Singapore Airlines WiFi on planes

Singapore Airlines plans to introduce inflight mobile phone and Internet access in May this year, beginning with its flagship Airbus A380 fleet.

The airline is polling selected members of its KrisFlyer frequent flyer loyalty program to participate “in an online survey about your attitudes towards inflight mobile and Internet services, which we are planning to introduce from May 2011” according to the email invitation.

The survey asks travellers for their opinions on pricing packages such as SGD$25 (that’s $20 Aussie and US, and £120 and €14) for 30MB, as well as if mobile phone calls and SMS messages should be permitted.

Should passengers be allowed to make and take calls at 30,000 feet they’ll pay plenty for the privilege, with calls being charged at international roaming rates.

As it’s up to each country to decide what those rates are – and with Singapore Airlines effectively being its own ‘country’ in terms of providing a fully controlled and self-contained telecoms system on board each plane – those rates could literally be sky high.

Mobile phone users will face high roaming charges, if SQ allows voice calls to be made – many passengers would prefer voice calls to be blocked

SQ’s inflight Internet and mobile service, which may carry the KrisNet brand in keeping with the KrisWorld in-flight entertainment system, is expected to debut on the Airbus A380 before being installed onto the airline’s A340-500 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

Passengers will be able to access the Internet on any device from a smartphone to a tablet or laptop, as Singapore Airlines will support connections through both Wi-Fi wireless networking (using a series of low-power hotspots located throughout the plane) and 3G (via tiny ‘pico-cell’ stations).

The satellite uplink equipment for Singapore Airline's OnAir system fits snug into an overhead luggage bin.

It will employ the popular OnAir technology, jointly developed by IT company SITA and Airbus, and currently used by over 20 airlines (including Air New Zealand's current trial of in-flight Internet) which feeds the Wi-Fi and 3G signals through to Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband satellite network.

Mark scheme:

a) Describe one social/ethical concern related to the IT system.

-privacy/security: The connection could be unsecure which means that users on the same wifi could potentially access other peoples information.

- increase of laptop usage in flight, people could steal information if laptop is unattended

-Misuse: users could access inappropriate or illegal websites on the airplanes wifi connection.

b) Describe the relationship of one primary stakeholder to the IT system

- Users of the wifi connection who use the network to browse the internet or download files.

- Network manager who has to make sure everything is working properly and that the connection is strong throughout the whole plane

- The airline gets paid for every data plan purchased

- ISP that provides the service gets paid by the airline.

c) Describe, step-by-step, how the IT system works.

Electronic Device searches for a hotspot and detects it in order to connect to it 

Like any home network with a wireless router, the user can choose to enable his/her device to access information shared through WiFi without using cables to connect to a physical data port. Many aircraft also have data port connections from which data is transmitted or received and you can plug in your device. However, without an internet connection, WiFi won’t be able to connect to the outside world.

Inflight WiFi works much the same way. A wireless router doesn’t access the internet by itself. A data connection is necessary, which can be achieved with a high-speed data (HSD) connection. High-speed data, also referred to as broadband or inflight internet, is the means by which the aircraft supports internet access. Wireless routers certified for aircraft use link up with the HSD equipment to provide inflight WiFi.

3. Evaluate the impact of the social/ethical issues on the relevant stakeholders.

-  Positive for Users
-  Contact family (instant messaging), keeps people updated, keeps customers happy.
- Negative
-Expensive, Slow connection, Not stable, impractical.

- Positive for network provider

- Get paid, boost reputation, free advertising

-Negative: could ruin reputation if system does not work or goes offline

-Positive for airline
- seen as innovative, new idea, Unique selling point, more customers
-Negative: can be seen as just another way of getting money from customers as it could be slow and not work well.

4.Evaluate one solution that addresses at least one problem identified in Criterion C

-To prevent users from accessing illegal websites, they could implement a simple filter than could filter inappropriate or illegal websites

- the problem with this is that some websites that aren’t inappropriate could be caught up in the filter

-To make sure the users information is secure on the network the airline could include a leaflet in the package that could tell the user how to browse safely and protect their personal details.

- network administrator should make sure the connection is secure and have a reliable security system that is difficult to breach.