phrider
join:1999-12-17
Los Angeles, CA | Verizon and AirPhone Verizon has pulled the plug on AirPhone as well.
It ceased operation on September 1. | |
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motoracer
join:2003-09-15
Valencia, CA | Re: Verizon and AirPhone Do we really need AirPhones? I've never people getting much use out of them. Can people not stay away from the phone for the duration of the plane ride? | |
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nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA
 ·Cox HSI
 ·Speakeasy
| Re: Verizon and AirPhone said by motoracer  :Do we really need AirPhones? I've never people getting much use out of them. Can people not stay away from the phone for the duration of the plane ride? I've used the in-seat AirPhones a couple times. Mostly for arranging ground transport on a delayed itinerary. However, at $2/minute, it's a bit steep for just chatting on.
-tom
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"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficial. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." -Louis D Brandeis | |
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DSLmontgomery
@verizon.net
| I just don't understand how GTE/Verizon intended to ever profit from Airfone given the exorbitant rates they charged. Really, how many people are that desperate to make calls from their seat? Even one call per flight would be a success with the rates they charge, and I doubt most flights get even that. Airfone's a nice enough idea, but given the rates, they should have restricted the installation to one or two phones per airplane... and just reduced the fees! | |
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nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA
·Cox HSI
·Speakeasy
| Re: Verizon and AirPhone said by alg :Of all the times I have flown I have only seen the phones used once, and that was by a drunk guy who talked for the duration of a 2.5 hour flight. I would hate to see the bill for that one. Nice $400 phone call! Probably on the company AmEx.
-tom
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"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficial. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." -Louis D Brandeis | |
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| phrider
join:1999-12-17
Los Angeles, CA
| They did reduce the rates, in a Verizon-centric way.
If you were a Verizon cellular customer, you could sign up for two alternative plans:
1. VZW cellular customers could sign up for a $0.69/minute plan for no monthly cost.
2. VZ@ cellular customers could sign up for a $10 per month plan that had an AirPhone airtime cost of $0.10 per minute.
I travel a lot for business -- and this was the excuse I needed to switch my cell service to Verizon. That's now up for grabs again.
With either cell-linked Verizon/Airphone plan, you could program the AirPhone to ring your cellular number at your seat while you were in the air (and your cell was turned off, as it is supposed to be). On one ocassion, I actually caught the AirPhone ringing (a flashing light). The rest of the time it just went to my cell voicemail, but by checking the AirPhone you could see that a call had been received and the Caller ID on that call.
In the last 9 months or so, the AirPhones could be programmed to receive calls like this on only about half the flights. The rest of the time, it was just "could not register with ground" or the phones just didn't work at all. Maybe I should ask for some of my money back.... | |
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