WiFi at 30,000 Ft.

[+ TylerandAce]

Is WiFi on a plane something you appreciate or hate? I’m headed to Houston and working, posting, booking, surfing, shopping. On flights without WiFi I’d be sleeping or reading. Just when I’m thankful for it I realize I lost my unplugged time.

[+ FrankR]

Is WiFi on a plane something you appreciate or hate? I’m headed to Houston and working, posting, booking, surfing, shopping. On flights without WiFi I’d be sleeping or reading. Just when I’m thankful for it I realize I lost my unplugged time.

I am always careful of a public wifi access, especiay if it is free. No doubt it is convenient, but I make sure to use a VPN to keep the data exchange as ‘secure’ as possible. My vote is for “appreciate” with a caveat for responsible use.

[mike carey]

I sorta like it for its novelty value at the moment, but I share your regret that it takes away one assured period of unplugged time. I haven't used a paid wi-fi service on a flight yet, and doubt I would unless I'd been off-line for a while before the flight and needed to catch up. 'Need' is nonsense, of course, and I'm not working so that imperative is absent now, and there is often wi-fi in the departure lounge and you're always stuck there for a bit before a flight. The one time I have used it was on my Alaska flight from SFO to PSP last year, and that only allowed web based text messages, not general internet access.

[+ g56whiz]

Most of my travel is trans-Pacific where Wi-Fi if available is limited, spotty or both. I get out my noise cancelling headphones and catch up on all the movies I never seem to get to. Coming back from HK last March I caught almost all the Oscar nominated Flix I cared to see. The Ambien was clearly not working. Lol

[+ tassojunior]

It makes it 100% easier for me to plan onboard when there's little else to do.

 

What I don't understand is why I can pick up wifi 30,000 feet over the Atlantic but it can't seem to reach my bedroom.

[mike carey]

Most of my travel is trans-Pacific where Wi-Fi if available is limited, spotty or both. I get out my noise cancelling headphones and catch up on all the movies I never seem to get to.

Qantas hasn't got there yet (well, they hadn't when I last flew) so radio silence on SYD-LAX/SFO/DFW, but the inflight entertainment is more than adequate to keep me busy if I can't sleep, And even in economy they seem to bring snacks around every couple of hours. Over 14-15 hours in the air, it might be nice to check in here or on social media, but I can live without it!

[+ azdr0710]

 

[LookingAround]

Couldn’t live without it.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Is WiFi on a plane something you appreciate or hate? I’m headed to Houston and working, posting, booking, surfing, shopping. On flights without WiFi I’d be sleeping or reading. Just when I’m thankful for it I realize I lost my unplugged time.

 

Random Information Alert!

 

There are three variants of airline wifi: Gogo, Panasonic Ku and SW's Via-Sat Ka satellite technology. Of the three, Southwest was the airline to implement it right... Their entertainment system streams fast and is a solid product.

 

American has Gogo on most of their equipment and is moving to Panasonic's v3 tech, inch-by-inch. It's speedier than what they had, but it's still unreliable.

 

That being said, it's nice having the ability to work a little on the way to Asia, Europe, Hawaii or South America. I'm just happy that the FAA has kept their word in banning phone conversations in-flight. That would be insane.

[+ glutes]

Any Wi-Fi on Jimboi's Private Jets?

[+ nycman]

Be careful is my only advice.

 

I was on a flight to Europe and having trouble connecting

to the plane’s WiFi...while fidgeting with my phone and

trying to get the WiFi to work I must have turned off my

“airplane mode” for about 5 seconds.

 

My phone downloaded over $500 worth of “satellite roaming

data” in those 5 seconds before AT&T shut down my service.

 

3 phone calls later....AT&T has agreed to remove the charge

twice...but failed to do so...now they are refusing to remove

the charge at all.

 

My advice? Turn all your devices onto airplane mode as soon

as you board the plane and don’t touch them again until you

reach the gait.

[+ bashful]

I've been flying alone for years now. I always bring a book onboard, and am grateful to be able to just read, and not have to be tied to technology.

 

However, it's always been a pleasure to have a seatmate who is interesting, and willing to converse. Unfortunately, happens less often on planes these days.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

I've been flying alone for years now. I always bring a book onboard, and am grateful to be able to just read, and not have to be tied to technology.

 

However, it's always been a pleasure to have a seatmate who is interesting, and willing to converse. Unfortunately, happens less often on planes these days.

 

I also bring a book as my travel these days is mostly for pleasure and the flight gets me started on a book that has been sitting in my 'to read' pile too long.

 

I also don't upgrade my cell phone very often, so my battery life is pretty short. I want to make sure I have enough power to call my ride that I have safely landed, so I have not been tempted to use in flight wifi.

[EZEtoGRU]

Random Information Alert!

That being said, it's nice having the ability to work a little on the way to Asia, Europe, Hawaii or South America. I'm just happy that the FAA has kept their word in banning phone conversations in-flight. That would be insane.

 

+1

 

I'm Ok with the wifi on AA. Generally works fine for me. LH also worked good for me transatlantic. BA and IB? Not very good in my experience. YMMV of course.

 

I love having functional wifi in board.

[+ TylerandAce]

What I don't understand is why I can pick up wifi 30,000 feet over the Atlantic but it can't seem to reach my bedroom.

IKR?! I can get a full LTE service in the middle of a Norwegian fjord, but I can’t surf porn while sitting on my own toilet!

 

I use Gogo since I fly almost exclusively with Delta. It is usually reliable, but can be glitchy. Their free onboard streaming to device is very good, though, about 85-90% of the time.

 

The Euro codeshare carriers (KLM and Air France) haven’t quite caught up yet. Gotta go over next week and I’m already plotting what to download on my iPad. I guess I’ve come to rely on wifi more than I realize.

[instudiocity]

I've been flying alone for years now. I always bring a book onboard, and am grateful to be able to just read, and not have to be tied to technology.

I also bring a book as my travel these days is mostly for pleasure and the flight gets me started on a book that has been sitting in my 'to read' pile too long.

My “to read” pile is onboard my iPad so I always have 10-20 volumes along the trip. I can switch from fiction to non fiction, tech to self improvement virtually instantaneously.

[instudiocity]

I also don't upgrade my cell phone very often, so my battery life is pretty short. I want to make sure I have enough power to call my ride that I have safely landed, so I have not been tempted to use in flight wifi.

if your cell is an iPhone, you can replace the battery for $29.95 @ Apple Stores. Why wouldn’t you?

[+ poolboy48220]

I've been flying alone for years now. I always bring a book onboard, and am grateful to be able to just read, and not have to be tied to technology.

 

However, it's always been a pleasure to have a seatmate who is interesting, and willing to converse. Unfortunately, happens less often on planes these days.

Never happened to me. My most memorable was a guy returning from a turkey hunt vacation, and would not stop talking about it.

 

I've mentioned before a co-worker who was seated next to Ricardo Montalban on a flight in the early 80's. Not wanting to be the gushing fan, she gave him his space, but halfway through the flight he started chatting with her, and told her he was just returning from filming a movie. And that's how I found out Star Trek II was going to involve Khan. (swoon)

[LaffingBear]

Neither appreciate it or hate it. Never bothered to use it.

 

My phone becomes simply a music device after boarding. Use my tablet for reading, games, videos/movies, some work, etc. None of it requires wifi.

 

I cant relate to the need to be always connected.

[tanman4u]

The first time I used it (GoGo on AA because AmEx gives me 10 or so credits a year) I felt very high-tech right up to the moment that I texted a work compadre bragging "hello from 39K'. The moment I hit send I realized that I had just changed my wonderful little private world of flying forever. I make it a point to bitch all the time that the wifi wasn't working on the plane so they no longer expect me to keep in touch.

[Frequentflier]

In addition to reading 2 newspapers a day (NYTimes and Financial Times), I'm reading at least 250 pages of a book each week. I don't miss the time I used to spend on the internet or TV.

[+ TylerandAce]

The first time I used it (GoGo on AA because AmEx gives me 10 or so credits a year) I felt very high-tech right up to the moment that I texted a work compadre bragging "hello from 39K'. The moment I hit send I realized that I had just changed my wonderful little private world of flying forever. I make it a point to bitch all the time that the wifi wasn't working on the plane so they no longer expect me to keep in touch.

Brilliant!! I’m SO going to do this in the future!

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

if your cell is an iPhone, you can replace the battery for $29.95 @ Apple Stores. Why wouldn’t you?

 

I am either lazy or cheap.... In this case, probably both.

[instudiocity]

I am either lazy or cheap.... In this case, probably both.

Sounds like great wisdom, "It is better to curse the problem than to spend a little money and effort to make things like new."