VA [Inflight] Wi-Fi

[Lemon_Party]

Flew the wifi enabled 738 on Wednesday PER-BNE, no announcements made on availability, but a timely article by AusBT had drawn my attention to it.

Flight was pretty full, and being entertainment via wifi anyway, a lot of people with connected devices would have realised wifi was running as messages, emails etc filtered through.

We watched Netflix most of the flight and was running in HD almost 100% of the time. Web browsing and apps were both pretty good, if a little laggy. Generally with a little loading buffer there was no issues at all. I sent a small video via WhatsApp successfully and tracked flight via FlightRadar24 app.

Ran a few speed tests, between 7-21 Mbps downloads, 0.1 Mbps uploads. iMessage and WhatsApp worked fine, didn't try Skype/FaceTime or WhatsApp voice call.

If the speeds and connection we had are indicative of final service it will be great, particularly on the longer flights. As the wifi wasn't announced, it's hard to tell the demand on the connection - and possibly the speed would drop if more people were using it.

But, consistent quick connection across Australia, and given previous experiences I've had with EK, colour me very impressed.

 

[Pleb Status]

Good to hear that the speed is not too bad. A post from 'the other side' stated that they could only get 480p streaming on YouTube even though they have theoretically three times the bandwidth.

The aircraft, VH-YIG, has been all over the place for the past few days. Scheduled to go to POM tomorrow.

 

[OzEire]

Posting this from VA256 enroute CBR-MEL

 

[ICUDr]

On board of VH-YIG now. Flying BNE-NTL and connected to the free internet.

Really easy to connect to the internet and streaming 480p without any issues.

 

[CPMaverick]

If everyone decides to start streaming video it will be useless in short order.

 

[grubbidok]

Looking forward to getting this wifi technology in the Lounge!

 

[donovan301]

Looking forward to getting this wifi technology in the Lounge!

Lol, me Too ! ! !

At Mel dom lounge at moment.....wifi is atrocious !!!

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I know two of the 738's have been done but in Shakespearean terms "one swallow does not a summer make."

 

[Vatec]

Does anyone know where the status is on the 777-300ERs?
According to this ausbt article there is wifi on VH-VPE, and another by the end of Dec 2017?
I am flying BNE-LAX on the 24th and would love to use the wifi, but it looks like VH-VPE is just going back and forth between SYD and LAX

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Just noticed this plane at BNE. Does the hump on top indicate a WI-FI ready plane?

 

[mannej]

Yes

 

[dzzr]

Flew on VH-VOZ and VH-VPE in the last 2 weeks. VOZ they made an announcement it wasn't available and VPE redirect portal just said WiFi connection not available.

 

[AviatorInsight]

Both B737s I flew last week weren’t working either. I thought it was a bit odd that BOTH of them were out on the same day.

 

[Lemon_Party]

I was on VH-YIF a couple of weeks ago, supposedly the 2nd WiFi 737, but no mention of it on board and couldn’t connect.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I was on VH-YIF a couple of weeks ago, supposedly the 2nd WiFi 737, but no mention of it on board and couldn’t connect.

Was on board her the other day, same thing. Had the card in the seat pocket.

 

[henrus]

So is it just VH-YIG and possibly VH-YIF?

 

[DavidFlynn]

Virgin Australia 1H18 financials this coming Wednesday Feb 28th, we may get an update on the WiFi rollout then (especially with regard to international services).

 

[AviatorInsight]

So is it just VH-YIG and possibly VH-YIF?

As far as I’m aware at the moment yes.

Virgin Australia 1H18 financials this coming Wednesday Feb 28th, we may get an update on the WiFi rollout then (especially with regard to international services).

VPD is currently in Singapore getting the Wifi’s and expected completion is the 26th February.

 

[Boof1]

As far as I’m aware at the moment yes.

From other threads I know you're a pilot AviatorInsight so please don't think I'm trying to be "that guy" with this reply. I promise I'm not!

YFW, YIE, and I think YVD is fitted. The first two I mention are 100% fitted as they have been parked next to flights I was on in the past couple of weeks (I've never struck a flight with it on board!) and I was told by someone they had it on board and FR24 said the rego was YVD so I'm putting 2+2 together for the that one. Maybe the dish is fitted to the roof but it's not activated?

 

[AviatorInsight]

From other threads I know you're a pilot AviatorInsight so please don't think I'm trying to be "that guy" with this reply. I promise I'm not!

YFW, YIE, and I think YVD is fitted. The first two I mention are 100% fitted as they have been parked next to flights I was on in the past couple of weeks (I've never struck a flight with it on board!) and I was told by someone they had it on board and FR24 said the rego was YVD so I'm putting 2+2 together for the that one. Maybe the dish is fitted to the roof but it's not activated?

Not at all Boof! I don’t know everything and also rely on other people’s knowledge to get the right answer. So thank you for that. Unfortunately there’s no company document that tells me which one has the Wifi’s or not so when I first get into the flight deck I’ll check the overhead panel for the system controls. It’ll add 100kg to our take off performance figures if installed.