Virgin Australia testing In-Flight Internet!

[Jack Melon]

Virgin Australia testing inflight internet - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller

Exciting times ahead! But as i and others know we dont really have the infastructure yet but it seems virgin is working hard on it!

 

[connieguy]

Virgin Australia testing inflight internet - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller

Exciting times ahead! But as i and others know we dont really have the infastructure yet but it seems virgin is working hard on it!

Last flight on Emirates I had both wireless internet AND mobile phone access. So it is doable on long haul flights where there are no nearby ground stations. I trust VA will also add in mobile phone access.

 

[Jack Melon]

Last flight on Emirates I had both wireless internet AND mobile phone access. So it is doable on long haul flights where there are no nearby ground stations. I trust VA will also add in mobile phone access.

Agreed, also virgin have been cheeky on there twitter replying to wifi questions like: just wait and see, , unfortunately we dont.... yet etc etc.

 

[nlagalle]

Last flight on Emirates I had both wireless internet AND mobile phone access. So it is doable on long haul flights where there are no nearby ground stations. I trust VA will also add in mobile phone access.

I dread the day they allow mobile phone calls on planes. I enjoy the peace..

Net access would be good on occasion though, wonder what the pricing will be like

 

[connieguy]

I dread the day they allow mobile phone calls on planes. I enjoy the peace..

Net access would be good on occasion though, wonder what the pricing will be like

I agree with you BUT the airlines see a revenue opportunity and guess what? We will shortly get inflight mobile phone access if we want it or not. Imaging all the women with face book access from their phones during the flight........ taking photos and posting them to their face book page in flight.

Me I use my laptop to watch movies. Good excuse to not respond to emails or my phone for quite a few hours.

 

[Jack Melon]

I dread the day they allow mobile phone calls on planes. I enjoy the peace..

Net access would be good on occasion though, wonder what the pricing will be like

I would have it free for premium and flexi guests domestically, charge for saver guests. I would charge around $5-10 for flights under 2 hours. $10-15 for flights over 2 hours and international flights for people not in premium economy and business class. My opinion.

 

[nlagalle]

I agree with you BUT the airlines see a revenue opportunity and guess what? We will shortly get inflight mobile phone access if we want it or not. Imaging all the women with face book access from their phones during the flight........ taking photos and posting them to their face book page in flight.

Me I use my laptop to watch movies. Good excuse to not respond to emails or my phone for quite a few hours.

Of course.. I'm guessing calls will be global roaming rates too.. Just wait for all the people that get caught on it!!

Let's see if they have mobile free areas.. Instead of the old "smoking or non smoking" it'll be mobile or non mobile!

 

[ash.1111]

Interesting. From the AusBT article, it seemed that the wifi might be used to deliver entertainment content. Is there a chance we may see a wifi-based AVOD system?

 

[nlagalle]

Interesting. From the AusBT article, it seemed that the wifi might be used to deliver entertainment content. Is there a chance we may see a wifi-based AVOD system?

Would be a stretch based on current limitations with wifi.. A lot of content to push out of an access point (or 4)

 

[connieguy]

Of course.. I'm guessing calls will be global roaming rates too.. Just wait for all the people that get caught on it!!

Let's see if they have mobile free areas.. Instead of the old "smoking or non smoking" it'll be mobile or non mobile!

With Emirates (I was flying F) the WiFi was free but the mobile was at the roaming charges of your service provider.

 

[oz_mark]

Would be a stretch based on current limitations with wifi.. A lot of content to push out of an access point (or 4)

It may be a stretch in the QP, but elsewhere it may just work :mrgreen:

 

[777]

Wifi based IFE systems are becoming increasingly common OS. I think i've predicted in these forums before that it may well be what VA go with.

 

[serfty]

Would be a stretch based on current limitations with wifi.. A lot of content to push out of an access point (or 4)

If it's like those being introduced in the USA all content would be stored on the aircraft (i.e. You could not do a random YouTube) and the PAX selection is from that.

 

[munitalP]

If it's like those being introduced in the USA all content would be stored on the aircraft (i.e. You could not do a random YouTube) and the PAX selection is from that.

Whats the AA system? Last LAX/LAS MD80 had inflight WiFi.

<redacted>

 

[serfty]

Whats the AA system? Last LAX/LAS MD80 had inflight WiFi.
...

There's a difference between the volume of WiFi channeled data when checking e-mails/surfting, say, AFF than watching movies.

The bandwidth GoGo typically uses would not cope with ground to aircraft video streaming.

The movies are all stored on a server installed on the actual aircraft and streamed to the PAX devices from there.

 

[munitalP]

There's a difference between the volume of WiFi channeled data when checking e-mails/surfting, say, AFF than watching movies.

The bandwidth GoGo typically uses would not cope with ground to aircraft video streaming.

The movies are all stored on a server installed on the actual aircraft and streamed to the PAX devices from there.

So the actual Internet is live? So for example you can use FB or google, but couldnt watch a flash movie on news for example?

 

[serfty]

So the actual Internet is live? So for example you can use FB or google, but couldnt watch a flash movie on news for example?

Most of that type of content is blocked-I have come across reports of technophiles overcoming this using VPN or similar.

 

[nlagalle]

If it's like those being introduced in the USA all content would be stored on the aircraft (i.e. You could not do a random YouTube) and the PAX selection is from that.

I was referring to what was being streamed internally over the WiFi network, not from the ground. That's a lot of clients (every seat back) connected to a few access points, remembering that WiFi is a shared bandwidth.

 

[777]

Perhaps Virgin America isn't the only Virgin airline looking at this:

Holy Hell! Virgin America to offer wireless IFE from Lufthansa Systems - Runway Girl

Watch video if you get a chance.

 

[kamchatsky]

The whole thing makes sense. It would save VA from putting in IFE screen on every single aircraft, especially more and more people are carrying smart phones/tabs these days. However it also means that JQ can offer this service as well so you wonder whether JQ can actually "go upmarket".