AIUI it uses mobile phone technology where available, I assume it uses
sat-phone technology when out over the Atlantic.

There's a service in the US called Airfone that uses slightly modified
cellular technology with ground stations that have antennae that point
up. If you remember when planes had pay phones, that's what they were.

It was a complete failure as pay phones, but remains somewhat viable
as a niche product with dedicated phones installed on private planes.
It's bounced around among owners but now belongs to LiveTV, whose main
business is providing TV feeds for those umpteen channel seatback
screens.

I believe I've seen sat phones on Lufthansa, but I doubt they get much
use. Maybe they share facilities with something the airline uses for
operations (cockpit to headquarters) so they can share costs.

R's,
John
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