How Inflight Wifi Works • Hacker News Board

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#41

Post by rbanffy » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 11:10 PM UTC

colmvp wrote: post #40

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.

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

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#42

Post by asavadatti » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 11:13 PM UTC

colmvp wrote: post #40

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.

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.

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#43

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 11:20 PM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #41

colmvp wrote: post #40

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.

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

[deleted]

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#44

Post by untog » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 11:20 PM UTC

colmvp wrote: post #40

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.

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.

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#45

Post by john_bygane » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 11:22 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.

Lol wat? I can't remember the time I flew international and didn't have power at the seat. This is economy as well, not fancy business class. Sometimes it's two power sockets shared between three seats, but it's fine if you juggle every couple of hours.

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#46

Post by hammock » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 11:27 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.

Why Google? Why not literally any other company?

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#47

Post by jquery » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 11:28 PM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #41

colmvp wrote: post #40

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.

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

Especially in price.

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#48

Post by calebm » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 11:29 PM UTC

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

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#49

Post by ars » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 11:30 PM UTC

hammock wrote: post #46

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.

Why Google? Why not literally any other company?

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

Re: How Inflight Wifi Works

#50

Post by slapshot » Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 11:36 PM UTC

untog wrote: post #44

colmvp wrote: post #40

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.

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…

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.