Southwest Airlines Offering In-Flight iMessaging for $2 Per Day

[kdarling]

Wow, paying $2 to send kilobytes worth of data?

Dedicated towers or satellite links cost money. Lots of money. Plus the initial cost of equipment and installation per plane (~$100,000).

It's like when people complain about internet cost on a cruise ship. There's no cable trailing behind the boat. Each ship is paying up to tens of thousands of dollars per month for its own satellite connection.

I thought paying per text message was enough of a rip off.

Paying per text message makes total sense, as an SMS is the equivalent of setting up a ring for a dedicated voice call, right down to the authentication. Not to mention the store-and-forward capability, receipt option, etc.

Yes, the text itself is piggybacked from the tower to the phone, but that ignores how it got from the source to the final tower in the first place, and then connected to your phone. It's like saying an overnight letter should be free because it rides in a worker's hand with other letters, from the delivery truck to your front door. The real cost is in how it gets that far in the first place.

The amount per text message might be out of line, though.

 

[KylePowers]

They should really just incorporate that $2 or $8 into the ticket price.

Ticket prices seem so arbitrary anyway, I would have zero idea if the price I'm purchasing at is $2 or $8 more than it 'should' be.

 

[Euge]

Wow, paying $2 to send kilobytes worth of data? I thought paying per text message was enough of a rip off.

It's not the amount of data that costs money. You're paying for the services provided that allow you to send kilobytes worth of data.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

The idea here is that if you only want WiFi for iMessage, you only have to pay $2. If you pay more, you get full-fletched access, including iMessage.

How's this possible? iMessage requires wifi. How do you turn on wifi only for iMessage?

 

[iSRS]

Yep. Am on a Southwest flight now. See pic

Nice job. But go into Airplane mode and save yourself and all the other passengers on the plane...

...I mean, save your battery...

 

[JAT]

Wow, paying $2 to send kilobytes worth of data? I thought paying per text message was enough of a rip off.

They charge for the crappy peanuts, too.

 

[iSRS]

How's this possible? iMessage requires wifi. How do you turn on wifi only for iMessage?

Not sure how they will do it, but the Disney Cruise Line has a separate access point network set up for their onboard iPhone app. You get access to all the information in that app while on board, and don't need to buy a package (100 minutes for $55, or 75¢ a minute ad hoc) for internet access.

As a bonus, on my most recent Disney Cruise last month, notifications still came through but I couldn't act on them.

 

[Zmanbaseball2]

If airlines advertise free wifi inflight, they would have more business I think in this modern world. Then other airlines would hopefully follow

 

[eroslws]

I feel like this is targeted to PC owning/non-iPad owning people with iPhones so that Southwest can double-dip in the WiFi fee. You have to be out of your mind to pay the extra $2 on your iPhone in addition to your Mac/iPad when you can use iMessage on them. I love Southwest though, fly with them exclusively several times a month and always buy the $8 WiFi.

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If airlines advertise free wifi inflight, they would have more business I think in this modern world. Then other airlines would hopefully follow

Southwest is $8 for in-flight per device. I think that's pretty damn close to free. If you can't afford $8, there's always Spirit; what a lovely airline. :vomit:

 

[Marrakas]

No thanks, I'll rather use my free text messages, lol.

 

[riverfreak]

They should really just incorporate that $2 or $8 into the ticket price.

Ticket prices seem so arbitrary anyway, I would have zero idea if the price I'm purchasing at is $2 or $8 more than it 'should' be.

Ha ha. Hilarious. Haven't you noticed that airlines are unbundling every single service and charging a la carte? First food, then checked bags, then carry on bags, then nearly indistinguishable tiers of coach, then boarding privileges. Why would they reverse that trend?

 

[BC2009]

I don't get this. Every airline that I've been on that has wi-fi I've been able to iMessage.

Come on people, just be a dumb pipe, don't go and offer select services.

While good if you just want to imessage, it could set a bad precedent in the future. "Want to use your Netflix app instead of our in- flight TV? That'll be an extra $2 on top of your $8 wifi fee."

I think you all miss the point. If you don't want to shell out $8 for WiFi access (which would give you iMessage and everything else), you can opt to pay only $2 and just get iMessage access. It is entry-level pricing in addition to their standard $8 offering.

 

[Cougarcat]

It's not $2 on top of the $8.... its either $2 for just imessage or $8 to get everything including imessage. this is an option for those who dont want to get everything and just need to or want to send messages. they are not stuck paying the full $8

Yes, I realize this. I was imagining a future scenario in which they could cut off access to certain sites like Netflix and then charge more for them.(Before I learned they block Betflix altogether.)

I think you all miss the point. If you don't want to shell out $8 for WiFi access (which would give you iMessage and everything else), you can opt to pay only $2 and just get iMessage access. It is entry-level pricing in addition to their standard $8 offering.

For now...IMO anyone who understands net neutrality should realize why this is a bad idea. If they want to really introduce entry pricing, $2 for a fixed amount of data would be a better way to do it.

How's this possible? iMessage requires wifi. How do you turn on wifi only for iMessage?

They open up the ports for iMessage but block everything else.

 

[alent1234]

so cable companies are evil for bundling channels

and the airlines are evil for charging a la carte for services people want

 

[unplugme71]

The amount of money spent on airfare should have this included.

 

[riverfreak]

Wow, some naive posts in this thread.

First off, $8 a day is pretty good. ~ half the rate of GoGo on other carriers.

Second, if you only want to chat with someone, $2 is a great deal. Get a rum and coke, kick back and chat away. What's wrong with that? I think it's a super smart service, one that is undoubtedly easy to implement.

Someone suggested allowing different apps. Think about the technical implications of that for just moment, okay? Blocking access to specific sites is one thing; allowing/disallowing access to specific protocols is another. Both are easy. Controlling traffic that piggybacks on http is not.

Finally, somebody was complaining that there is no Netflix/Hulu blah blah blah, please tell me when the last time you used a streaming service on airplane wifi? I only use Gogo and never fly SWA so I'm curious if this has ever been allowed. Never has on Gogo (to best of my experience as longtime subscriber). That said, I'm usually more focused on coding or email churn.

 

[kyacker]

If airlines advertise free wifi inflight, they would have more business I think in this modern world. Then other airlines would hopefully follow

I think all it will take is for one of the MAJOR airlines to do this and then the'll all fall in. You will coincidentally see a $20 raise in all fares too.

There's a huge investment in infrastructure for inflight wifi and they have to recoup those costs. I've often wondered what the drag cost alone on having the satellite dome on the roof costs Southwest. They are incredibly conscious of every single cent and fuel economy is one of them.

As for the rest of the industry, I think there are only two other options... Jetblue is using their own system as far as I know (and it's FAST), and Gogo is the other major competitor. With Dish network being owned by Echostar as well and Echostar owning HughesNet, I'd wager that Row44 (the internet hardware provider for Southwest) is either partially or wholly owned by Echostar as well and they're offering the full package to SWA.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds. Southwest's inflight internet is deathly slow right now and I've read there are a few more satellites and more spectrum offerings coming in the future that may not make this so bad. Gogo with ground to air and what Jetblue is using have the corner on the speed market right now.

 

[unplugme71]

I'm shocked MR doesn't charge 5 cents per post. Speaking of which, everyone who reads this know owes me $1.00

 

[alent1234]

The amount of money spent on airfare should have this included.

1/3 of a ticket is TSA, taxes, airport and other fees to pay for the infrastructure

 

[Lumpydog]

Nice job. But go into Airplane mode and save yourself and all the other passengers on the plane...

...I mean, save your battery...

I won't use airplane mode. True story, last time I flew, I left my iPad on the flight. Stupid, I know. I called the airline 30 min later and they connected me to the gate. They looked and it was gone (I had left it under the seat in front of me in its case).

Here's why I won't ever use Airplane Mode again. The iPad was a cellular model and had "find my iPad" enabled. Great - I can find it once it goes online. Not so much. It was locked. A locked iPad, in airplane mode, with find my iPad on.... Can never go back on any network without the password. The message to return it to me with my phone number can never be sent to it. The request to wipe/reset it can never be received.

Yes, I was a moron for leaving my iPad on a plane... But, a locked iPad in airplane mode that is lost or stolen can't be located using find my iPad. I'm guessing it was sold by the thief for parts (if they weren't a thief it would have gone to the lost and found). Reported it to ATT and Apple. It can no longer be activated - which still doesn't help me. Just means it's only good for parts.

I never use Airplane Mode on any of my devices anymore.

 

[ryanmcv]

I actually saw this about a week ago on a Southwest flight (PHX-MDW). I'm surprised they're just now announcing it. Maybe they were testing the service on select flights before the broader roll-out.

 

[KdParker]

Netflix, HBO GO, VoIP, and other services are already excluded from the Wi-Fi access on Southwest.

Ok. So if I am understanding this correctly Wi-Fi access on southwest is Wi-Fi that is limited by Apps or sites?

Once you have Wi-Fi anywhere else I have never questioned whether or not we can use HBO-GO, VoIP, etc.

Wow

 

[wiz329]

I don't get why so many people are saying what a joke this is ...
It's an improvement in consumer options. If you only use a certain service, you are saving $6. It's not rocket science folks.

If you think it's a ripoff, don't use it, shut up, and we'll all be happy.

 

[alent1234]

Ok. So if I am understanding this correctly Wi-Fi access on southwest is Wi-Fi that is limited by Apps or sites?

Once you have Wi-Fi anywhere else I have never questioned whether or not we can use HBO-GO, VoIP, etc.

Wow

$8 is not enough to pay for the bandwidth for half the plane to stream TV

 

[critter13]

Same here

funny ive been able to imessage for free on southwest by connceting to the wifi and not paying. Have they blocked the imessage ports after discovering this trick?

shame lol.

I was going to say the same thing. I wonder if they were testing with those ports open and now they charge $2 to open them up. I think it is a nice option to compliment the free TV. Not sure why there are so many complaints. I can see why people are worried about applying this model to more apps but honestly they already block the video apps I want to use.