Qantas starts international wifi

[kpro]

They didn’t have “unlimited” wifi last year flying SQ J SYD-SIN-LHR (return). Is that new?

Seems it started after Jan this year. Singapore Airlines unlocks unlimited free WiFi in business class

 

[SYD]

Seems it started after Jan this year. Singapore Airlines unlocks unlimited free WiFi in business class

Ah, yes I did see that article. I probably muttered something under my breath and moved on…

 

[Cognac]

Great. I'll be flying QF71/72 next week. Will report back on the experience.

 

[moa999]

Do QF really not have WiFi installed on any A332 that has in-seat IFE monitors?

Correct. The bump (or inflight internet) was only installed on the eight 'domestic' aircraft that have Q-Streaming in Y only (originally 10 EBA-EBL, but now down 2 with P2F conversions)

 

[milehighclub]

The wifi will work as long as over Australia, despite the flight numbers list in that article.

 

[kpc]

They didn’t have “unlimited” wifi last year flying SQ J SYD-SIN-LHR (return). Is that new?

Yes for the pax category mentioned in my post above.

 

[Beano]

Air New Zealand have had wifi on their trans tasman flights for sometime now. But not on domestic. Probably becsuse most flights not long enough to merit it.

 

[CaptJCool]

They didn’t have “unlimited” wifi last year flying SQ J SYD-SIN-LHR (return). Is that new?

AND a further expansion

SIA to offer free unlimited Wi-Fi for economy, premium economy class passengers from July

Economy and premium economy class passengers will have to be members of SIA's rewards programme KrisFlyer to get unlimited Wi-Fi on flights.

www.channelnewsasia.com

 

[Quickstatus]

AND a further expansion

...of possibly 5x the number of pax using it - especially the ones in Y who cant sleep. If 5x the number is using it compared to now, I think we can expect bandwidth to deteriorate.

 

[kpro]

AND a further expansion

As per Executive Traveller though, your KrisFlyer number needs to be associated during booking or at check in. So no free WiFi if you're utilising your Velocity or other Star Alliance status (or crediting points to either) in economy.

Also imagine the speeds of an 8mbps satellite connection shared between even half of an A380 - 230 passengers. That's a whole 30kbps per person!

 

[justinbrett]

As per Executive Traveller though, your KrisFlyer number needs to be associated during booking or at check in. So no free WiFi if you're utilising your Velocity or other Star Alliance status (or crediting points to either) in economy.

Also imagine the speeds of an 8mbps satellite connection shared between even half of an A380 - 230 passengers. That's a whole 30kbps per person!

And that’s why QF has waited for the better tech. Each pax can expect 15-20mbps.

 

[RooFlyer]

And that’s why QF has waited for the better tech. Each pax can expect 15-20mbps.

SkyMuster?

 

[jakeseven7]

As per Executive Traveller though, your KrisFlyer number needs to be associated during booking or at check in. So no free WiFi if you're utilising your Velocity or other Star Alliance status (or crediting points to either) in economy.

Also imagine the speeds of an 8mbps satellite connection shared between even half of an A380 - 230 passengers. That's a whole 30kbps per person!

Flew United recently and their internet was painfully slow and patchy. No idea what their solution is.

Funnily enough our business in the past put in a policy no ‘on board expenditure’ - blanket rule.

So very sadly back then I wasn’t able to pay for internet and therefore was not contactable whilst I flew

 

[justinbrett]

SkyMuster?

It’s dual band, Skymuster over Australia and Viasat 3 globally. The latter has only launched 1/3 satellites.

 

[moa999]

Both are Ka band satellites and sit in geosyncronous orbits, so I suspect the dish inside the aircraft is the same.

SkyMuster (via it's 2 satellites) has a reported capacity of 185Gb/S

Each ViaSat3 satellite (which are massive) will have a capacity of 1Tb/s or 1000Gb/s

--

The real question is whether Qantas has ultimately picked the wrong solution with the growth of leo/neo constellations like StarLink and oneWeb which will provide much lower pings thanks to physics (being closer to the aircraft)

 

[RooFlyer]

Funnily enough our business in the past put in a policy no ‘on board expenditure’ - blanket rule.

So very sadly back then I wasn’t able to pay for internet and therefore was not contactable whilst I flew

so presumably your business emails backed up while you were in the air and had to be addressed en bloc when you got back on land?

 

[Quickstatus]

so presumably your business emails backed up while you were in the air and had to be addressed en bloc when you got back on land?

It's a bit hard to be working and at the same time trying to drink the price of the flight or when supine in J with the latest designer JimJams and eye mask

StarLink

Didnt HA announced sometime ago it was going to deploy Starlink in some of its aircraft?.

Rocketman has tested Starlink in his own private jet.

The low latency of LEO would make video conferencing possible.

 

[sudoer]

The real question is whether Qantas has ultimately picked the wrong solution with the growth of leo/neo constellations like StarLink and oneWeb which will provide much lower pings thanks to physics (being closer to the aircraft)

I would guess so:

Starlink Flight Test: What It's Like Using SpaceX's Broadband for Inflight Wi-Fi

Regional carrier JSX is the first airline in the US to offer Starlink Wi-Fi. We tested it out on a quick roundtrip flight, and it delivered speeds competitive with 4G and sometimes even 5G.

au.pcmag.com

The extra bandwidth is a nice to have, but the substantially lower latency would make a massive difference...

 

[justinbrett]

The extra bandwidth is a nice to have, but the substantially lower latency would make a massive difference...

I think it's designed for streaming media, where that is not important.

The low latency of LEO would make video conferencing possible.

Most airlines ban any kind of voice chat as it would be really annoying for other pax. I hope that continues.

 

[sudoer]

I think it's designed for streaming media, where that is not important.

Inflight wifi is also heavily marketed towards business users - and nearly anything delivered over HTTP (think SaaS apps like Google Workspace, Office 365, Salesforce, etc) is going to be very 'chatty'.

Latency makes a big difference in usability in these circumstances.