Nearly one in three commercial airliners flying across the nation now offer passengers on-board access to the Internet. Once the aircraft has topped 10,000 feet, and the pilot gives the OK, travelers can log on from their seat to whichever service their carrier uses.

The top provider of the service, GoGo, has snared the business of eight U.S. carriers for their antennae-based service — Air Canada, Air Tran, American Airlines, Delta, United, USAirways and Virgin America have all signed on.

Southwest, on the other hand, has opted to go with an alternate service — Row 44, Inc. — that uses satellite technology for their WiFi service.

The difference: Antennae service will only work if you’re flying over the continental United States where the towers are located; the satellite service can operate anywhere around the world.

Still, consumers seem to be a little shy about paying the hefty fees these folks are charging for their service. To log in on a short flight will cost you about $10; if you’re in the air three hours or more, expect to shell out $13.

This is very close to the price point many airports had settled on for selling WiFi service to folks in the terminal.

And with all the other fees airlines are tacking onto a trip these days, the WiFi charge feels like adding insult to injury. What with baggage fees, meal and drink prices, headphone rental and now WiFi service, the average business traveler could wind up spending $100 or more extra each flight.

With travel budgets at many firms being cut to the bone, these extra costs won’t be welcome at many organizations.

Companies with a lot of business travelers are going to need to decide which of these fees are business-necessary and which they won’t reimburse. Then that policy — like all technology use policies — should be communicated to folks who hit the road for work.

The activities they cite include:

• Going online with a laptop using a wi-fi connection or mobile broadband card. About half of all adults (47%) get to the web this way, up from 39% a year ago, and
• Using the Internet, e-mail or instant messaging on a cell phone. About 40% do at least one of these with mobile device. Back in 2009, 32% of adults said they did.

The final tally: 59% of American adults now go online wirelessly using either a laptop or cell phone, an increase over the 51% of Americans who did back in 2009.

Ownership of cell phones, however, seems to have stalled over the last year. It seems most folks are learning how to use the capabilities their phones have, however. Of the eight mobile data applications researchers asked users about in both 2009 and 2010, all showed an increase in use.

Asked about cell phone use, the following data emerges:

• 54% have used their mobile device to send someone a photo or video.
• 23% have accessed a social networking site using their phone.
• 20% have used their phone to watch a video.
• 15% have posted a photo or video online.
• 11% have purchased a product using their phone.
• 11% have made a charitable donation by text message.
• 10% have used their mobile phone to access a status update service such as Twitter.

Rumor is that the Transportation Security Administration is going to ban all electronics from international flights arriving in the United States and will restrict passenger use of electronics on domestic flights for the last hour of the trip.

So good luck logging on and getting any work done in the air.

If you do get permission to use your laptop or smartphone in the air, you may be able to give in-flight WiFi a try. Just recently, mymoneyblog.com published the codes travelers can use on select Air Canada, Airtran, American, Delta, United and Virgin America flights.

The WiFi service is being provided by GoGo, and the codes give you one free session of their service. When you log in, they require an e-mail address, but no credit card. Also, you won’t have to confirm your e-mail address (kind of obvious eh?) and if you’ve got multiple e-mail addressess, you can probably get more than one free session.

One more note: You won’t need a code if you’re flying Virgin America; they’ve struck a deal with GoGo to provide free WiFi to everyone on their flights through January 15, 2010.

All codes have expiration dates, but we’ll repeat them here for your use:

Expire 12/31/2009
DELTATRYGOGO
AIRTRANTRYGOGO
AATRYGOGO

Expire 1/7/2010
2287548427snk
2472564126dvu
2285632980tlk

For those of you who give it a shot, let us know how it goes!

After a user of the service illegally downloaded a movie using the connection, the powers that be in Coshocton (population: about 12,000) got an earful from the folks at Sony Entertainment (population and assets: a lot more than the town and its coffers) and the Motion Picture Association of America (another corporate behemoth).

Officials of the town decided the free WiFi service could potentially cost them a lot more than the ISP’s fees, so they shut it off. That left folks within about 1000 feet of the county courthouse — the area the service was provided — without the free connection.

The bad news about the poor folks of Coshocton and their plight quickly spread. Here at FinanceTechNews, we pounced on the story as well. It was, we thought, a cautionary tale to anyone who provides free WiFi access.

The lesson: User behavior can come back to haunt you.

Sony, via its communications folks, quickly tried to reassure the world at large that they weren’t trying to beat up on a tiny, middle America town. They were merely alerting the town fathers to the presence of a serious criminal in their midst (our words, not theirs). They asked the town to restore the service and are pledging to help officials help “identify ways to prevent similar offenses from happening in the future.”

Does that mean they’ll be paying for the pricey software it takes to block such nefarious behavior? Nobody’s saying. But town officials are meeting this week to discuss the future of free WiFi in Coshocton.

And while the service may be restored, the shot fired over the town’s bow by both Sony and the MPAA has been heard by other free WiFi providers. Although bad publicity (Sony and MPAA were bombarded with irate calls and messages about their bullying behavior, Coshocton’s IT director told the local ABC affiliate) forced the corporation into contrition, their message was crystal clear: Let users share copyrighted material on your network and we’ll be on your doorstep.

Didn’t they learn anything from the way the music industry handled similar cases in the past decade? Wait, Sony is in the music industry. Now their behavior makes sense!

Okay, that recent story here on FinanceTechNews about how there’s no such thing as free WiFi was kind of a lie. There really was some free WiFi out there, but it doesn’t exist anymore.

And that’s because one person took advantage of the no-cost access and broke the law.

The little burg of Coshocton, Ohio, (population: about 12,000 usually law-abiding citizens) decided five years ago that it would offer free WiFi to anybody willing to park their car or sit on the curb on the block surrounding the Coshocton County Courthouse.

Maybe  a dozen people a day used the access. During really exciting times in Coshocton, maybe 100 would be logging onto the network connection — days like First Fridays and the Coshocton Canal Festival, when things really sizzle. During these “festival times,” vendors like the convenience of checking the credit card status of customers.

It was also used by Coshocton County Sheriff’s deputies who could park in the 300 block and complete a traffic or incident report without leaving their vehicle. Out-of-town business people liked the convenience of using their laptops to make connections.

But all these folks are out of luck because, recently, one user  illegally downloaded a movie.

Alerted by Sony Pictures, the county’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) — OneCommunity — told the county IT department about the illegal download.

And the decision was made to terminate the free WiFi.

Because the access point is a single address used by many people, it’s gonna be tough to tell who made the illegal download, but officials are going to try anyway.

Still, if you want to know why it’s getting so tough to find free WiFi access, here’s the cautionary tale.

One bad apple spoils the whole bunch. The cash-strapped municipality knows there’s software out there it can buy to prevent this sort of user behavior, but the cost in the current economy could be prohibitive.

The better solution, in IT’s mind: Just dump the free service. And who can really blame them?

Commercial operations who offer WiFi access to their customers make the calculation that the draw of the free connection will be worth the investment. Why do you think a latte costs $3 when its ingredients come to about 27 cents and the barrista’s making minimum wage?

Any government entity that provides a free connection is going to at least have to make sure it doesn’t get hit with a lawsuit because some ornery user executed an illegal transaction using the access point.

For businesses that allow users unlimited Web access, this could also serve as a cautionary tale. Using the high-speed connection at the office may be too tempting for folks who want to stream pirated video or audio.

Industry groups like the Motion Picture Association of America and others are getting serious about cracking down on folks who steal copyrighted material.

How are you protecting your organization from this sort of behavior?

In most cases, you’ve gotta buy at least a cup of coffee to get the login and password to a commercial operation’s WiFi network.

And some coffee shops and bars that provide free WiFi are starting to hustle folks along — looking to free up tables and get customer turnover.

The latest WiFi freebie with a few strings attached: Google’s providing “free” wireless Internet access at 47 U.S. airports through January 15, 2010 (the free access began today, November 16, 2009).

They’re also providing free WiFi access on all Virgin Atlantic flights for the holiday season.

Of course, you have to be a ticketed passenger to get into an airport these days, and so far, nobody’s offering free flights on Virgin Atlantic — that we’ve heard of.

One way to lower your costs: Win one of the prizes Google’s offering in their photo contest by submitting a picture of yourself using the free WiFi in a participating airport or on a Virgin Atlantic flght.

The burning question: How will they be able to tell you’re actually using WiFi?

Google’s also matching any donation to its list of favorite charities — but only up to a $250,000 gift.

Oh, and one more thing: The search giant is hoping you’ll try out their new “Chrome” browser while you’re at it. Chrome’s only available currently to PC users, but word is that a Beta of the Mac version will be ready by early December (but don’t quote us on that!)

See, there really is no free WiFi.

To read more about the details of Google’s offer and learn which airports are participating, visit here.

While a recent survey of frequent fliers and business travelers found they value WiFi access more than meal service, free movies and other perks, the airlines that have adopted satellite WiFi access on their flights find that only a small number of passengers are actually willing to spend money to use it.

Enthusiasm for having WiFi was high in the survey done by the WiFi Alliance. Travelers said they would be willing to make significant sacrifices or change travel plans to ensure Wi-Fi access while in-air:

• 76% said they would choose an airline based on the availability of in-flight WiFi;
• 55% said they would shift their flight by one day if it meant having in-flight WiFi, and
• 71% reported they would opt for a flight with WiFi access over one that provided meal service.

The survey also asked travelers why they felt they needed WiFi for during their flight. Their answers:

• 40% said they view work-related travel as stressful and 64 % said they feel “on the clock” when they are traveling for work
• 50% of business travelers frequently take a “red-eye” flight because they must be reachable during business hours, but
• 82% insist that  WiFi would help them stay on top of projects
• among business travelers who have not yet used in-flight WiFi, 87% said they would check e-mail and 63% would log on to work-related systems such as sales and reporting tools if WiFi were available on a flight.
• Of the same travelers, 95% said WiFi access would make them more productive.

All this sounds like WiFi would be a hot commodity for airlines, right?

Not so. According to a recent Chicago Tribune story, there seems to be no rush to fork over cash for this imagined productivity.

On Virgin America, the first U.S. airline to offer WiFi throughout its fleet, only 10% to 15% of passengers pay for the service. On transcontinental flights, up to 25% of passengers take the service, airline reps told the Trib. (Virgin uses Wi-Fi services by Aircell, a company that provides mobile broadband for eight airlines.)

Most airlines that offer WiFi service establish their price point to match up with the flight length. The longer the flight, the higher the cost.

Some airlines, however, are considering free e-mail and IM service as a perk to some, if not all, travelers. JetBlue, for example, plans this freebie on 20 of its Airbus A320 planes beginning this year.

The WiFi Alliance folks are crowing about “pent-up demand for broadband Internet access in-flight and the wide range of potential business and personal applications.” But the real proof of the service’s value will come if they step up in increasing numbers to actually pay for it.

My guess? If one airline starts offering free WiFi on its flights, they’ll all have to follow suit — at least for their frequent flyer clientele. And then it’s just a matter of time before the WiFi wars begin in earnest.

The big problem with WiFi access is that many consumers are used to getting it for free in coffee shops, public access points and many hotels. That leads to expectations that airlines, so far, aren’t willing to satisfy.

That time can be put to better use in the future now that United Airlines is following the lead of the folks at Delta, Virgin America, American and Northwest airlines — all of which have recently decided to offer in-flight WiFi connectivity.

Like the other airlines, United will partner with Aircell, which has pretty much cornered the market on in-flight Web access.

The service United offers will initially be available on 13 Boeing 757s flying between New York and California. It’ll offer Web surfing, e-mail, instant messaging and corporate VPN access.

They airline says it’ll assess customer needs and demand to determine if and how the service will be rolled out to other parts of the fleet.

Cost for the service: about $13. That seems like a bit much for five to six hours of connectivity. But I guess it depends on how much work you can get done on the flight. Your thoughts?

If so, it’s often IT’s job to make sure these nomads have what they need when they need it. And it’s up to finance to find money in the budget for the necessary equipment.

So what is the necessary equipment?

Making life as easy as possible for the peripatetic user and the technologists who help them often means having the right gear.

For most, the laptop’s the basic hardware, but few travelers rely only on that system for everything. A cell phone, PDA and MP3 player often take the trip as well.

Here’s a rundown of some useful tools for managing traveling technology, courtesy of the folks at Computerworld. They include:

• Chargers. There’s no universal charger yet on the market, but some are coming close. You can also get an AC to USB charger pretty cheap. Check out
the VersachargerPro and the igoeverywhere 85 for versatility.

• Wireless connection. Whether they use a wireless carrier or subscribe to a mobility manager like iPass, this is a must for Web on the go.

• WiFi booster. Getting stuck with a weak connection is a big frustration for working travelers. Check out Wi-Fire or zBoost.

• Hardware protection. Encourage users to label laptops inside the battery case and outside for all to see. For high-tech protection, consider tracking software. (Look at LoJack for Laptops or GadgetTrek.)

A group of Santa Fe residents is taking the city to task over WiFi Internet systems installed in public buildings.

Why? They claim they’re allergic to the wireless signal. They say the city’s violating the ADA by limiting their access to those buildings.

ADA cases involving sensitivity to perfume and other chemicals have made it to court with varying results, but so far, no court has ever ruled on whether so-called “electro-sensitivity” can be considered a disability under the law.

Experts say it’s unlikely for companies to be sued over this issue, but stranger things have certainly happened. If electro-sensitivity ever gets legal protection, employers would be in big trouble, since many workplaces run their own WiFi networks.

We’ll keep you posted as the case moves forward.