Shelly Palmer

AT&T is Building an In-Flight Data Service to Launch as Soon as 2015

There’s still something a little magical about poking around on the internet while hurtling through the atmosphere in a metal tube at a few hundred miles an hour, but it’s not quite as good as it could be. At least, that’s the stance AT&T has taken — it just announced that it’s building a speedy in-flight data service “based on global 4G LTE standards” that could go live as soon as late 2015. Just to be clear, here’s what this announcement doesn’t mean: your phone isn’t going to tap directly into AT&T’s LTE network from 35,000 feet. No, what AT&T is doing here is building an air-to-ground network (sort of like the one Gogo has in place) that’ll let airlines provide faster airborne WiFi to passengers and potentially help aircraft transmit more real-time data back down to the ground.

Read the full story at Engadget.