Remember the time when the tiny cabin of an airplane was the last refuge from your boss’ or client’s incessant e-mails? Well, that’s about to end with in-flight Internet access now becoming affordable as well.
M1 yesterday brought out a data roaming plan that provides unlimited surfing on a plane for as low as S$25 a day.
It currently works on planes on 18 airlines that support such in-plane connectivity. The next time you fly Singapore Airlines, British Airways or others, you may be able to surf the Web, send your e-mail and chat online.
For M1’s roaming subscribers, the fees are 20 Singapore cents for each 10KB of data, but this is capped at a maximum of S$25 a day. Pay-per-use customers pay 24 Singapore cents for each 10KB of data, with a cap of S$30 a day.
Until now, such in-plane services have been avoided by users who are afraid of paying hefty charges. The all-you-can-use plan from M1 means they can leave that worry at the departure gate and keep connected while on a long flight.
However, there are no indications from the Singapore telecom operator of how fast the link is, so don’t be expecting to stream Netflix over it. Skype calls may also not be as smooth as on regular Wi-Fi, if that works at all.
Which is perhaps a good thing for folks who just want to sleep on a flight. At least you don’t have to hear the guy next to you yakking about a colleague at work – for now.
I’m sure that $25 will buy you a #bespoke #humblebrag #selfie Instagram picture, followed by an obligatory #foodporn #foodgasm post of bad airline food tray.