally a no-no; the "buzz" of GSM phone interference is believed to be able to cause instrument instability (under certain rare conditions). So the rumour is spreading that the airlines will be offering Bluetooth for Internet connectivity.

The normal suspect when it comes to Bluetooth Internet would be Red-M, which makes an access point box - but sources there swear they have nothing to do with the projects at either airline; and rumour at the EWT show pointed to Cisco as being the equipment provider.

Internet can be easily provided on a trans-Atlantic jet, since there are several satellites with the ability to do two-way Internet provision, which have a footprint that covers the journey. The same probably isn't true of Pacific coverage; but neither Virgin nor BMI covers that part of the world.

Bandwidth is hard to judge, pending an official announcement from either airline. Staff at BMI said there was "no scheduled release" for the technology as yet, and Virgin sources indicated that a launch date was still being finalised. But there are satellite Internet providers who can match ADSL speeds, both up and down, for rural computer users.

The normal stumbling block for Internet by satellite is the up-front installation cost, which is close to £1,000 or thereabouts, plus a fairly steep usage charge of around £60 a month. But this is hardly going to be a serious disincentive to an airline. What they will have trouble doing, is setting up a suitable antenna - normally, satellite internet requires a fairly large dish, which clearly can't be mounted on a 747 plane.

Lower speed Internet can be provided; satellite-enabled voice telephony was once commonplace in US airspace (it failed to generate much revenue) on less efficient antennae. But this would involve a fairly slow data service if more than one user was connected at a time.

"It's not possible to be clever about guessing capacity," said BT Retail Mobility boss David Hughes, at the show, "because typically, several users connected to the same broadband service all see very good throughput. They tend not to produce peaks at the same time, but spread it around." But he could offer no insight into either airline's plans.