How Inflight Wifi Works • Hacker News Board

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#21

Post by chiph » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 9:27 PM UTC

btrask wrote: post #13

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.

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.

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#22

Post by beachstartup » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 9:27 PM UTC

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.

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#23

Post by mbesto » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 9:27 PM UTC

degenerate wrote: post #6

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?

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)

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#24

Post by bitwize » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 9:29 PM UTC

btrask wrote: post #13

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.

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.

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#25

Post by wrenky » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 9:30 PM UTC

degenerate wrote: post #6

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?

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.

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#26

Post by ekimekim » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 9:32 PM UTC

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.

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#27

Post by rconti » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 9:33 PM UTC

ekimekim wrote: post #26

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.

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.

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#28

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 9:33 PM UTC

wrenky wrote: post #25

degenerate wrote: post #6

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?

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.

[deleted]

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#29

Post by DHJSH » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 9:35 PM UTC

ekimekim wrote: post #26

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.

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

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#30

Post by MBCook » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 9:41 PM UTC

vacri wrote: post #11

devy wrote: post #7

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…

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.

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.