On an American Airlines flight between Los Angeles and New York in December 2010, I looked into the seat pocket and found an information card on the inflight internet service that was available. Looking for a way to kill some of the time on this long flight and curious about what the internet performance would be like at 35,000ft I decided to sign up for an online session inflight. In summary it was unbelievable. For under $10 I had a high speed internet connection inflight for the best part of four hours. You turn on your wifi, select the Gogo Air access point and you are connected. To access beyond the Gogo Air site you need a credit card.
It is possible to stream video and also to make Skype video calls in flight. VOIP calls however are frowned upon, as documented on the seat pocket brochure, as it may impinge upon the serenity of fellow passengers.
The inflight internet service is delivered by Gogo Air. They provided the world’s first wireless broadband network for inflight connectivity. Gogo allows airline passengers to connect to the Internet through a system of cell towers on the ground. Gogo Internet operates on wireless signals provided by Gogo’s Air-To-Ground network, a reliable network of cellular towers spanning from one side of the US to the other. Their Air to Ground (ATG) system is a 3G wireless technology. Gogo’s network and services are available to passengers with laptops and other Wi-Fi enabled devices on all US domestic AirTran Airways, Delta Air Lines, Virgin America flights and on select Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways flights. Apparently some 6,000 aircraft, which includes thousands of business aircraft, are Gogo equipped.
Gogo owns more than 100 towers, which together form a network over the continental US and parts of Alaska. The towers are cellphone towers that have been outfitted to point their signals at the sky rather than along the ground. The aircraft picks up the signal through a receiver installed on its underside. When it reaches the aircraft, the data signal is distributed throughout the cabin via a Wi-Fi system.
Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, Gogo recently filed with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering.
Gogo has set the bar but it will only be a short while before other companies and airlines start providing inflight internet globally on flights internationally, enabling us to pick our own entertainment, that we can stream to our own laptop or iPad and also conduct business inflight online.
My Daughter on Facebook at 35,000ft flying between Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and Los Angeles