Brain Stormer: In-flight internet, an idea whose time has come

Recently the government announced that it is finally considering allowing wireless internet connectivity onboard flights in India. This is a long overdue decision and enables India to catch up with a standard practice across the United States where In-Flight WiFi has become a standard feature on most flights. Several international carriers such as Emirates offer a limited amount of free data on all their international flights along with full mobile connectivity as well.

The main argument against allowing in-flight calls and internet is a very talkative fellow passenger might disturb the entire plane. And what about passengers who watch more risque content on their devicesIJ As for the former, experience so far has been very positive as the calling rates from the planes is extortionate and few calls are made. Most airlines disable app-based call from applications such as FaceTime or WhatsApp.

As for the content issue, ever since passengers have been able to take their personal devices onboard this risk has become n there. But with the punishment for bad behaviour being a possible flight ban or jail, such cases have been few and far between over the past few years in the US.

But airlines have had success with plain and some internet because their charges are seen as fair. On a flight inside India it would appear that people would be willing to pay around 500 rupees for connectivity. While some will complain that such services will take away the last area of privacy and being offline, the fact remains in today's 24x7 world, the consequences of being offline are scarier than one can imagine with real and imagined controversies built up in seconds by malevolent users of social media. So, yes bring on In-Flight WiFi, and let us surf the skies.