4 ms·

JetBlue to offer free inflight wifi in 2013

49 points by raldi 14y ago

flatline3 14y ago
The WiFi on Virgin America has grown steadfastly slower as more people became aware of it, and despite the $10-$17 price point, has now reached the point of being nearly totally unusable on most of my flights. Unless Jet Blue has a solution to provide significantly more bandwidth, I can't imagine that free WiFi is going to be less saturated than the paid option on Virgin.
- raldi 14y ago
  They claim it will have "exponentially more bandwidth than any other product in commercial aviation today". I know that's an incorrect and meaningless use of the term "exponential", but the bottom line is they're claiming it will be a lot faster: http://www.jetblue.com/flying-on-jetblue/wifi/ http://www.jetblue.com/flying-on-jetblue/wifi/
  - d503 14y ago
    It's claimed the system will offer 12mbps or more to each passenger via ViaSat-1, which should offer 140 Gbps total throughput ("the highest capacity satellite in the world" with "more capacity than all current North American satellites combined") http://www.viasat.com/news/new-exede-internet-for-commercial-airlines-viasat-designed-deliver-12-mbps-each-passenger-flight http://www.viasat.com/news/new-exede-internet-for-commercial...
- ChuckMcM 14y ago
  Person on the flight next to my wife, plunks down double digit dollars for WiFi and then clicks the NetFlix app on the iPad for their kid. It was a problem. A problem because the kid was not well behaved, the kid was in full on you-deny-me-this-at-your-peril whine/rant/scream. Mom was beside herself tring to figure out why the network was "working" but NetFlix wasn't, the Mom had zero technical grasp of what networks are all about (and why should she?). As an engineer it really demonstrated how badly the tech community can abuse the expectations of the non-tech community. Southwest paid a heavy goodwill cost on that flight, I think that impedes the roll out of these services.
- atlbeer 14y ago
  Agreed. I flew for business on Delta cross country frequently and used to quite enjoy my "wifi-time" when I could work without phone interruption for 2-4 hours at a time. Google then had a free wifi special for holiday season and it essentially became unusable. Prices are a very good thing.
mcargian 14y ago
will offer free basic Wi-Fi services until the service is installed on 30 airplanes While nice to have, if the installation is anything like Gogo (less than 24 hours) it doesn't sound like it will be free for long.
- epoxyhockey 14y ago
  Another link-bait post title. Just like the Manchester getting rid of airport scanners (catch: to be replaced by another type of scanner) and Russia's secret diamond field (catch: of hard to mine industrial-quality-only diamonds, which wouldn't affect the market).
  - raldi 14y ago
    "Our source claims that following this initial trial period, the service will remain free for "basic email and browsing" purposes, though you'll obviously be paying if you hope to stream Netflix during those cross-country flights." http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/17/3347776/jetblue-inflight-wi-fi-viasat-q1-2013 http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/17/3347776/jetblue-inflight-w...
untog 14y ago
I used wifi on a flight for the first time a few weeks ago- it was fantastic. Not perfect, but it converted six hours of dead time into productive time. It got me thinking about how driverless cars will represent a similar change. They seem like they are one technical innovation that we'll definitely see in my working lifetime, and I'm looking forward to it. Imagine being able to start and end your working day on a laptop in the car, rather than wasting time commuting.
- johns 14y ago
  Wifi on flights has had the exact opposite effect on my productivity while flying. I used to be able to churn out interesting new things because I had no choice but to focus on them. Now I'm too weak to not be distracted by email, Twitter and HN to pass the time.
khuey 14y ago
I do most of my domestic flying on Delta, which has in flight Wifi (via Gogo) available on most (if not all) of their aircraft. The quality is really hit or miss. I've had flights where the connection was good enough to download large files (debugging symbols from Microsoft) and have one way Skype sessions (me typing, the other person with audio/video). I've also had flights where I could barely check my email. I'm not sure if it's the route flown or the other passengers using the connection or what, but the highly variable quality is annoying.
roryreiff 14y ago
Hopefully other airlines will follow suit. Airlines find any reason they can to upsell passengers, so it is refreshing to see one that will be rolling out a service for free. This fact alone makes we want to support their business.

49 points by raldi 14y ago

The WiFi on Virgin America has grown steadfastly slower as more people became aware of it, and despite the $10-$17 price point, has now reached the point of being nearly totally unusable on most of my flights. Unless Jet Blue has a solution to provide significantly more bandwidth, I can't imagine that free WiFi is going to be less saturated than the paid option on Virgin.

raldi 14y ago
They claim it will have "exponentially more bandwidth than any other product in commercial aviation today". I know that's an incorrect and meaningless use of the term "exponential", but the bottom line is they're claiming it will be a lot faster: http://www.jetblue.com/flying-on-jetblue/wifi/ http://www.jetblue.com/flying-on-jetblue/wifi/
- d503 14y ago
  It's claimed the system will offer 12mbps or more to each passenger via ViaSat-1, which should offer 140 Gbps total throughput ("the highest capacity satellite in the world" with "more capacity than all current North American satellites combined") http://www.viasat.com/news/new-exede-internet-for-commercial-airlines-viasat-designed-deliver-12-mbps-each-passenger-flight http://www.viasat.com/news/new-exede-internet-for-commercial...
ChuckMcM 14y ago
Person on the flight next to my wife, plunks down double digit dollars for WiFi and then clicks the NetFlix app on the iPad for their kid. It was a problem. A problem because the kid was not well behaved, the kid was in full on you-deny-me-this-at-your-peril whine/rant/scream. Mom was beside herself tring to figure out why the network was "working" but NetFlix wasn't, the Mom had zero technical grasp of what networks are all about (and why should she?). As an engineer it really demonstrated how badly the tech community can abuse the expectations of the non-tech community. Southwest paid a heavy goodwill cost on that flight, I think that impedes the roll out of these services.
atlbeer 14y ago
Agreed. I flew for business on Delta cross country frequently and used to quite enjoy my "wifi-time" when I could work without phone interruption for 2-4 hours at a time. Google then had a free wifi special for holiday season and it essentially became unusable. Prices are a very good thing.

mcargian 14y ago

will offer free basic Wi-Fi services until the service is installed on 30 airplanes While nice to have, if the installation is anything like Gogo (less than 24 hours) it doesn't sound like it will be free for long.

epoxyhockey 14y ago
Another link-bait post title. Just like the Manchester getting rid of airport scanners (catch: to be replaced by another type of scanner) and Russia's secret diamond field (catch: of hard to mine industrial-quality-only diamonds, which wouldn't affect the market).
- raldi 14y ago
  "Our source claims that following this initial trial period, the service will remain free for "basic email and browsing" purposes, though you'll obviously be paying if you hope to stream Netflix during those cross-country flights." http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/17/3347776/jetblue-inflight-wi-fi-viasat-q1-2013 http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/17/3347776/jetblue-inflight-w...

untog 14y ago

I used wifi on a flight for the first time a few weeks ago- it was fantastic. Not perfect, but it converted six hours of dead time into productive time. It got me thinking about how driverless cars will represent a similar change. They seem like they are one technical innovation that we'll definitely see in my working lifetime, and I'm looking forward to it. Imagine being able to start and end your working day on a laptop in the car, rather than wasting time commuting.

johns 14y ago
Wifi on flights has had the exact opposite effect on my productivity while flying. I used to be able to churn out interesting new things because I had no choice but to focus on them. Now I'm too weak to not be distracted by email, Twitter and HN to pass the time.

khuey 14y ago

I do most of my domestic flying on Delta, which has in flight Wifi (via Gogo) available on most (if not all) of their aircraft. The quality is really hit or miss. I've had flights where the connection was good enough to download large files (debugging symbols from Microsoft) and have one way Skype sessions (me typing, the other person with audio/video). I've also had flights where I could barely check my email. I'm not sure if it's the route flown or the other passengers using the connection or what, but the highly variable quality is annoying.

roryreiff 14y ago

Hopefully other airlines will follow suit. Airlines find any reason they can to upsell passengers, so it is refreshing to see one that will be rolling out a service for free. This fact alone makes we want to support their business.