Boeing has shut down its in-flight Internet service, Connexion. A step back for the pervasive Internet, but I am not surprised. Here's why:
Insufficient Distribution
Very few airlines used the service, and then provided it only in business class. For example, I have flown Lufthansa a couple of times. I would have gladly paid the $25 (or whatever) for Internet access on the 9-hour flight between Canada and Germany. But the service was limited to business class, cutting off 90% (or so) of the potential customers.
Now it could be that airlines were nervous about outfitting their airplanes with all those wires and then finding no sales, as happened with the seat-back phones. Ever see anyone use them -- at $10/minute? On the hundreds of flights I've made over the last two decades, I saw exactly one person using the phone. And had to listen to him as he talked loudly for the entire 1.5-hour flight.
I did try using the phone once to download email, but the data connection didn't work. And now the seat-back phones are being removed, too.
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