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Walt Mossberg Reviews GoGo In-Flight Wi-Fi (Verdict: Fast, But Not Fast Enough)
Posted by Benny Goldman at 1:18 AM on June 20, 2008
Walt just tested GoGo, the in-flight Wi-Fi service, on a bunch of laptops and smartphones during a flight from San Francisco to Denver. The service distributes, via Wi-Fi, a high speed mobile phone data signal pointed at airplanes, which Mossy rated at around 600kbps down and 250kbps up. This was quick enough for Walt to browse the web, send emails with iPhone rumour attachments, and talk on IM to his ladies, but it couldn't keep up with streaming video on Xtube Hulu. Also, VoIP is blocked, and mobile calls aren't possible either. Still, Mossy thought it did well enough for someone who can't stay off the grid for a few hours. GoGo costs US$10 for flights under three hours, and US$13 for longer ones. It'll begin rolling out in the next few weeks on American Airlines, with Virgin soon to follow. [AllThingsD]
Tags: american airlines | gogo | mossberg | networks | reviews | virgin | wifi | wireless
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Late_Night
Posted 2:28 AM 20/6/08
@LankySean: Walt says this only covers north america, this works off towers on land so I don't think flying over seas (towers don't float) will allow this service.
Late_Night
MrBlahBlah
Posted 2:25 AM 20/6/08
@Monty:
awww don't be such a hard ass
MrBlahBlah
uberfu
Posted 2:12 AM 20/6/08
@LankySean: I feel your pain on the seat design issue_
uberfu
IVPPITER
Posted 2:09 AM 20/6/08
does Walt says kilo bit when he talks of his speedtests?
IVPPITER
LankySean
Posted 2:00 AM 20/6/08
Makes me wonder if this will work on transcontinatal flights... and with bittorrent. It'd be nice to download a new movie during the flight, while watching a movie. That'd make a 15 hour flight to japan a little more tolorable, now if only the seats wheren't designed for a 5 foot 6 inch person.. very painful for us over 6 feet tall.
LankySean
Monty
Posted 1:57 AM 20/6/08
Yes, I am that a-hole burdened with setting a budget for all technical and telecommunications expenses at the hell-hole I call my job. Maybe I should not be concerned about an extra twenty six buck expenditure for every employee traveling on a golf tri, er, I mean "business". Given the speed, using Citrix (terminal services) would not work, so the staff that will be putting this on their expense report would be hard-pressed to find a business need to browse for porn - but that will not stop them.
Oh well. I guess I need to grab a bottle of vodka and relax in the boiler room for a while.
Monty
uberfu
Posted 1:46 AM 20/6/08
so do you have to pay when you buy your ticket or can you just toss the stewardess a 10-spot when she passes by - like when renting headphones for the inflight movie or buying beer?
Also - that VoIP mention - "Uncle Walt" probably was trying to go thru Skpe or something mainstream playing nice with the corporations_ 'Cause there are way around the direct VoIP block_ Trying voice thru Gmail chat or iChat_
One important caveat: Gogo is a data-only system. It doesn't allow phone calls and will block all services that allow voice conversations to be made over the Internet.
So the services set up specifically for voice are blocked - meaning rerouting voice thru an altternative means should work as long as there is a port not being blocked_
uberfu
ARP
Posted 3:11 AM 20/6/08
@Rick36: Exactly, this service could become a victim of its own success.
Walt is being a bit harsh, as I think this is geared towards business travelers who want to keep up with email and do some light-moderate surfing. You can stream video as well, but will have to crank up the buffer quite a bit or wait until it loads.
ARP
Rick36
Posted 3:00 AM 20/6/08
To top it off he was on a private jet probably the only one using the service. Wait until you are on an AA JFK-SFO 767 with 50 people trying to share the connection.
Rick36
Arvin Bautista
Posted 2:57 AM 20/6/08
@LankySean: Your device can stay powered that entire time? Do these planes finally have power ports?
Arvin Bautista
rod88
Posted 3:20 AM 20/6/08
I'm glad they won't allow any kind of voice calls. I hate people chit-chatting next to me when I'm trying to sleep on the plane. But I hope they don't block IMs.
rod88
quasimotto
Posted 3:18 AM 20/6/08
ALL ur internets belong to us..
100 light years from now, the inhabitants of Alpha-Centauri will enjoy all the free pr0n that will eeak out of those cell towers.
quasimotto
jorvay
Posted 4:00 AM 20/6/08
I'm sure the service would have been stellar if it was provided by Apple or accessed from a Mac, right Mossburg?
jorvay
Benny Goldman
Posted 4:54 AM 20/6/08
@jorvay: It was accessed from a mac, dummy
Benny Goldman
aec007
Posted 5:44 AM 20/6/08
First company that comes out with an ADD paid service (so it's free to the customer) that does not block video and voice calls will untimatelly win the race.
We all stand the banner adds in the web... millions of people click them every day... the one that finds a way to have the system ADD sustained, wins it all.
:)
aec007