The metal winged beasts of the sky may be quicker than their terra firma counterparts, but planes suffer one distinct disadvantage compared to trains and automobiles. Several hours sealed in a pressurised metal tube six miles up has long equated to zero communication - no phone, no Blackberry, no wi-fi, no laptop.

That’s all changing - in the US at least - with the introduction of Gogo inflight internet. Already operating on three major routes operated by American Airlines, Gogo allows users to connect to a ground-based wi-fi network once the plane ascends to over 10,000 ft.

The cost is $9.95 for flights under three hours and $12.95 for longer flights, although the service is currently restricted to US airspace. For those who would rather read the well-thumbed in-flight propaganda than cough up, the likes of The Wall Street Journal and Frommer’s online travel guides are available free of charge. Gogo is due to launch on several other major airlines, including all 330 of Delta’s mainline aircraft by Summer 2009, but again the service will be restricted to internal US flights.

Reading through Gogo’s FAQ, it seems they’re already expecting to run into problems similar to those experienced by National Express’ wi-fi service, namely significant variations in service availability brought about by demand. Gogo make it clear that certain types of usage will be throttled to ensure nobody eats up all the bandwidth; file sharing, multi-player gaming, streaming audio/video, and VoIP will be given low priority and may not work consistently or at all. Boo.

[electricpig]