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Wireless Networking Businesses Communications Network The Almighty Buck The Internet United States

Airlines With the Best In-Flight Wi-Fi (latimes.com) 52

Posted by BeauHD from the always-connected dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Los Angeles Times: In the heated competition between airlines in the U.S., JetBlue Airways offers an extra perk that is pretty alluring to most travelers: Free, high-speed wireless internet. For that reason, an internet comparison site named JetBlue as the top domestic airline for overall WiFi service, followed by rivals Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Virgin America. The ranking by Highspeedinternet.com considered not only the speed of the connection but the cost and the availability on every plane. JetBlue won the top spot because the New York-based carrier offers free WiFi with speeds of 15 megabits per second on 78% of its fleet, according to the ranking. Southwest Airlines ranked second because it offers WiFi at speeds of up to 10 Mbps for $8 per flight on 90% of its fleet.

If you want to be assured to have WiFi on your next flight, Virgin America is the only domestic carrier that offers internet connections on 100% of its fleet, for a price of up to $25, depending on the length of the flight. Virgin America's WiFi speed is 15 Mbps, which is considered fast enough to stream movies and television shows. Don't care about connecting to the internet? Frontier, Hawaiian and Spirit Airways are the only three major U.S. carriers that offer no onboard WiFi at all, according to the ranking.
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Airlines With the Best In-Flight Wi-Fi More

Airlines With the Best In-Flight Wi-Fi

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  • That the damn kid hitting the back of my seat can can do hour-long Skype/Whatsapp yelling sessions with his friends, while his dad is busy watching porn and mom pinteresting, 'alluring' doesn't quite describe it for me.

    I'd prefer free Ketamine, if not for them, then for me, PLEASE!

    If horses can endure castration with it, then it must be good for a flight in economy as well.
    And as a bonus you get memory loss of the flight.

  • Quality Story... [me checks address bar] (Score:3)

    by SeaFox ( 739806 ) on Friday December 22, 2017 @06:24PM (#55792961)

    Ah, I'm still on Slashdot. Thought I'd gotten shuffled over to Buzzfeed for a bit there.

  • read a book (Score:3)

    by b0s0z0ku ( 752509 ) on Friday December 22, 2017 @06:35PM (#55793021)
    the dead-tree kind. or just kick back, look out the window and daydream. we don't need to be part of the Borg 24/7/365.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tepples ( 727027 )

      Good luck fitting many dead-tree books into your carry-on weight allowance. And it can become expensive to acquire dead-tree versions of public domain or purchased ebooks if you're traveling for more than two weeks, as you will lack opportunity to return to your local public library in time to return a borrowed book.

      • loan period is generally 3 weeks with two renews. total 9 weeks.

        as far as fitting books, I'm usually that guy who "cheats" with the laptop bag. no problem with TSA so far as long as I take the actual laptop out.

      • I bring dozens of books on my flights, and hundreds of albums. Kindle software on my Note 5, combined with Tidal offline playing, and I'm totally set for my monthly trans-Pacific flights, and weekly excursions to San Francisco, Minneapolis, or Boston.

  • Do our neighbors to the north (read Canadians), have anything comparable?

    I doubt!!

  • Frontier, Hawaiian and Spirit Airways are the only three major U.S. carriers that offer no onboard WiFi at all, according to the ranking.

    There you have it folks, if you don't want to be cooked, fly with Frontier, Hawaiian and Spirit Airways.

    Nice ad.

  • Hooked? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by petes_PoV ( 912422 ) on Friday December 22, 2017 @07:03PM (#55793161)

    for a price of up to $25

    Unless your company is paying, I would have to say that spending that amount simply to have a few hours of internet looks more like a personality problem than a "must have".

    If you can't go that length of time without an internet fix, there is something seriously wrong.

    Personally I would give up ALL in-flight internet for an extra inch of leg room.

    • do they still have the lower rate for phones, which you can get on any device by changing the useragent parameter?

    • I rather read a book and get some red wine.
      Everyone I know, knows I'm in a plane, and even with WiFi most likely have internet only sporadicly at best ...

    • It's usually on a corporate account if you're paying per flight. If you're flying three or four times a month, though, it might be worth it on your own dime to stay connected to business. If you're flying three or four times a week, it's a no-brainer.

    • Personally I would give up ALL in-flight internet for an extra inch of leg room.

      Well fortunately most airlines let you buy that, often for far less than $25

  • How about this perk: wifi and guaranteed flight without dogs in the cabin?

    • Sure... can we also get guaranteed flights WITH dogs next to us?

      • Humans are not animals. Treating humans as animals is one of the most inhumane practices through history. When one ethnic group was oppressing another, that other group is often compared to animals.

        Humans have a right not to be treated as animals, that is: transported separate from animals, live separate from animals, eat separate from animals.

  • I know for a fact that United has WiFi on 100% of its domestic and international flights, so I don't see how Virgin could possibly the only airline to offer that domestically. Now, unfortunately, United uses satellite internet, which can be a bit slow. It's also pretty expensive. But, for instance, if you fly from the US to China, you have internet from basically wheels up (10,000 ft) until you hit Chinese airspace. And that's only because the Chinese do not allow them to offer inflight WiFi over their

  • My son used FlightAware to track our plane, I tracked a few drinks knowing where we were going and the rental car and hotel bills were already paid. Texas is a good place to visit. See the Alamo, shop at San Antonio Riverwalk.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
  • Just curious...how does a plane have access to a fast broadband connection? Let say 15 mbps per user on a Boeing 747 (366 capacity) yield over 5.5 gigabit wireless link!
    • And what about a building of 300 persons? This is sharing, not everybody is using Internet at max speed at the exact same time t.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ELCouz ( 1338259 )
        If they allow netflix streaming this can saturate fast... I don't think they have netflix server on the planes.

        Now do they guarantee 15 mbps to each person who paid 25$ for the wifi?

        My question was what kind of link can keep on many users...what are the options at a 10 000 feet in the air?

    • The have a.) compression and b.) handed off links ground side and or satellite. Both routes are asymmetric.... Decent in, cruddy out.

  • Second article today where slashdot ignorantly refers to something as free when itâ(TM)s just bundled into the price you are paying. Stop it.

  • They all use the same vendor and equipment!

    • There are a few providers: GoGo - Delta, American, United P.S. routes, Alaska, most Virgin America Row44 / Global Eagle - Southwest Panasonic - most international ones, half of United Viasat - JetBlue, half of United, some Virgin America Some service vendors use the same hardware and spectrum suppliers, some don't.

  • My recent vacation I took SouthWest. Their shit tried to usurp my browser almost instantly and all I was doing was checking the flight status.

    The security on their wi-fi is incredibly weak. Don't trust their wi-fi.

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