To: Jeff Vayda who wrote (26733 ) 1/11/2008 2:06:56 PM From: Maurice Winn Respond to of 29987 Thank you Jeff. As I read, I noticed luck pop up and thought it was a reference to luck as discussed in golf [and share investing]. Confirmed by a little asterisk. It's the little things in life which are enjoyable. When one chooses $3 a minute as a selling price, and few buy, that's not bad luck. When the constellation dies without replacement in place, that's not bad luck. When things are going wrong, and one continues to do the same thing, that's not bad luck. If I was an airline, I would want to install two systems. When one goes on the fritz, the other is then available. In Zenbu Wi-Fi, we have redundant systems so if anything fails, nobody notices something went wrong. zenbu.net.nz If the cost of redundancy is low compared with the value of what's being done, the redundancy is worthwhile. It astounds me that airlines have taken until now to get low cost phone calls and cyberspace into aircraft. Even now, they are debating whether the awful racket of people speaking on cellphones should be allowed. For God'- sake, an airliner cabin isn't a church, movie, or funeral and there is already so much noise on an aircraft that somebody talking right next to you isn't much by comparison and if they do want to talk, it's absurd that somebody gets irate that somebody talks to somebody else and they can hear them speaking. The cost of installing both Iridium and Globalstar as well as some high speed cyberspace is low compared with the value of it. People in airliners are high socioeconomic and while they won't pay $10 a minute for a call, they'll pay 20c a minute and use a lot of it. People would love to have cyberspace available for their Skype and other internet services. The aircraft could have a camera out the front, back, sides and people could log on and watch the passing scene, zooming in to interesting things. Passengers are treated like prisoners. The airlines that figure out that passengers are customers, not cattle, will make a lot of money. The "thinking" seems to be "As long as nobody else offers a service, we are okay". The airlines started out as government departments, highly regulated for safety and management reasons. That basis has only gradually changed but they remain ridiculously regulated. Safety doesn't need third parties. One crash and the airline loses a LOT of business. The DC10 crashes put them out of business. Airlines and aircraft makers have to make sure NONE of their aircraft crash. Boeing no doubt demands contractual standards of maintenance and flying training for airlines to use their aircraft. They can't afford to have some idiot in Zimbabwe crash a Boeing and their reputation. The intellectual struggle for airlines to get Globalstar, Iridium and internet on board is pathetic. If you think Globalstar management is bad, check out airlines. It's only the vast demand for their services and their oligopoly status which enabled them to carry on. Now, companies like Ryanair and Easyjet are attracting hordes of customers. The price their services correctly. When it's not busy, the price is low. As low as one pound. Globalstar should have a look at Ryanair pricing and profits. It's ridiculous to expect people to spend 12 hours out of communication, with no internet and no phone. Which doesn't mean putting an absurdly expensive phone into the back of a seat solves the problem. They could put a Globalstar phone and an Iridium one down the back of the cabin, where there is usually standing room. People could go there to use them, with a credit card to buy time. Wi-Fi could be sent around the cabin using a cute little Zenbu transmitter. Hmmmm, come to think of it, the airlines could do that right now. Just plug in the Wi-Fi router and people could sign up. All the airline would need to do is provide a DHCP internet connection. People could talk on Skype right there in their seat [admittedly with a geostationary voice delay which is annoying]. Globalstar would provide a better quality call. So would Iridium, though not as good as Globalstar. The next generation Globalstar should enable Skype calls, I hope, which would avoid the voice delay. Mqurice