Surfing the web at 30,000 feet!

[underclocker]

With my new X100e (a perfect traveling companion on its first trip) on a flight to Utah from D.C. The wifi worked perfectly for 4 hours. Skype video calls were perfect. Just incredible. The ThinkPad forum above the clouds!

[Tõnis]

Terrific! I'm a bit confused though, as I haven't flown since 1984. Do planes have wifi now? If so, how? I mean, is it satelllite?

[HACCP76]

I tell you, what a brilliant idea. I have not got a ThinkPad yet, but after seeing that photo and reading the post. It has definitely pointed me in the right direction.

[underclocker]

From a Delta blog;

Exciting Wi-Fi News for Aircell & Delta
Published September 1st, 2010 in Onboard, Planes, Wi-Fi

Today I’m eager to share some great news from our friends at Aircell, the provider of Gogo In-Flight Internet service. Drum roll, please! On Saturday, they completed their 1,000th Wi-Fi installation! The lucky plane was a Delta DC9-50, which made its first flight with Wi-Fi Tuesday from Detroit. Passengers on board the flight were greeted by the folks at Gogo and treated to complimentary Internet access on board!

It was a great day for Delta as well. The Gogo service was installed on Ship 9877 Saturday evening in Detroit, marking the 524th Wi-Fi installation for us!

In fact, as of today, Sept. 1, nearly all of Delta’s domestic mainline fleet, 529 of 549 aircraft, have been equipped with Wi-Fi service.

The remaining aircraft include (1) A320, (2) DC9-50s and (8) 757-200s. There are (2) 737-800s and (7) MD90s that have not yet joined the fleet but don’t worry, they’ll be outfitted with Wi-Fi prior to entry into service. For more info, check out the official Aircell news release.

I hope you’ve been enjoying our Gogo In-Flight Internet service and would love to hear what you think!

P.S. Don’t forget to download our free Delta iPhone app today! It’s great for checking in to your flight, seeing your flight status, getting airport info and a lot more. Plus, you can use the app for free on any Gogo Wi-Fi-enabled flight!

Chris B.
Customer Experience Planning & Development

And;

Aircell's Gogo ground-to-air service uses a network of modified mobile phone towers, which it owns or rents onshore and offshore across North America, including Canada and Mexico. It also offers a satellite service using the Iridium constellation.

[lead_org]

talk about cloud computing...

[AMATX]

I've read about this on Flyertalk,com, in the Delta forum. Haven't seen any performance numbers, so can you give us an idea of how good web response is, how downloads are, sporatic-ness, etc. ??

Looks great, but I've wondered about how practical this really is. Probably really good for email and minor web surfing, but what about for an app that's constantly working over the web(even if no big transfers, just frequent interaction).

[underclocker]

For the month of December, Delta offered complimentary wifi on all domestic flights (assuming the airplane was properly equipped). I only flew twice, back and forth from DCA to SLC, but those were 4 hour flights. Internet is available as long as the plane is above 10,000 feet.

On the flight to SLC, the performance was incredible, it certainly felt as fast as my home cable. As soon as the service offering was announced, I connected, downloaded Skype (which was a very fast download) and called home, with video. I was able to show my family the clouds below the plane from the window. The video and voice quality was excellent, no difffent from office to home. It was incredible and somewhat mind-blowing. I was speaking with my kids from 30,000 feet at 600 miles per hours, on a video call, on a laptop. Yes, the future is here and now.

On the way back, the connection was a little slower with occasional delays, but still good.

I later read in the Delta magazine that video (including NetFlix) and voice IP traffic is not permitted. I figure it will only be a little while before they block that traffic themselves.

Bottom line, performance was very good. Excellent for surfing or email. Whether it would work well with Citrix or web-based apps, really would depend on the route and coverage. I would assume that it will only get better, too.

[AMATX]

Hey, nice to know Thanks for the update.

Over on Flyertalk, some of the conversation has been about too many passengers overloading the system, but who knows? Once the freebie stuff is over, paid access will trim the number of users. And, as you implied, limiting high bandwidth apps will really be key. Guess we'll see how it goes...

[mpcook]

I fly Delta a lot and have used onboard wifi about half a dozen times. Performance is varied, I guess it depends on the number of geeks onboard any given flight, but it is definitely usable. The only issue I have had is unable to connect to my corporate VPN, so I use webmail instead of Outlook.

Mike

[t140568]

talk about cloud computing...

Good one.

I'm really liking these new X100 series TPs.