The service provider will actually be Aircell which bought the frequencies previously used for those seatback phones hardly anyone ever used... except to say, "Guess where I'm calling you from?" Their Gogo Internet service is already in use, mainly on private and corporate jets. Walt Mossberg of the Journal tried it and found connecting was easy with 266Kbps to about 1.4Mbps for downloads. Uploads, as always, were a lot slower.

Aircell's site nicely proclaims this service is "freedom and choice; it's business and pleasure; in short - it's whatever your passengers want it to be." However, this service wiil be run for an airline. They can't be trusted any farther than they can throw your bags. Therefore, it should be no surprise that "whatever you passengers want" specifically precludes VOIP. Sorry. Even if you can figure a way around the data restrictions (here proxy, proxy, proxy), Delta's staff will ask you to hang up. Really.

Depending on your length of flight this service will cost anywhere from $10 to $13 (or five to seven glasses of USAirways formerly free water). The good news is since it's a terrestrial connection, not satellite, the lag should be reasonably low. And the claim is everyone on the plane can log-on at the same time. No claim is made for the speed that would allow.

Not mentioned anywhere I can see is the availability of "at-seat" power outlets. I've carried a converter which plugs into one for years (as ballast) and never used it. Do any of these really exist? Though most laptop batteries lose their capacity over time, you'll be charged by the length of your flight not the usable length of your battery.