Connectivity is fast becoming a competitive necessity in the airline industry. Another airline is adding WiFi service to its flights. This time, Continental. But it is the crippled, low-speed kind that can only handle e-mail and instant messaging. CrunchGear weighs in:

Today Continental announced that they will be offering Wi-Fi, but it will be the same crippled mess that you can find on JetBlue. It’s not all bad, though. The agreement with LiveTV will also bring 36 channels of live TV thanks to DirecTV. First-class passengers will receive the service (TV) for free while economy-class passengers will have to muster up $6. The Wi-Fi service I just mentioned will be free. It’s free because it sucks. I’ll wait for AirCell’s service on American or Virgin America.