Even less than a 150 years ago that would have been impossible. And prior to that communication among normal people could take months.

    • spacelick@lemmynsfw.com
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      14 hours ago

      10 years ago was 2015. In-flight wifi was definitely already a thing. I just pulled this from an old email.

      Enjoy 20 live TV channels and a wide array of on demand TV options as well as other services including WiFi connectivity, messaging, and movies!

      This is from Southwest Airlines from 2014.

        • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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          14 hours ago

          It wouldn’t have been rare at all because it wasn’t rare.

          Yes, you wouldn’t be video chatting (and still shouldn’t be… it is a plane for crying out loud). But emails were 100% a thing and I had plenty of gchat conversations with colleagues that included the phrase “We are about to land, Ill get back to you when I am at my hotel”.


          Okay, THIS I need someone with a more reliable brain to chime in on. But I want to say it was actually easier to IM on a plane (assuming your employer paid for the wifi which was expensive as hell) than in an airport due to a mix of cell phone dead spots and shit APs in most of the major airports.

    • Natanael@infosec.pub
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      12 hours ago

      Unreliable certainly. For as long as there’s radio coverage there’s a way, but it used to be impractical to give passengers enough bandwidth. 20 years ago you’d have to ask the captain nicely to get a call routed (read: have an emergency)

      If you allow civilian HAM radio, you go back a few more decades (not quite applicable to planes, but definitely applicable to boats). If you allow Morse code you go back yet a little further.