Brent’s work in Mobile, Alabama, involves putting the Internet on commercial airplanes. It’s cutting edge technology and he’s really excited to be working on it. Soon, people will be able to surf the Internet with their wireless devices on airplanes as they travel. Surf while they fly.
Currently, the airplanes he is working with are held by international companies. The US is really behind in bringing the Internet to air travelers, but they are expected to jump onboard soon as more passengers demand such services.
CNN just did a story on this recently. They mention that wireless Internet access is available (or will be soon) on Lufthansa, Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, China Airlines, Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, and Israel. Brent’s company, Star Aviation is the brains behind the process. Boeing’s Connexion network contracts the satellite Internet service and while some airlines offer this free to their business passengers, others are charged from $10 on short flights to $30 for long flights with download data speeds of 5 Mbps per aircraft, shared among all in-flight users. The speeds are slow due to the satellite access speeds.
He’s having the time of his life and this is just the start of the growth of this kind of technology.