Airplane WiFi

[The Duke]

I'm currently on a Southwest flight from San Jose back to Austin, and just did something unexpected - I played an online game from 30,000 feet.

Those of you who like World of Tanks may know the mobile version, WoT Blitz....its 14 players (7v7), on large constructed maps with realtime movement and battles.

Now, it wasn't without a few lags but I was actually able to play 6 or 8 rounds reasonably well, which really surprised me. This flight is only 1/3 full and so few are probably competing for bandwidth, but hey I can't complain. Maybe there is hope for airborne wifi eventually.

 

[SKC_rivals551796]

Glad it worked for you. We (SWA) have had pretty good overall experiences with Row 44 inflight wifi. It's satellite based instead of the more common ground based that some other airlines use.

If you ever have issues with you paying for access, then it quits working completely for the remainder of the flight, you can tweet (if you tweet) or just send an email to SWA cust svc with your flight and conf number, and it'll usually get comped.

 

[PlatteCoPoke]

I use in-flight Wifi on Delta quite often. I have to make a monthly trip that includes a 3hr leg (MSP-MSO) and can get quite a bit of work done for the $9.99.. as long as you're not trying to stream Netflix, it works pretty well. Count on an interruption here or there, but for internet at 35,000 feet, what do you expect?

 

[The Duke]

I travel overseas a lot and trans-oceanic wifi is bad or nonexistent just about everywhere. It's horrid on United, most flights they just apologize at takeoff for it not working.

I hope that can be improved soon across the industry.

 

[davidallen]

Originally posted by The Duke:
I travel overseas a lot and trans-oceanic wifi is bad or nonexistent just about everywhere. It's horrid on United, most flights they just apologize at takeoff for it not working.

I hope that can be improved soon across the industry.

Exactly... when jumping the pond I binge watch whatever Delta has on and then try to sleep... domestically SWA has about the best WiFi I have used...

 

[JonnyVito]

Did you guys know that Wifi on planes became a thing because of 9/11? Bush couldn't communicate with the ground very well that day and wanted a better technology. This was a product of that.

 

[The Duke]

Did you guys know that Wifi on planes became a thing because of 9/11? Bush couldn't communicate with the ground very well that day and wanted a better technology. This was a product of that.

How in the world do you go dig up a four year old post?

 

[JonnyVito]

How in the world do you go dig up a four year old post?

They keep everything now.

 

[The Duke]

They keep everything now.

Yeah, but was it like....on page 2,407 or something?

 

[JonnyVito]

Yeah, but was it like....on page 2,407 or something?

68

 

[Cowguy]

I have read several articles about the safety (security) of airline WiFi. The consensus seems to be don’t ever do it. My company’s IT security folks, who are literally the most cautious folks I’ve ever dealt with, have never seemed concerned about it. I tend to never use it, unless I have a longer flight as I treasure the short periods of being disconnected and yeah it’s pretty spotty on American anyway.

 

[OSUIvan]

I have read several articles about the safety (security) of airline WiFi. The consensus seems to be don’t ever do it. My company’s IT security folks, who are literally the most cautious folks I’ve ever dealt with, have never seemed concerned about it. I tend to never use it, unless I have a longer flight as I treasure the short periods of being disconnected and yeah it’s pretty spotty on American anyway.

If you're worried, connect to your work VPN

 

[Cowguy]

If you're worried, connect to your work VPN

I’m not.

 

[CowboyJD]

I just download some stuff from Netflix or other streaming services in advance and watch that.

Never really used airplane wifi.

 

[JonnyVito]

I don't think the wifi is the problem just more so that someone who knows what they are doing can steal info because you are all on the same server. That is my understanding anyways. I don't use public wifi either because of this same issue.

 

[OSUIvan]

I don't think the wifi is the problem just more so that someone who knows what they are doing can steal info because you are all on the same server. That is my understanding anyways. I don't use public wifi either because of this same issue.

If you're going to an https web site and the certificate has not been compromised you should be ok. If you're getting on to just play some games you'll be fine. But if you're worried and you want to use the wifi get a VPN.