airplane Wi-Fi is slow and usually
expensive and just because you're paying
more doesn't necessarily mean you're
getting more you may not get Wi-Fi until
you're 10,000 feet in the air and when
you do get it it may be slow and spotty
even so people are still willing to
cough up their cash to post pictures of
clouds mid-flight or do some actual work
the industry is expected to be worth 130
billion dollars by 2035 but if it's such
a huge industry
why does in-flight Wi-Fi still suck
first we need to talk about how these
planes speeding around at hundreds of
miles an hour 36,000 feet in the air can
even get Wi-Fi there are two ways towers
on the ground or satellites in space
let's look at the towers this method is
called air-to-ground or 80 G for short
antennas on the belly of the craft pick
up signals from cell towers on the
ground to benefit you'll get less delay
because the towers are closer to your
plane than a satellite the downside no
towers no signals that means when you're
flying over large bodies of water above
mountains or passing over countries with
cell towers that restrict Wi-Fi access
you probably won't get any Wi-Fi so what
about satellites the big dome shaped
antenna on top of the plane will pick up
signals from the satellites these
satellite based systems will either use
Ku band or Cobb and connections which is
similar to 3G vs 4G there's a whole
debate on whether coup or Cobb band is
better but they're both way faster than
80 G systems but when you're sharing
internet with a couple hundred other
people traveling 500 miles per hour
36,000 feet in the air there's bound to
be a hiccup or to the towers vs.
satellite isn't the only thing that
affects whether you'll be able to stream
this week's episode of The Bachelor or
not the quality and price of your
in-flight Wi-Fi actually depend on for
more things your airline aircraft the
in-flight Wi-Fi provider in the region
you're traveling to and from first of
all in an effort to cut costs some
airlines like frontier don't even offer
Wi-Fi if your airline does offer Wi-Fi
it could be free or go all the way up to
$30 for an all-day pass but just because
the airline offers Wi-Fi
mean your plane supports it some
aircraft aren't even built with Wi-Fi
capabilities an American Airlines Boeing
738 might have satellite based Wi-Fi but
an American Airlines Boeing 757 might
not then there's a provider they all
offer different speeds which is crucial
for watching those meltdowns in HD and
lastly you'll need to factor in your
route if you're flying over a lot of
mountains or an ocean it probably won't
be many towers along the way and if the
plane isn't equipped to receive
satellite internet you'll be completely
out of luck for a while
Hawaiian Airlines didn't want to invest
in inflight Wi-Fi because the technology
along their flight paths crossing the
Pacific Ocean was sparse but
communication companies are launching
new satellites and Hawaiian is
rethinking the investment so why isn't
everyone upgrading their equipment for
some airlines it's just not their
highest priority upgrading equipment
means taking planes out of service for a
few days which means airlines lose money
it also means budgeting for new
infrastructure plus at least one
in-flight provider has 10 year contracts
with some of the airlines which doesn't
leave a lot of wiggle room for upgrades
and changes but better and faster
in-flight Wi-Fi is definitely on its way
American Airlines for example is making
moves to invest in better in-flight
Wi-Fi one survey showed that 67% of
passengers would rebook with an airline
if high quality Wi-Fi were available in
other words good Wi-Fi means customer
satisfaction and loyalty airlines have
good reason to upgrade their offerings
so it might not be a bad call for
airlines to speed up the process but for
now you're probably better off saving
your reality TV binge for when you get
home
for sure