Billy Bradford <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu> (01/05/90)
[Moderator's Note: This was forwarded from Telenet's Net Exchange. PT] I flew to Texas for Christmas vacation. On all of the flights (round-trip), after the cabin attendant had finished the usual oxygen mask/saftey flotation cushion lecture, she said "For those of you who would like to make a phone call, there is now a public phone installed in the back of this aircraft. The card in your seat pocket has more information." I got the card and started reading. "The AirFone (or AirPhone, I can't remember which) is a new service being offered by GTE. It allows you to make phone calls from most of the many inter-US airline flights. Rates are printed on back." It then gave information about how to use the phone. You have to use a credit card, US calls are $2.00 a minute, and international calls are $4.00 a minute. Apparently the AirFone is similar to cellular, it said that it worked on a radio network that had stations placed at strategic locations throughout the US. "Occasionally, due to weather conditions, noise may occur in your call or you may get disconnected. If that occurs, please call your AirFone representative and your bill will be credited." That's all that I can remember off of the card, I left it in the seat with my six bucks worth of magazines! +-----------------------+---------------------------------+ | Billy Bradford | "What are you trying to do, | | P. O. Box 1374 | change the world?" | | Anadarko, OK 73005 | "No, just my little corner | | (405) 247-7016 | of it." | | | ---A Digest contributor | +-----------------------+---------------------------------+
"John R. Levine" <johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us> (01/06/90)
I have used Airfones a few times. You walk to the phone (unless it's
in the back of the next seat, as on some Trump shuttle planes) and put
in a credit card, then it unlocks and you can take the handset, which
resembles a cordless phone, back to your seat. It takes the usual
cards, Amex, MC, VISA, but not any telco calling cards. You wait,
sometimes a long time, for it to seize a channel and get a dial tone,
then dial calls the usual way.
They're very expensive, $7.50 for the first three minutes for calls
withing the U.S. and about $2/minute after that. (The rates may have
recently been changed, but not by much.) Directory assistance is
free, 800 numbers are not. International calls are possible but I
haven't tried any.
The bad news is that they don't work worth beans. The connection is
terrible, sort of like talking to East Germany, with lots of static
and distortion, often to the point where you can't understand the
other person. There is interference on the plane itself, and I've
found that you hear a lot better if you keep the phone next to the
base rather than going back to your seat. The phone only works when
the plane is actually in the air, so the time when you most need it,
when you're stuck on the ground for an hour waiting for a landing slot
so you can take off, you can't use it. In short, I don't think it
merits the radio channel that the FCC has assigned it.
The Airfone company has had a checkered career. There used to be some
connection with GTE, since severed. It is run by Sandy Goeken, who I
believe is the daughter of the guy who started MCI, who like her
father had to overcome innumerable technical and political barriers to
get the service started. I only wish she'd turned her talents to
something more worthwhile.
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl