Airfone is a brand of air-ground radiotelephone service offered by Verizon. Airfone allows passengers to make telephone calls in-flight. It was orginated by John D. Goeken (who also founded MCI and FTD) in the 1970s and sold to GTE in 1986 and Western Union. Delta offered the nation's first public air-to-ground telephone system with Airfone. An Airfone telephone is usually located in the seatback of the seat in front of the passenger, there may only be one per row in coach class, while first class may have one per seat. Airfone phone calls are usually quite expensive compared to ground-based telephone calls, however, they are often discounted or free for customers of airplane-based catalogs like Sky Mall. More recently the Airfone service has been used for data connections as well, and is working towards wireless broadband on airplanes. Air-ground radiotelephone service is a method of telephone communications used by airplane pilots and passengers of commercial airline jets. ... This article or section should include material from Bell Atlantic This article or section should include material from GTE Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) is a local exchange telephone company formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic, a former Bell Operating Company, and GTE, which was the largest independant local exchange... MCI, Inc. ... The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ... Categories: Corporation stubs | Communications companies of the United States | Defunct companies | Telephone companies | Public Utilities ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Western Union is an American financial services and communications company. ...
See also
InFlight Phone - competitor also founded by Goeken
Railfone - similar company for railroads also founded by Goeken
External links
Verizon Airfone website
Jack Goeken By Larry Hooper From the November 08, 2000 CRN
The frequency assigned to Airfone® is unique, so it does not interfere with the plane's navigation, communications or data processing equipment.
Your Airfone® Activation number will be the same all the time; you just need to activate the phone for each flight segment and include your seat number.
The cost to place domestic calls on the Airfone® Service is $2.99 to connect and $3.28 per minute or partial minute plus applicable tax.
An Airfone telephone is usually located in the seatback of the seat in front of the passenger, there may only be one per row in coach class, while first class may have one per seat.
Airfone can be used for very slow modem calls, and attempts at data service were made in 2003 and 2004 using an on-board email proxy server.
On June 23, 2006, Verizon Communications, Airfone's parent company, announced that they would be discontinuing their Airfone service on all commercial flights by the end of the 2006.
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