Passengers nowadays are becoming increasing frustrated with the slow Internet connection that they receive during flights. People use their tablets, mobiles and laptops as a form of entertainment on flights, especially long haul flights with many people choosing them over the traditional book or puzzles. This why airlines have got for to find way to cater for these passengers in order to provide them with the experience that they demand in this technology dependent world.
The existing Wi-Fi found on planes takes the connection straight from the few land based satellites; these aren’t providing enough continuous connection, especially when over water. Ofcom, have reported that they will be licensing a new satellite system meant for aircrafts, trains and ships, this will allow for an internet connection that is ten times faster on flights. The new Wi-Fi connection would get the Internet connection through orbiting satellites resulting in a larger area being covered, including more remote parts of the country where land based satellites are simply not found.
This improvement will mean that passengers will be able to stream video content from sites such as Netflix and BBC’s iPlayer during flights by as early as 2014. This improvement in connectivity will also boost the already high number of people viewing sites like yours on their mobiles, tablets and laptops whilst in-flight.
It is not known if any British airlines plan to utilise the new satellite on their fleets but British Airway’s in-flight entertainment and technology manager has stated that they are ‘closely monitoring developments’, a promising sign for its passengers.
The increased use will drive the demand for mobile and tablet compatible sites and see companies without mobile and tablet compatible sites loose out of sales and visitors. The need for responsive design is becoming greater and greater and is no longer a factor that companies can ignore, especially if they wish to draw more visitors to their site.
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More information about this news can be found at the BBC website.