"Hello ... I'm On the Plane"

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Say goodbye to exorbitant prices charged by airlines for using their satellite phones during a flight. More and more travelers are realizing that technology that works on terra firma is just as good in midair. Thanks to the recent boom in onboard broadband wireless Internet access — currently offered by 10 carriers including SAS, Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa — passengers can now simply log onto Skype or other Internet voice services and make encrypted phone calls, all at 12,000 m.

The cost of accessing the Internet is determined by your carrier (Lufthansa, for example, charges $9.95 per hour or $26.95 per flight). After logging on, all that's required is a headset. "I have gone from [up to] $7 a minute [in satellite-phone charges] to a free download and a once-only connection fee," says London media consultant and frequent-flier James Forbes. "What's more, all the functions of Skype work, so someone calling my London or New York SkypeIn number can get me over Greenland."

With several operators from Austrian Airlines to Air China now scrambling to offer Internet access, the air in an aircraft cabin could soon be as thick with annoying phone conversations as that in any commuter train. But look at it this way: it saves you from having to make small talk with your neighbor.