Gogo Showcases On-Plane Calls And Texts At SXSW

Are people prepared to start making calls and sending texts on a plane? Well whether you are or not, the technology is ready.
Gogo is a business that installs Wi-Fi on commercial airliners. In Austin, Texas at SXSW the company demonstrated its latest technology by letting a journalist from the Wall Street Journal get on a private plane, which was 10,000 feet above ground and make a phone call.
In order for it to work, callers have to leave their phone in airplane mode and connect to the plane’s Gogo wireless network that’s installed on the plane.
You can then use its app to place phone calls and send text messages. To the recipient it looks just like a normal call or text, inbound calls and texts can be received as well.
The company is planning to sell the texting capability to U.S. commercial flights sometime later this year. However, U.S. major carriers aren’t so interested in the calling feature which has only been adopted by private jets.
There’s probably a lot of people glad that their nap will remain uninterrupted by loud ringing noises and someone yapping in their ear for an entire flight.
Gogo has yet to announce the cost of its in-flight texting service.