How Inflight Wifi Works

http://thepointsguy.com/2015/11/how-in-flight-wi-fi-works/

by ffwang2 • 11 years ago

160 124 11 years ago

mindslight• 11 years ago

What's with the insistence on demand for streaming music or video on a plane? Do these people also forgo packing a suitcase and just rebuy everything as needed?

pavel_lishin4• 11 years ago

Are you saying that they should pre-download movies and music to listen to on the plane?

I use Google Play for music because it's pretty okay at letting me cache local music on my phone, but I have no idea how well Rdio, Spotify, or Pandora do that. I don't think there's a way to do it on your computer at all, so if you only have a work phone that you don't keep music on, streaming music might be your only option if you don't want to listen to one of the 13 channels provided via the crappy in-seat audio jack.

kingosticks• 11 years ago

The Spotify android app supports offline playback. I've not used the desktop client in long time buy it probably still does too.

I've never been on a plane that offered wifi but I've never flown internally in the US. I quite enjoy being properly disconnected for the duration of my annual London to San Francisco flight but maybe if I did it more regularly I wouldn't.

ghaff4• 11 years ago

Are you saying that they should pre-download movies and music to listen to on the plane?

Um, yes? It doesn't really seem like a huge deal. On the other hand, I have a fairly large music library on my phone and carry a tablet for movies and other things.

ape4• 11 years ago

When you buy your ticket (online of course) you could also select a movie to download. It could be available on the plane's LAN for you.

untog2• 11 years ago

There are already systems that provide that - stream over the inflight Wifi from a movie box somewhere on the plane. Provided I have a power outlet I prefer it to the usual system because my laptop screen is so much better than the in-seat TV.

TeMPOraL• 11 years ago

Do these people also forgo packing a suitcase and just rebuy everything as needed?

I've heard that it's actually a pretty viable travel strategy in some areas of the world.

rhino369• 11 years ago

I know people who do that when they come visit America from the EU. High end brands are a lot cheaper here.

JoshGlazebrook• 11 years ago

Does anyone have details on the ground based cell networks used for some planes? Are they partnering with a provider like Verizon Wireless to use their existing service, which I don't believe is the case unless they are aiming their antennas into the air on certain towers for them. Or do they just lease space for their own antennas on towers and aim them upwards? and then pay for bandwidth, etc?

slapshot2• 11 years ago

GoGo is the big ground-based provider. GoGo uses a network of cell towers that point up rather than down. An antenna under the plane connects to towers much like civilian cellphones. [1]

By contrast, Row 44 (used by Southwest and some international carriers) is a satellite-based system. An antenna on top of the plane connects to a geostationary satellite. [2]

Other services do one or both of the above. [3]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gogo_Inflight_Internet [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Row_44 [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnAir_(telecommunications)

toomuchtodo• 11 years ago

Last I heard, GoGo (previously Aircell) used an MPLS network to shuttle traffic between a few hundred AT&T cell sites they were using for their equipment, but that was years ago.

degenerate• 11 years ago

Jet Blue just rolled out free wifi to most of their US-based flights... and while it was pretty slow, I could still RDP into my work computer to answer emails and read HN. That was pretty sweet. You can pay $10 to get "gaming" speeds but I didn't test it out. I'd imagine most pings being >200ms. Has anyone tried it out?

mbesto• 11 years ago

I use airline wifi quite a bit. This has been my experience:

Gogo (Delta/American/Virgin) - Meh (anywhere between 50-1000 KB/s)

United - Mostly crap (anywhere between 5-200 KB/s)

Jet Blue - Free tier was pretty solid (anywhere between 500-1500 KB/s)

kozukumi3• 11 years ago

Damn you make me feel old saying "meh" to ~1MB/s internet access while flying at 500+mph at 30,500+ feet over the earth.

Something about my lawn...

wrenky• 11 years ago

I work for ViaSat (the satellite provider for FlyFi)! You'll never have latency fast enough for "gaming" speeds, as your signal has to travel halfway to the moon and back meaning a physical limit of at least 500ms. Not good enough for gaming, but streaming/torrents/large downloads work great.

objclxt• 11 years ago

Most US domestic airlines don't use satellite links, since they're always above ground. They tend to use ground based microwave technology instead, which offers better latency.

Source: I used to do some consultancy for a provider of in-flight entertainment / wifi systems.

rsync• 11 years ago

"I work for ViaSat"

Well, well, well...

So, does viasat use different beams for the airplane links than the normal ground based, satellite consumers ?

I assume yes, since most of the beams for ground users are stupendously oversubscribed, such that you can't even open gmail or load your banks website during a lot of the business day.

Our solution for rural Internet used to be a plain old T1 from AT&T @ $450/month, and we replaced it with 12mbps viasat at $149/mo ... and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish we had that T1 back ...

devy• 11 years ago

This paragraph is absurd. Not sure if the author was excessively exaggerating or this is true. Can someone who's a domain expert or is familiar with the device to clarify why in-flight WAPs are 10x more expensive but 10x more fragile? Cosmic rays?

		Called Wireless Access Points (or WAPs), these black boxes
	function similarly to Wi-Fi routers that would be found in a
	home, but because they’re on an airplane, they cost 10 times more
	and break 10 times more easily. Each WAP is connected by a
	QuadRax cable, which is essentially formed of wires within wires
	within wires.

pavel_lishin4• 11 years ago

Sounds like it's more of a joke, but I bet it feels like they break down more often - it's probably not trivial to just powercycle it mid-flight like you would your router at home.

cryptoz• 11 years ago

I have used in-flight WiFi on about 10 to 15 flights, and I would say that about half those times it either breaks midway through the flight or it doesn't work at all. From my anecdotal experience the failure rate is more like 100x higher than home WiFi.

Not that I'm complaining, it's magical to even get WiFi for a few seconds in an airplane. I try to hold the same attitude as Louis CK on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFsOUbZ0Lr0

vacri• 11 years ago

Can't speak to the fragility, but when a home WAP typically only costs $50, a 10x increase in cost for an aerospace item is trivial.

MBCook• 11 years ago

The fragility bit doesn't seem too unreasonable. Being encased in the hull of a plain means drastic temperature variations, air pressure variations and TONS of vibration.

larrik• 11 years ago

Certifications usually account for pricing. My father's small plane has a rather simple radio that costs $5k because it's the only one certified to go into his specific plane. You could get a functionally identical radio for under $50, but using it in his plane would be illegal.

prostoalex• 11 years ago

http://garmin.blogs.com/my_weblog/2015/06/the-price-tag-asso...

btrask• 11 years ago

While on a flight recently, I realized... Why doesn't Google sponsor free in-flight WiFi? It would be much easier than Google Fiber or Project Loon, and it would let them deliver more ads to a fairly wealthy group of people.

chiph• 11 years ago

They did it at least once over the Christmas holidays two years ago. Probably didn't pay off for them in terms of ad revenue by flying web browsers.

soylentcola• 11 years ago

Sure, but it's at least good PR. Like some other companies, they do a lot of "nice" things that may not gain them anything immediately but it's good for branding and it's still a "by Google" tag on something people want. It reminds me more of companies that underwrite NPR programs or whatever. They aren't getting paid directly but lots of potential customers hear their name and that they sponsored something you want.

bitwize2• 11 years ago

Because the (American) airlines will say no. Or, they will accept the offer and then charge $12 per seat anyway. I think they get perverse joy out of nickel and diming people to death. When not-uncomfortable seats are a premium feature, there's nothing they won't charge for.

greggyb• 11 years ago

American travelers tend to purchase tickets based solely on price. If your consumers are very price conscious, you move as much as you can out of the base price.

Don't blame airlines in the US, blame airline customers.

Personally, I like the nickel-and-dime scheme, as you call it. I rarely take cross country flights. My typical travel is 3-4 hours of flying at the most. I absolutely prefer a cheaper base ticket price, because I don't care if they give me crappy food for "free" in that time frame. At 6'2", I fit comfortably even in Spirit's closely-spaced seating. I travel very light and typically have a single bag.

For me, a lower base fare with extra charges for the rest is something I prefer. I am very happy that the US air-traveling market agrees with me and has pushed the industry in this direction.

hammock• 11 years ago

Why Google? Why not literally any other company?

ars• 11 years ago

Because: https://www.google.com/loon/

beachstartup• 11 years ago

does anyone know a highly reliable mobile satellite internet solution? price is less-ish of an object but i've been looking for something to take with me on extended camping trips and remote locations to do work or for emergencies (also thinking of buying property somewhere without good wired internet).

haven't found much so far except for extremely expensive (5-figure) expedition type rigs.

Scottopherson• 11 years ago

I'm interested in this too. I could take a lot more camping trips if I could video chat w/ coworkers from remote locations.

idlewords3• 11 years ago

I'm kind of glad this is a limiting factor on techies in the wilderness.

brandon272• 11 years ago

I have searched for this before too as I'm not comfortable vacationing in places where I'm completely disconnected for a week at a time. Though the only thing I've been able to find are BGAN terminals. The equipment rental + data is extremely expensive.

ahefner• 11 years ago

Should improve over the next few years. There are several large new Ka-band systems either currently coming online (e.g. Inmarsat GX) or under development, and market pressure to build smaller, cheaper satellite terminals.

farva• 11 years ago

It's possible (at least with the HN7000 ku-band system) to put a Hughesnet dish on a tripod and point it yourself (with the proper tools and knowledge). You'd need to get it from a dealer that allows self-installs (Hughesnet won't sell you equipment without a professional installation), such as Montana Satellite.

ekimekim• 11 years ago

I mainly do trans-pacific flights. In such long (>12h) flights I can't use wifi even if its on offer, as it chews through precious battery time too fast. I would kill for plane seats with power plugs, or even just USB power.

rconti5• 11 years ago

I typically find I can get ~6 hours on most modern laptops, which means far more hours than I have the patience to stare at a computer screen for.

thescriptkiddie2• 11 years ago

Last time I flew internationally, I brought a 2015 macbook pro retina with a hard drive full of videos. I only ended up getting 4 of the advertised 9 hours run time running VLC with the brightness turned all the way down. Luckily, there were power outlets hidden under the seats. I don't understand why power outlets aren't the number 1 selling point for airlines that have them.

DHJSH• 11 years ago

There are power plugs on all the Trans-Pacific United flights I fly. What airline are you using?

colmvp• 11 years ago

Of all the things I want on a plane, WiFi ranks a lot lower than having a consistent power outlet at my seat. There's nothing worse than having Wifi but a laptop that can only last a % of the flight.

rbanffy• 11 years ago

A business (or first) class seat beats any of those. ;-)

jquery• 11 years ago

Especially in price.

asavadatti• 11 years ago

I'd rather have wifi part way than be stuck offline all the way. I can always get online on my phone if my laptop dies.

untog2• 11 years ago

I'd love to see an airline get rid of seat back TVs entirely and just provide power outlets instead. There are already systems that let you stream movies for free over in-flight wi-fi - given that most of us have a smartphone (if not a bigger screened device) the experience would probably be better.

Would suck for those without smartphones, though. Maybe they could lend out crappy Android tablets to that minority of customers.

slapshot2• 11 years ago

Southwest does that in large part: there are zero in-seat entertainment systems, but 80% of planes have WiFi that includes (free) streaming live TV, (pay) streaming movies, and (pay) Internet access.

No outlets yet, but rumors are that the next generation of interiors might.

jayflux• 11 years ago

Some low cost airlines have already begun doing this I believe http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3284231/End-inflight...

tbomb2• 11 years ago

I was recently on an Alaskan Air flight which did just that. It had no TV's on the plane, but power outlets right on the back of the seat. For all of their in flight entertainment, they directed you to their app or site once you connected to the in flight Wi-Fi (for free). I ended up not using it and reading instead (the free content wasn't great) but I really liked the idea and it seemed to work great just poking around, as I did.

rco87863• 11 years ago

A lot(most? All?) of airlines are moving to this exact model.

guiambros2• 11 years ago

Some airlines call it "PDE" - Personal Device Entertainment [1]. You connect to internal wifi and can stream all the catalog of movies available aboard. I think it's a lot more convenient than those old (and usually malfunctioning) lcd screens. Even better when there's a USB port right there, so you can charge your phone while you watch it.

[1] https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/inflight/ent...

saryant2• 11 years ago

United and Southwest are already moving in this direction.

jzwinck• 11 years ago

Emirates' largest planes have universal AC outlets on most seatbacks, as well as USB. They also have WiFi: no charge for 10 MB and $1 for 600 MB. All of that in economy class.

kozukumi3• 11 years ago

$1/600MB is a better deal that a lot of home-based internet access in Australia!

kozukumi3• 11 years ago

Business idea -

Free WiFi on all flights as part of your ticket price!

Mains power supply provided for $30/hour ;)

New TSA policy: Li-ion/Li-poly/etc batteries cannot be more than 20% charged for safety.

Redoubts• 11 years ago

You joke, but sometimes I wonder if the low fluid ounce limit was a conspiracy by Big Shampoo and the Toothpaste Trust.

voltagex_2• 11 years ago

I found out the hard way that on the new Qantas A380s, the power outlets are only in "premium" economy.

It's $939 from SYD to LAX in December (holy crap, at that price I better take a trip!) in Economy, but a whopping $2539 or $3389 for Premium Economy. I like having an AC outlet too, but that's crazy.

If you do get to use the outlets on the A380, be aware that they do ~75W maximum. Exceed that and they'll shut down, and they don't get reset.

idlewords3• 11 years ago

Veering off-topic, if you fly Air New Zealand on that route, you can often use their name-your-own-price auction system to get an upgrade to premium economy for a few hundred dollars.

I'm picturing you on that A380 cursing as you try to blow-dry your hair. What were you doing that pulled more than 75W?

calebm2• 11 years ago

If they don't offer free wifi, just use DNS tunneling ;)

finnn• 11 years ago

I got 10-15 second round trip time to the ground using DNS tunneling on Southwest's inflight WiFi

0xdragon2• 11 years ago

Anyone tried ICMP tunnelling? :)

guelo• 11 years ago

It used to feel like a sanctuary going on a plane and being forced offline, no social media, no emails, no ads, no constant poking of my dopamine receptors. One of the last refuges.

Altaer• 11 years ago

I thoroughly enjoy driving due to the fact that I know I can't do anything productive on my phone or computer. It's one of the few times I can relax myself and enjoy the experience...something that is dwindling on airplanes as the WIFI technology gets better and better.

ikeboy• 11 years ago

Formally used for military communications

Probably should be formerly.

dheera4• 11 years ago

"Prior to the integration of in-flight Wi-Fi, most airline passengers passed their time at 30,000 feet completely disconnected from the world below them — but these days, that’s a highly uncommon occurrence."

Am I missing something here? 99% of the flights I take don't offer Wi-Fi, and in most cases not even power outlets. And those that do have Wi-Fi seem to be charging 30% of my monthly internet bill to provide it for a mere few hours. Like, no thanks.

serf• 11 years ago

You're one of the lucky ones. Almost all my flights have power outlets, which means that some stranger is going to be rooting around my ankles trying to find the damn outlet for the first 20 minutes of the voyage.

rco87863• 11 years ago

Dang, for every new convenience technology affords us there's someone to complain about it.

personjerry• 11 years ago

In my experience the outlets are always on the back of the seat in front of mine, that floor socket seems like a bad design in a space-cramped setting.

tbomb2• 11 years ago

While its been a long time since I've been on an airplane _without_ Wi-Fi, I don't often see power outlets. And as you alluded to, most of the time its $10 for the duration of that flight, whether its 5 hours or 30 minutes.

joelrunyon• 11 years ago

Who you flying? AA typically has power outlets under most of their upgraded planes these days.

Zarathustra30• 11 years ago

What airline are YOU flying? I am usually on a 737 built before cell phones were invented. I consider myself lucky if the SkyMall hasn't been stolen, let alone in-flight Wi-Fi.

mikeash4• 11 years ago

I think you're an unusual case. There are a ton of flights with WiFi these days.

I don't get the complaints about cost, either. They're connecting you to the world from six miles in the air. It's a pretty impressive technical feat, and $10 is a pretty reasonable cost for that. When you really need it, it's very cheap, considering. When you don't really need it, well, your cat GIFs can wait until you land.

dheera4• 11 years ago

Meh? I'd say the airplane itself is the biggest technical feat. Wi-Fi is like water in the 21st century; it should be free. And without the silly login screens that wreak havoc with various apps on my phone.

Speaking of which, I wonder if TCP-over-DNS might work with in-flight Wi-Fi. It worked well enough to get a crappy kilobit link at a lot of hotels back in the day before I had 4G tethering and stopped caring.

ffwang2• 11 years ago

Many of the domestic flights have wifi, especially if you fly JetBlue or United.

cmsmith• 11 years ago

Data >> Anecdotes [1]

60% of domestic flights have wifi on them. My apologies if you are flying outside the US or using regional carriers 98% of the time (which might not be included here).

1: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/26/for-onboard-wi-fi-not-all-air...

(this was google result number one for 'percent of flights with wifi')

r00fus• 11 years ago

I'm going to counter with my anecdote - of the 6 domestic planes I've been on in the past few months... Only 1 had a working wifi for the entire flight. 2 had no wifi available and the other 3 had connectivity or service issues for at least half of the flight.

Just having a route as wifi capable does not mean you will get wifi on a given flight.

nfriedly• 11 years ago

Funny story: some in-flight WiFi services give you a different price based on your user-agent (high for phones, higher for tablets, highest for desktop browers). Fortunately no one can change that...

ubernostrum4• 11 years ago

If you fly a lot and are consistent in your choice of airline, typically you can buy an unlimited-use pass that renews monthly for a flat fee.

If you don't fly often, I know you can prepay for a pass for your flight before leaving home on most services. Though for my use case (flying 75,000-85,000 miles/year on average) the monthly pass is absolutely cheaper.

ryan-c• 11 years ago

They also charge less if you buy on the ground. Wouldn't be surprised if they charged more if you registered from airport WiFi. On an android phone, you can connect to WiFi then USB tether.

copperx• 11 years ago

initial page elements will take up to a second to appear.

This happens to me too on my home 50Mbps connection.

How Inflight Wifi Works

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