[edit: I posted some of the technical findings further down this thread]
Hello fellow Mobilereaders!
This is Alex speaking from Lufthansa flight LH 432 on his way from Frankfurt to Chicago! I am so very excited because this is my first airborne Internet experience using my Dell Axim to surf through the clouds in high-speed.
On this Airbus 340-300 I'm accessing Connexion's broadband Wifi LAN (Lufthansa calls it FlyNet) for a flat rate of $29.95 - yes, I'll stay online for the remaining 8-1/2 hours of my flight, given my extended battery will last that long (I kinda doubt it, the Axim X50v isn't exactly famous for its battery lifetime).
Interestingly, Lufthansa's news portal I could access for free, which alone can be a good time killer on this flight (with around 1000 updated news pages both in English and in German). Of course I couldn't resist and signed up for the full flat rate Internet access. Alas, this proved to be a hassle because Connexion's secure web page popped up a server error when I tried to create a user account. A few more attempts and I was finally able to choose a payment method. Beside payment through credit card, I could have also paid through one of the major Internet proviers (1and1 is one example) or through frequent traveller miles.
Now let me post some of the more technical findings using Connexion's broadband with my notebook (Thinkpad R50):
- e-mail access (secure POP3, IMAP, SMTP) worked fine.
- browsing the Web was smooth, albeit sometimes loading images seemed to lag for half a second or so.
- downloading of a larger file (80MB) file from Mobileread resulted in a data throughput of around 180-220Kb/s.
- VPN access to my home PC immediately worked.
- no ports seemed to be blocked (including P2P).
What else can I say? Surfing 10'000 meters up in the sky is a lot of fun and it is a true asset for every mobile business man, or for every mobile gadget fan like myself
I'll supply you with some screenshots when I am back on Earth!