In todays always-connected environment, the light airplane cabin is almost uniquely cut off from the world. For some, the sneaky workaround has been to simply use a smartphone for texting and talking at lower altitudes, but that violates an FCC ban.
There are several new portable products that aim to reduce this airborne isolation and bring the Internet to the cabin. Some of these devices serve double duty for personal flight tracking and SOS broadcast.
We went hands-on with the De-Lorme InReach Explorer, the Iridium Go! and the Globalstar Sat-Fi to see if the products are a viable solution for acceptable Internet on the fly.