Southwest is the first airline to offer gate-to-gate WiFi — you’ll be online for the entire flight

Southwest Airlines is taking a step beyond letting its passengers use their electronic devices at takeoff and landing — it is giving them the option of gate-to-gate Wi-Fi service, AllThingsD reports.

This move, to be announced Thursday, will make it the first US airline to provide such an option — which will see its passengers being able to connect to the Internet even when the plane is on the runway. Southwest Airlines can do this because it provides Wi-Fi using a satellite technology that is different from what is used by other Wi-Fi services such as Gogo, which uses air-to-ground technology that only activates Internet connectivity in the sky.

In October, the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration Administrator (FAA) cleared the way for airlines to allow passengers to use electronic devices “during all phases of flight” — which will likely ignite a race for airlines to start providing Wi-Fi services.

➤ Southwest to Be First With Gate-to-Gate Wi-Fi Service [AllThingsD]

Headline image via Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images