Inmarsat flings latest Wi-Fi-on-airliners satellite into orbit Inmarsat has successfully launched its latest satellite, which will form part of the grandiosely named European Aviation Network for putting faster Wi-Fi aboard airliners. The 5.7 tonne Hellas Sat 3-Inmarsat S EAN bird was launched into orbit by French firm Arianespace from French Guiana, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, at 2215 BST …
"Within the aircraft, passengers connect to the in-flight Wi-Fi, having coughed up the appropriate price first, and – in theory – see no difference between satellite and ground connectivity."
See no difference? Adding 250ms to the latency is certnaly something you can see.
Man sitting next to me paid the $19 dollars for "wifi for the whole flight". It worked for him - very slowly - for all of 90 minutes. When he complained, the stewardess told him, "oh, that never seems to work over the ocean". Funny that they don't mention that before taking your money.
So your airline needs to use another satellite to provide coverage over the relevant ocean. Today's news, for what it's worth, is that they've just launched another satellite.
Can't see myself being a user. Though I could envisage subscribing to satellite service from home if I find myself living somewhere without terrestrial broadband.
@Andy Prough "Man sitting next to me paid the $19 dollars for "wifi for the whole flight""
Sounds like they did what they promised and provided a Wifi connection for the whole flight. What they didn't mention was the WiFi AP would only have internet backhaul for part of the flight. If he'd read the T+Cs in full he would have found this explained clearly on page 263.
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