Ryanair, the low-budget (i.e you get to ride alongside cargo boxes and livestock) Irish carrier, has become the first airline in the United Kingdom to provide in-flight mobile phone service.
To start, the cellular technology (see above) has been installed on 20 planes and is readily available for passengers flying between Dublin and the London-area airports at Gatwick, Stansted and Luton. Until Ryanair upgrades its entire fleet, the service will be available on “select” (read: random) other routes depending on “fleet distribution.”
Oh, and there are a few notable (and fairly significant) restrictions. According to the BBC:
Calls will cost between £1.50 and £3 per minute, e-mails from £1 to £2 and texts about 40p. A maximum of six people will be allowed to make calls at a time, although this is likely to increase, with charges depending on the network operator. People on the Vodafone and O2 networks are currently able to use the service, while Ryanair is negotiating with other operators.
In other words (at least at the beginning), the service doesn’t come cheap, can’t handle much volume, and is limited to 2 (albeit large) mobile carriers – yeah, we’ll pass.
Yah, em you’ve got something wrong there!!
IRELAND is NOT in the United Kingdom.
Ireland is a republic.
You are absolutely correct, in that Ireland is not part of the UK. However, if you read more carefully, the post never claims as much.
Although it could be made more clear, the post refers to those routes in the UK (as well as to Dublin) – per the BBC’s reporting.
good eye though, lad.
Ok so Ryanair are a pain in the ars* but why such a cynical article? Hats off to them for showing innovation. It’s got to start somewhere.
Steve S nailed it, they have to start somewhere. No new tech gets it right the first time. We all remember MSDOS, car phones, the first navigation software, etc. That would be a little annoying making sure 6 people aren’t already using the service; however that works. This site has great travel security tips.
A very goood one: I´ll certainly pass. I won´t be tempted to use my mobile when flying with Ryanair. Upgrading it to their entire fleet could also wait, instead of that how about improving online and phone complaint service?