G-Connect in-flight Internet pricing plans

If the pricing is indeed in the range which GConnect suggests it will be, I will be very impressed. In-flight, satellite based service at less than half the price of standard OOB cellular data rates from Vodacom, MTN and Cell C – not bad.
 
“At this stage our business model predicts estimated pricing of between 50c en 90c per MB for G-Connect customers. We have not yet investigated pricing for integrated partners,” said G-Connect
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What a RIP?
 
sounds very expensive, but so is flying.....
 
Tns said:
sounds very expensive, but so is flying.....
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I also thought so at first, but remember that you are unlikely to download a linux distro or update windows or download a movie etc on a flight.

You will check email, maybe do some IRC or MSN or whatever, and maybe a FB update. 100MB, R90, and you are in Cape Town already.

Not too bad.
 
I agree with Moederloos. I'd be very happy doing emails, online smsing, mxit and lightweight browsing, like checking mybroadband. Surely this wont cost an arm and a leg, but will keep you entertained throughout the flight.
 
rpm said:
If the pricing is indeed in the range which GConnect suggests it will be, I will be very impressed. In-flight, satellite based service at less than half the price of standard OOB cellular data rates from Vodacom, MTN and Cell C – not bad.
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+1
 
Sounds impressive so far.

And I agree with what has been previously mentioned...you'll most likely be emailing/chatting on MSN/doing some browsing whilst in a plane. Whilst you could browse youtube or stream music, that wouldn't really be necessary on a flight within this region.
 
I think its a step in the right direction, so im gonna be positive about this one.

If it costs me say another R500 to do some surfing, emailing, instant-messaging etc when flying somewhere I'll budget for it. Its worth it. One thing I've always missed when in the air is an internet connection.

So i'll be looking forward to it.

On a lighter note, I also like it cause people can leave Google Latitude running so the next time a plane crashes in the sea we might actually know where! (since apparently is almost impossible for the plane to log its GPS coords offsite for some mind-boggling reason...Air France, case in point.)
 
afaik satellite latency is pretty high, so i don't think streaming anything live - like voip is going to be feasible. youtube perhaps as asynchronous streaming doesn't really matter.
 
rurapente said:
I think its a step in the right direction, so im gonna be positive about this one.

If it costs me say another R500 to do some surfing, emailing, instant-messaging etc when flying somewhere I'll budget for it. Its worth it. One thing I've always missed when in the air is an internet connection.

So i'll be looking forward to it.

On a lighter note, I also like it cause people can leave Google Latitude running so the next time a plane crashes in the sea we might actually know where! (since apparently is almost impossible for the plane to log its GPS coords offsite for some mind-boggling reason...Air France, case in point.)
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I've always wondered about this. Logging of airplane's coords. If a consumer grade phone can do it, why not an airplane. Damn, if I was a pilot, I'd mount my N95 to the window and run Latitude.
 
I am Penguin said:
What a RIP?
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Dont use it then. Its not like you will die if you don't stay connected 24x7. Most of us will use it at that price, I think it's not bad. 50c sounds better tho. Think about it - R2 per meg is what we were paying for land based wireless over GPRS.
 
henno said:
I've always wondered about this. Logging of airplane's coords. If a consumer grade phone can do it, why not an airplane. Damn, if I was a pilot, I'd mount my N95 to the window and run Latitude.
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US domestic flights can be tracked in real time on the web atm. Wonder why it's not an international requirement. I think the thing is it's done, it's just not in the public domain. You have to wonder why they don't know where every plane is in the air at all times using GPS... that recent disaster over the sea comes to mind.
 
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riempiestoel said:
All US planes can be tracked in real time on the web. Interesting.
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Yeah but if you research its a bit of a "con" firstly its not exactly real-time for security reasons and secondly at some point they lose comms to the base systems (because they're not using sattelite all the time, or its expensive i think Air France said) so the system extrapolates where it is using its last recorded speed and heading.

For example, when you drive your Garmin through a tunnel, its not getting a feed, but its "guessing" based on where it thinks you shuold be going, coupled with your speed and shows you going through the tunnel.

Try this - go into a tunnel at say 80kph. and in the middle - break and stop dead. you'll see it carries on extrapolating your position and moves you out of the tunnel - looks for the live coords which it doesnt get then realizes you didnt exit the tunnel and fails :)

Now imagine a plane's position being extrapolated while its doing over 900kph. If it doesnt show up where the system expects it - you have no clue where it is.
 
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