FCC awards spectrum for airborne WiFi; VoIP to follow

Maybe we'll need "Talking" and "No Talking" sections of the plane. The FCC finished auctioning off two chunks of 800MHz spectrum last week. One of them went to a division of JetBlue, which isn't saying what it'll do with it. The other went to AirCell, which says it's planning to stick WiFi on airplanes--and where WiFi goes, VoIP will probably follow. Frontier Airlines is interested, but says it would probably block VoIP traffic to keep customers sane. The spectrum is currently held by Verizon Airfone, the expensive and unpopular seatback phone service. Airfone would have to vacate the spectrum within two years after AirCell's license becomes final.

For more information on airborne WiFi and VoIP:
- read this article at CNet News.com.