Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Patrick W. Gilmore


On Oct 14, 2006, at 9:04 PM, Todd Underwood wrote:


I disagree.


i disagree with your disagreement.


You are welcome to your opinion.



Seat power is ubiquitous on some airlines (e.g. American), and
available in all but coach on others (e.g. Virgin, Luftansa).  It's


all but coach?  seriously?  hilarious.

democracy is available to all but the majority

wealth is available for all but the middle class and poor

come on.


In Virgin, BA, etc., there are frequently -four- classes on an  
international flight.  You can get premium economy just by having  
status on some airlines, or buying a full-fare coach ticket on others  
(e.g. BA).  It really ain't that hard, or expensive.  Especially for  
biz travelers who can't always make plans a month in advance.


That said, yeah, I mostly fly coach.



seat power is not ubiquitous on american, either.  it's on every 3rd
seat or some nonense and there's no way to figure out whether you are
in such a seat.

i identified this early on as one of th emajor factors causing this
service to fail.


Interestingly, I fly over 50K miles per year on AA on average and  
have very, very rarely not had seat power.  Guess I've been lucky.


BTW: Jet Blue, whom I love otherwise, says they will not install seat  
power.  Something about the cabling for the TV.  They were very nice  
about my request, but very firm about not having any plans for seat  
power any time in the future.  I guess TVs make more money than laptops.




AC power is not required.  Bigger seats might be. :)


bigger seats may not be required.  ac power is.


This is where we disagree.  My G4 PB gives me 4 hours of use with a  
new batter, and over 2 hours with a 3 year old battery.  I hear the  
new Intel ones give 5+ hours.  How much do you need?  SJC - IAD is  
only 5/6 hours, and you can't use your laptop the whole time (take  
off, landing, snacks, toilet breaks, etc.).


However, that same 12 PB (not a large laptop by any definition) on  
Luftansa is close unusable in coach if the person in front of you  
leans back.  I had to contort pretty horribly to use it.  (Which I  
did, 'cause I -had- to send e-mail from the plane. :)  Lack of seat  
power was not an issue, I just had two batteries.  And this was BOS - 
 MUC, which ain't a short flight.


Using a 15 or larger laptop on that flight is essentially  
unthinkable.  I could not have opened the laptop enough to see the  
screen.  During meals, the flight attendants made everyone sit up,  
otherwise the people behind them wouldn't have been able to eat.   
Yes, it was that bad.



Summary: Bigger seats are required, seat power may not be.  Maybe  
this is how they get you to upgrade so you can use seat power. :)




P.S. I used it for  4 hours on Luftansa in coach, without seat
power.  And would happily pay $27.95, perhaps more, to use it again.


/me too.  the price is well-worth it.


At least we agree on something.

--
TTFN,
patrick



Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Mikael Abrahamsson


On Sun, 15 Oct 2006, Patrick W. Gilmore wrote:

e-mail from the plane. :)  Lack of seat power was not an issue, I just had 
two batteries.  And this was BOS - MUC, which ain't a short flight.


It's quite likely that on a grander scale of things, it's better economy 
that the few people who want to use their laptop the whole flight, do get 
two batteries, than doing the investment of putting AC power in all seats.


Otoh, more batteries on planes increases the risk of fire due to exploding 
batteries happening in the plane :P


--
Mikael Abrahamssonemail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]


Re: time.nist.gov

2006-10-15 Thread Peter Dambier


Roy wrote:


time.nist.gov (192.43.244.18) seems to be down.  I tired it via several 
different paths.  I can't find any notice that this is a planned event.


Does anyone have any further info?

Roy


Nothing found.
It was dead yesterday.
Now it is working again.

Kind regards
Peter and Karin

--
Peter and Karin Dambier
Cesidian Root - Radice Cesidiana
Graeffstrasse 14
D-64646 Heppenheim
+49(6252)671-788 (Telekom)
+49(6252)750-308 (VoIP: sipgate.de)
mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://iason.site.voila.fr/
https://sourceforge.net/projects/iason/
http://www.cesidianroot.com/



Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Todd Underwood

patrick, all,

On Sun, Oct 15, 2006 at 04:56:34AM -0400, Patrick W. Gilmore wrote:

 AC power is not required.  Bigger seats might be. :)
 
 bigger seats may not be required.  ac power is.
 
 However, that same 12 PB (not a large laptop by any definition) on  
 Luftansa is close unusable in coach if the person in front of you  
 leans back.  I had to contort pretty horribly to use it.  (Which I  
 did, 'cause I -had- to send e-mail from the plane. :)  Lack of seat  
 power was not an issue, I just had two batteries.  And this was BOS - 
  MUC, which ain't a short flight.
 
 Using a 15 or larger laptop on that flight is essentially  
 unthinkable.  I could not have opened the laptop enough to see the  
 screen.  During meals, the flight attendants made everyone sit up,  
 otherwise the people behind them wouldn't have been able to eat.   
 Yes, it was that bad.
 

i managed to post:

http://www.renesys.com/blog/2006/04/tracking_plane_flight_on_inter.shtml

with a 15 thinkpad from coach on lufthansa.

so that includes the ssh session to screen to coorindate with
coworkers, the several browsers, the emacs window and all the typing.
it's not a short post, it has pictures that had to be screencaptured
(or grabbed from the boeing nanog preso, respectively), but it wasn't
overly difficult.  maybe i'm just more of a contorionist than most.  

the issue of power is the same, i think as the even bigger issue of
consistency/predictability which is what rodney was trying to point
out, i think.  people want to know that they're going to be able to
use the service and they want to know this in advance.  since no
airline rolled it out on every single flight and no airline gave
advance notice to passengers which flights would have the service, it
was impossible to plan on being able to use it.  that does two things:
1) it reduces the value of the service since it now becomes a happy
coincidence rather than a planned part of the work day; 2) it makes it
less likely that everyone will already have a full charge on their
laptop batteries.

having power at every seat would be easy and they should just do it. 

t

_
todd underwood  +1 603 643 9300 x101
renesys corporation chief of operations  security
[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.renesys.com/blog/todd.shtml


Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Alexander Harrowell
I wrote a 800 word article on a 15 Powerbook in Singapore Airlines economy class last year, and filed it via Connexion..and that was quite neck-yanking enough.On 10/15/06, 
Todd Underwood [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
patrick, all,On Sun, Oct 15, 2006 at 04:56:34AM -0400, Patrick W. Gilmore wrote: AC power is not required.Bigger seats might be. :)  bigger seats may not be required.ac power is.
 However, that same 12 PB (not a large laptop by any definition) on Luftansa is close unusable in coach if the person in front of you leans back.I had to contort pretty horribly to use it.(Which I
 did, 'cause I -had- to send e-mail from the plane. :)Lack of seat power was not an issue, I just had two batteries.And this was BOS -  MUC, which ain't a short flight. Using a 15 or larger laptop on that flight is essentially
 unthinkable.I could not have opened the laptop enough to see the screen.During meals, the flight attendants made everyone sit up, otherwise the people behind them wouldn't have been able to eat.
 Yes, it was that bad.i managed to post:http://www.renesys.com/blog/2006/04/tracking_plane_flight_on_inter.shtml
with a 15 thinkpad from coach on lufthansa.so that includes the ssh session to screen to coorindate withcoworkers, the several browsers, the emacs window and all the typing.it's not a short post, it has pictures that had to be screencaptured
(or grabbed from the boeing nanog preso, respectively), but it wasn'toverly difficult.maybe i'm just more of a contorionist than most.the issue of power is the same, i think as the even bigger issue of
consistency/predictability which is what rodney was trying to pointout, i think.people want to know that they're going to be able touse the service and they want to know this in advance.since noairline rolled it out on every single flight and no airline gave
advance notice to passengers which flights would have the service, itwas impossible to plan on being able to use it.that does two things:1) it reduces the value of the service since it now becomes a happy
coincidence rather than a planned part of the work day; 2) it makes itless likely that everyone will already have a full charge on theirlaptop batteries.having power at every seat would be easy and they should just do it.
t_todd underwood+1 603 643 9300 x101renesys corporation chief of operations  security
[EMAIL PROTECTED]http://www.renesys.com/blog/todd.shtml


selection of new NANOG programme committee

2006-10-15 Thread Joe Abley


The SC plans to select a new Programme Committee during their meeting  
on Thursday 19 October. The complete list of PC candidates is here:


  http://www.nanog.org/pccandidates06.html

If you have any opinions or comments you would like to share with the  
SC about any of the PC candidates please feel free to send them to  
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


[Comments received will be archived in a private mailing list archive  
accessible to the SC, will be used only as an aid to the PC selection  
process, and will not be forwarded outside the SC.]




Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Owen DeLong
This may be a nit, but, you will _NEVER_ see AC power at any, let  
alone all of

the seats.  Seat power that works with the iGo system is DC and is not
conventional 110 AC.

Owen

On Oct 15, 2006, at 3:39 AM, Mikael Abrahamsson wrote:



On Sun, 15 Oct 2006, Patrick W. Gilmore wrote:

e-mail from the plane. :)  Lack of seat power was not an issue, I  
just had two batteries.  And this was BOS - MUC, which ain't a  
short flight.


It's quite likely that on a grander scale of things, it's better  
economy that the few people who want to use their laptop the whole  
flight, do get two batteries, than doing the investment of putting  
AC power in all seats.


Otoh, more batteries on planes increases the risk of fire due to  
exploding batteries happening in the plane :P


--
Mikael Abrahamssonemail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]




PGP.sig
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread vijay gill


Owen DeLong wrote:
This may be a nit, but, you will _NEVER_ see AC power at any, let alone 
all of

the seats.  Seat power that works with the iGo system is DC and is not
conventional 110 AC.



Is this your final answer? I've used AC power in lufthansa business 
class. Makes the 8 or 9 hour trip back to the states much more 
interesting if you can have internet via connexion the whole way.


/vijay






Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread John Levine

This may be a nit, but, you will _NEVER_ see AC power at any, let
alone all of the seats.  Seat power that works with the iGo system is
DC and is not conventional 110 AC.

Perhaps I was hallucinating, but when I flew from Auckland to LAX on
Air New Zealand earlier this year, I had a 110V outlet into which I
plugged my laptop's regular power brick.  The most popular seat power
is still the EmPower which needs an iGo or other special adapter, but
you'll increasingly find DC 12V shaped like a car's cigar lighter
socket and AC 110V with a receptacle that takes most common shapes of
AC power plugs.

You can find a reasonable overview here:

http://www.seatguru.com/articles/in-seat_laptop_power.php

In with the seat diagrams elsewhere on the site, it tells you what
kind of power each type of plane has and where the outlets are.  Too
bad we're not likely to have Internet access to go along with them.

R's,
John



Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Marshall Eubanks


I, too, have used AC power on long flights, IIRC on Virgin Upper Class.

On Oct 15, 2006, at 11:29 AM, vijay gill wrote:



Owen DeLong wrote:
This may be a nit, but, you will _NEVER_ see AC power at any, let  
alone all of
the seats.  Seat power that works with the iGo system is DC and is  
not

conventional 110 AC.



Is this your final answer? I've used AC power in lufthansa business  
class. Makes the 8 or 9 hour trip back to the states much more  
interesting if you can have internet via connexion the whole way.


/vijay







Regards
Marshall


Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Jared Mauch

On Sun, Oct 15, 2006 at 08:14:48AM -0700, Owen DeLong wrote:
 This may be a nit, but, you will _NEVER_ see AC power at any, let  
 alone all of
 the seats.  Seat power that works with the iGo system is DC and is not
 conventional 110 AC.

On my flights to Asia (from seattle) I tend to have power
available.

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Northwest_Airlines/Northwest_Airlines_Airbus_A332.php

I usually just play the in-flight trivia game for the 9hr
flight though.  It does represent there being power available.

- Jared


-- 
Jared Mauch  | pgp key available via finger from [EMAIL PROTECTED]
clue++;  | http://puck.nether.net/~jared/  My statements are only mine.


Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Bill Woodcock

  On Sun, 15 Oct 2006, Owen DeLong wrote:
 This may be a nit, but, you will _NEVER_ see AC power at any, let alone
 all of the seats.

Wrong.  It's standard on Air New Zealand, and it's been on Singapore Air 
seats I've had as well.

-Bill



Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Jay Hennigan


Owen DeLong wrote:
This may be a nit, but, you will _NEVER_ see AC power at any, let alone 
all of

the seats.  Seat power that works with the iGo system is DC and is not
conventional 110 AC.


Into which the laptop user plugs the inverter he has in his carry-on 
that he bought for use in the rental car, producing 115vac (240 if from 
Europe).  Into this he plugs the laptop SMPS, into which he plugs the 
laptop.  Horribly inefficient, but that's the way Joe Sixpack does it. 
He probably doesn't have much of a choice.


It's a pity that laptop makers don't either design their machines to 
operate on a nominal 13.8 VDC or sell a relatively inexpensive and 
commonly available 13.8-to-[whatever DC voltage the laptop uses on 
whatever oddball connector they use that seems to be unique to that make 
and model and likely serial number and unavailable anywhere].


--
Jay Hennigan - CCIE #7880 - Network Administration - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
NetLojix Communications, Inc.  -  http://www.netlojix.com/
WestNet:  Connecting you to the planet.  805 884-6323 - WB6RDV


Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Joel Jaeggli



Owen DeLong wrote:
 This may be a nit, but, you will _NEVER_ see AC power at any, let alone
 all of
 the seats.  Seat power that works with the iGo system is DC and is not
 conventional 110 AC.

Arnic 628 is a 16 volt dc, maximum 100 watts per seat, dc conversion to
15 volts (aircraft power bus is 400hz 110volt ac) and from 15 to
whatever your laptop requires put the effective power limit at about 75
watts

The approach of the airlines and the faa is to limit the number of
outlets and their variety based on the load that the system can support.
most in-service aircraft simply aren't generating enough power to
deliver it to every seat in the plane.

 Owen
 
 On Oct 15, 2006, at 3:39 AM, Mikael Abrahamsson wrote:
 

 On Sun, 15 Oct 2006, Patrick W. Gilmore wrote:

 e-mail from the plane. :)  Lack of seat power was not an issue, I
 just had two batteries.  And this was BOS - MUC, which ain't a short
 flight.

 It's quite likely that on a grander scale of things, it's better
 economy that the few people who want to use their laptop the whole
 flight, do get two batteries, than doing the investment of putting AC
 power in all seats.

 Otoh, more batteries on planes increases the risk of fire due to
 exploding batteries happening in the plane :P

 --Mikael Abrahamssonemail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 

-- 

Joel Jaeggli Unix Consulting  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
GPG Key Fingerprint:   5C6E 0104 BAF0 40B0 5BD3 C38B F000 35AB B67F 56B2


Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Bill Woodcock

 It's a pity that laptop makers don't either design their machines to
 operate on a nominal 13.8 VDC or sell a relatively inexpensive and
 commonly available 13.8-to-[whatever DC voltage the laptop uses on
 whatever oddball connector they use that seems to be unique to that make
 and model and likely serial number and unavailable anywhere].

Uh, Apple laptops plug into EmPower without transformers.

-Bill



Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Roland Dobbins



On Oct 15, 2006, at 9:15 AM, Bill Woodcock wrote:


Uh, Apple laptops plug into EmPower without transformers.


Not the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros - Apple changed the connector,  
and so far have apparently refused to license it to third parties,  
nor have they come out with an airline power adaptor of their own.


So, on the rare occasions I find DC in-flight power available, I use  
an AC inverter with the airline power adaptor and then plug my  
MacBook's AC adaptor into that.  As others have indicated, AC is in  
fact available on Lufthansa in business class and higher.


---
Roland Dobbins [EMAIL PROTECTED] // 408.527.6376 voice

Any information security mechanism, process, or procedure which can
be consistently defeated by the successful application of a single
class of attacks must be considered fatally flawed.

-- The Lucy Van Pelt Principle of Secure Systems Design



Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Chris Adams

Once upon a time, Jay Hennigan [EMAIL PROTECTED] said:
 Into which the laptop user plugs the inverter he has in his carry-on 
 that he bought for use in the rental car, producing 115vac (240 if from 
 Europe).  Into this he plugs the laptop SMPS, into which he plugs the 
 laptop.  Horribly inefficient, but that's the way Joe Sixpack does it. 
 He probably doesn't have much of a choice.

My Thinkpad power brick has both AC and DC (car/airline) power cables.
-- 
Chris Adams [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Systems and Network Administrator - HiWAAY Internet Services
I don't speak for anybody but myself - that's enough trouble.


Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Fearghas McKay

At 11:29 -0400 15/10/06, vijay gill wrote:
Is this your final answer? I've used AC power in lufthansa business
class. Makes the 8 or 9 hour trip back to the states much more

ditto KLM Business class in a 777.

f


Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Mikael Abrahamsson


On Sun, 15 Oct 2006, Roland Dobbins wrote:

into that.  As others have indicated, AC is in fact available on Lufthansa in 
business class and higher.


And on SAS it's available on Economy Plus and higher.

--
Mikael Abrahamssonemail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]


Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Scott W Brim
Excerpts from Owen DeLong on Sun, Oct 15, 2006 08:14:48AM -0700:
 This may be a nit, but, you will _NEVER_ see AC power at any

In addition to all of the offered AC services others have mentioned,
some planes have power outlets for vacuum cleaners, typically behind a
small panel next to a door.


pgpLRpsHSfQDd.pgp
Description: PGP signature


Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Colin Johnston

 In addition to all of the offered AC services others have mentioned,
 some planes have power outlets for vacuum cleaners, typically behind a
 small panel next to a door.

Definitely donĀ¹t use these hoover power supplies, UK train users will see
these with a warning tag due to the excessive outgoing voltage you might get
to your laptop.

Colin



Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Mike Hughes


Scott W Brim wrote:

Excerpts from Owen DeLong on Sun, Oct 15, 2006 08:14:48AM -0700:

This may be a nit, but, you will _NEVER_ see AC power at any


In addition to all of the offered AC services others have mentioned,
some planes have power outlets for vacuum cleaners, typically behind a
small panel next to a door.


ISTR, these AC sockets are airplane flavour 115VAC @ 400Hz.

Use at your own peril, though I know at least one person who did run a 
Powerbook off one, and it survived (though I'm told that the PSU ran 
quite hot).


Mike


Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Rich Fulton


and you will NEVER see this service again until there 
is a monetary incenctive to offer said service.  So.. 
why is this still a discussion?



On Sun, 15 Oct 2006, Owen DeLong wrote:

This may be a nit, but, you will _NEVER_ see AC power at any, let alone all 
of

the seats.  Seat power that works with the iGo system is DC and is not
conventional 110 AC.

Owen

On Oct 15, 2006, at 3:39 AM, Mikael Abrahamsson wrote:



On Sun, 15 Oct 2006, Patrick W. Gilmore wrote:

e-mail from the plane. :)  Lack of seat power was not an issue, I just had 
two batteries.  And this was BOS - MUC, which ain't a short flight.


It's quite likely that on a grander scale of things, it's better economy 
that the few people who want to use their laptop the whole flight, do get 
two batteries, than doing the investment of putting AC power in all seats.


Otoh, more batteries on planes increases the risk of fire due to exploding 
batteries happening in the plane :P


--
Mikael Abrahamssonemail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]







/rf


Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread John Levine

 In addition to all of the offered AC services others have mentioned,
 some planes have power outlets for vacuum cleaners, typically behind a
 small panel next to a door.

ISTR, these AC sockets are airplane flavour 115VAC @ 400Hz.

No. it's 60 Hz.  See this picture of one of the outlets.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/25645286/

and this page from Qantas web site

http://www.qantas.com.au/info/flying/inTheAir/communications

Don't you think that airlines would be smart enough not to install
power outlets that would destroy the equipment that the customers plug
into them?




Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Kevin Day



On Oct 15, 2006, at 8:21 PM, John Levine wrote:




In addition to all of the offered AC services others have mentioned,
some planes have power outlets for vacuum cleaners, typically  
behind a

small panel next to a door.


ISTR, these AC sockets are airplane flavour 115VAC @ 400Hz.


No. it's 60 Hz.  See this picture of one of the outlets.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/25645286/

and this page from Qantas web site

http://www.qantas.com.au/info/flying/inTheAir/communications

Don't you think that airlines would be smart enough not to install
power outlets that would destroy the equipment that the customers plug
into them?



There are two different things that are being talked about here. If  
your seat has an obviously-meant-for-customer-use outlet, it's  
definitely going to be 60Hz.


There are other outlets that look like regular North American  
outlets, but hidden behind an access panel. Usually on the floor or  
near a door, with no markings on the outside as to what they're for.  
These *are* 400Hz, and are meant for support crew to clean the  
aircraft with, maintenance tools, etc.


I just asked a flight attendant friend of mine about them, and she  
says they're present on many of the aircraft she's worked on.  
Initially the flight crew would look the other way when a traveller  
would plug their laptop in, but with a that might fry your laptop  
warning if they were feeling especially generous. Not too long ago  
though, they were instructed to aggressively stop people from using  
the outlets. Partially out of fear that someone's power supply/ 
battery would fail in some spectacular way at 30,000 feet, and  
partially because they have a lesser known secondary use.


While she's never seen any of it in use, there are medical devices  
designed to be able to use these outlets in an emergency or for a  
critically ill patient being transported. They're specially designed  
to accept 400Hz power, and draw more power than the seat provided  
passenger outlets. If you somehow popped the breaker for the 400Hz  
maintenance outlet, several bad things happen... They're required to  
reset the breaker, which is located in a very inconvenient place. Not  
only can they not take off if the alarm showing that this breaker is  
tripped is active, but there's some very slight chance that you've  
just broken the power feed that might be needed in an emergency.


She says she's only heard of one person breaking their laptop (or  
power supply, she wasn't sure) from trying to use one of those  
outlets with dozens more cases of seeing people using them without  
problem, but at least on her airline she's not allowed to look the  
other way if she sees anyone trying to use them anymore. She recalls  
at least one fight where they were delayed at the gate waiting for  
someone to go reset the breaker under the cabin floor to restore  
power to it, even though they had nobody onboard with a device that  
was supposed to be used in it.








Re: Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread micky coughes


What time does the 4:20 flight take off?

On 16 Oct 2006 01:21:12 -, John Levine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


 In addition to all of the offered AC services others have mentioned,
 some planes have power outlets for vacuum cleaners, typically behind a
 small panel next to a door.

ISTR, these AC sockets are airplane flavour 115VAC @ 400Hz.

No. it's 60 Hz.  See this picture of one of the outlets.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/25645286/

and this page from Qantas web site

http://www.qantas.com.au/info/flying/inTheAir/communications

Don't you think that airlines would be smart enough not to install
power outlets that would destroy the equipment that the customers plug
into them?





Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Christian Kuhtz



On Oct 14, 2006, at 8:36 PM, Roland Dobbins wrote:




On Oct 14, 2006, at 5:32 PM, Christian Kuhtz wrote:

Such a service would probably only make sense for transcon U.S.  
flights, where the lack of connectivity can be noticed.  And on  
those routes (at least the airline that I fly) I have about half a  
dozen or so EmPowered choices each day between, say, Atlanta and  
Los Angeles.


I think a hotspot-like monthly pass option for flights of any  
duration would receive strong uptake, were the service ubiquitous,  
which will require near-universal availability of power in economy- 
class cabins, IMHO.


All that is needed is for there to be coverage in economy cabins  
equipped with EmPower, such as transcon 767-400 and 777.




Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Stephen Sprunk


Thus spake Kevin Day [EMAIL PROTECTED]

There are two different things that are being talked about here. If
your seat has an obviously-meant-for-customer-use outlet, it's
definitely going to be 60Hz.


... or DC.


There are other outlets that look like regular North American
outlets, but hidden behind an access panel. Usually on the floor or
near a door, with no markings on the outside as to what they're for.
These *are* 400Hz, and are meant for support crew to clean the
aircraft with, maintenance tools, etc.


I've seen many outlets on planes marked 400Hz, usually in the galleys.
I've never seen one that a customer could use without running an
extension cord down the aisle, though.

I agree that power isn't as critical on board as the network access; my
laptop battery lasts about 6hrs, and I've got a second one in my bag I
keep charged just in case.  Many airports provide outlets at the gates
you can use to charge phones and laptops before takeoff, and for
non-transoceanic flights that's good enough for virtually everyone these
days.

My problem with Connexion was that it's (a) too pricey for my company's
expense rules, and (b) not available on enough planes to factor into my
travel plans anyways.  I don't doubt that it's worth the $27.95/flight,
but my company allows a max of $10.00 for internet access.  Even if I
could somehow convince the trolls in accounting to accept triple the
standard hotspot rate because it's on a plane, the IRS requires an
original receipt for any expenses over $25 and Connexion doesn't
provide one.  No dice.  Three dollars cheaper and I'd use it regularly;
$9.95 and I'd use it every single flight.

Instead, I use my company's corporate account at the departure airport 
hotspot to grab all my mail, work on it during the flight, and then use 
the hotspot at the other end to send it all when I land.  That's good 
enough for a 2-5hr flight, and it doesn't get me in trouble with 
accounting.


S

Stephen Sprunk God does not play dice.  --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723 God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSSdice at every possible opportunity. --Stephen Hawking




Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Christian Kuhtz



On Oct 15, 2006, at 10:52 PM, Stephen Sprunk wrote:

Even if I
could somehow convince the trolls in accounting to accept triple the
standard hotspot rate because it's on a plane, the IRS requires an
original receipt for any expenses over $25 and Connexion doesn't
provide one.


So, given that some of us aren't required to submit original receipts  
for things like rental cars etc, I think you might want to ask a good  
accountant to check into the veracity of that statement and try to  
discern between a company's accounting troll policy and actual law.   
Credit card transaction records are sufficient for some expenses  
(except hotels), far above $25.


Best regards,
Christian



Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Owen DeLong
The actual law is insanely vague and requires proof and a written  
record.


The court system and IRS have been all over the map about what  
constitutes
proof vs. just a written record, and, as such, accounting trolls have  
developed

a myriad of different policies.

However, I think we have wandered far afield from the operational  
portion

of this topic.

Owen



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Re: Boeing's Connexion announcement

2006-10-15 Thread Roland Dobbins



On Oct 15, 2006, at 9:09 PM, Christian Kuhtz wrote:

 Credit card transaction records are sufficient for some expenses  
(except hotels), far above $25.


Many portals for hotspot services provide an HTML splash page with  
the amount paid - one can save that to one's hard drive and print it  
out later.


And, of course, this thread is now irretrievably off-topic, heh.

---
Roland Dobbins [EMAIL PROTECTED] // 408.527.6376 voice

Any information security mechanism, process, or procedure which can
be consistently defeated by the successful application of a single
class of attacks must be considered fatally flawed.

-- The Lucy Van Pelt Principle of Secure Systems Design