[dbcmgt]

I recently traveled via Southwest Airlines(SW). One day before my trip I received an email about watching TV for free. It said it was free live TV compliments of DISH for Laptop, tables and smartphones. There was also a link to a list of compatible devices. As expected, BlackBerry was not listed there. Some of the requirements were wifi(802.11g/n), Browser, Flash player and a few others.

The plane was supposed to leave at 9:30 p.m. but given weather conditions somewhere, we ended up leaving at 1:30 a.m. When they gave us the green light to turn on electronic devices, I was decided to watch some early morning quality-live TV and I succeeded! I watched the NFL Network, MSNBC, NBC, and few others.

Here are the steps. It is not rocket science but hopefully will help you have one more choice of entertainment while flying.

• Turn on Wi-fi only (Not all radios)
  
  
• Select SouthwestWifi Network. After you connect (Hotspot Login Confirmation), a Browser-like window will open with the Connect Hotspot landing page. The address bar will be disabled.
  
  
• Turn your phone in landscape mode and the address bar(obviously) will be longer, get/memorize/write the URL. Most likely it will be something like (mine): http://getconnected.southwestwifi.com
  
  
• Close that browser-like window.
  
  
• Open your BlackBerry Browser and make sure you have the Desktop Mode ON. If not, previous SW landing page will keep showing up.
  
  
• Enter the URL in BB Browser address bar.
  
  
• The desktop site for live tv will be displayed. Click on the Free TV Link in Navigation Menu (blue Menu) or wait for the ad slide rotation to show it(2nd slide).
  
  
• The corresponding disclaimer will be display and after clicking OK a list of channels will appear.
  

So those are the steps to get live TV on a Southwest Airlines flight. A few other things:

• A window titled "Provider Identity Not Verifiable" was displayed a few times. Given that it was about 2:00 am, I was too tired to click on "Get Details" so I kept clicking "Cancel". Please check what "Get details" was all about
  
  
• I Am not sure how long this Live Free TV promotion will last. I am sure though, not all SW planes have this service.
  
  
• Once you get to watch live TV you might see that you are able to maximize the window, it does not work that well. I ended up doing the pinch and zoom on the table like frame of the page.
  
  
• For those who are wondering about Southwest Airlines, it is a United States only airline. I must say too that this is the first time I experience a delay with them(out of 12-15 flights).

Hopefully attachments will be displayed in the correct order.

[howarmat]

Thank you for sharing this! hopefully those of us that fly will be able to use this