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Virgin America Launches "Gogo" In-Flight Wi-Fi

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News Posted: Sat, Nov 22 2008 9:46 PM

On Saturday Virgin America launched its Gogo in-flight wi-fi service, showing it off by filing the press release from 35,000 feet, and with the first ever "air-to-ground" video stream to YouTube Live, YouTube's first official real-world user event.



The "fleet" will consist of one wi-fi enabled plane to start, with Virgin saying fleet-wide rollout will be achieved by Q2 2009.



In their press release, Virgin America President and CEO David Cush said:
"As San Francisco's only hometown airline, we couldn't do less than offer Wi-Fi as a standard option for our tech-savvy guests. With power outlets at every seat, Gogo will turn our planes into Wi-Fi hotspots and home offices in the air. We're proud to team up with two innovative companies -- Aircell and YouTube -- to launch this service with the latest technology, a sense of humor, and of course, an inflight party."
Facts about the service:
  • No content filtering. Some other airlines have decided to filter content to ensure no porn or other objectionable material is viewing over your neighbor's shoulder
  • EV-DO Rev. A connection, 3.6Mbps down / 1.8Mbps up.
  • 802.11a/b/g in the plane. But naturally, just as with free wi-fi in a coffee shop, no encryption. Hopefully you know what cautions you should take in that regard.
  • Voice and video chat will be blocked, though not on the "beta" flight
  • Gogo follows the soon-to-be-familiar across ISPs traffic shaper that monitors for overzealous users. Yep, use too much bandwidth and you get throttled.
Wow, even in the friendly skies you can't use as much bandwidth as you want (yes, yes, we know that's a different airline).



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bob_on_the_cob replied on Sun, Nov 23 2008 1:39 AM

Awesome. I don't fly much, but Next time I do I hope I can fly Virgin. They have a lot of cool stuff in there planes.

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tanka12345 replied on Sun, Nov 23 2008 3:34 AM

Awesome concept! If only they operated in New Zealand and I had a decent laptop...(or PC)

One question: Why didn't they include wireless N?

 

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bob_on_the_cob replied on Sun, Nov 23 2008 4:54 AM

tanka12345:

Awesome concept! If only they operated in New Zealand and I had a decent laptop...(or PC)

One question: Why didn't they include wireless N?

Wireless N is still not mainstream and very pricey. Rolling it out to all the planes in the fleet would add a lot of extra cost.

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amdcrankitup replied on Sun, Nov 23 2008 8:09 AM

Looks like fun but I,ve never been on a airplane in my like but I did drink a litte Jack Daniels and got in a military helecopter it was fun!

 

 

 

 

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bob_on_the_cob replied on Sun, Nov 23 2008 10:45 AM

amdcrankitup:

Looks like fun but I,ve never been on a airplane in my like but I did drink a litte Jack Daniels and got in a military helecopter it was fun!

I never really get use to seeing the ground drift below the clouds. I love having the window seat though. I will just look out the window the whole time.

 

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ice_73 replied on Sun, Nov 23 2008 2:50 PM

porn, its now in the sky too huh.... you know there will be "that" guy. who gets seater next to a baby and is getting annoyed, now he will just whip out his laptop and watch porn. i can see that virgin is not trying to be family friendly eh.

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bob_on_the_cob replied on Sun, Nov 23 2008 2:56 PM

ice_73:

porn, its now in the sky too huh.... you know there will be "that" guy. who gets seater next to a baby and is getting annoyed, now he will just whip out his laptop and watch porn. i can see that virgin is not trying to be family friendly eh.

That guy. . . I hate that guy. I had a guy sit next to me read playboy when I flew to NY to see family last year.

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Der Meister replied on Sun, Nov 23 2008 4:11 PM

wifi on planes it a good idea, then i can use it as well when i am up front :)

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