Hasta La Gadget!

On a flight yesterday from JFK to Austin, JetBlue finally decided to flip the switch on Fly-Fi, giving lucky passengers an early look at the airline’s next-generation in-flight WiFi for the very first time. A flight attendant announced the service — which is free until 30 planes are retrofitted — and passengers seated around me pulled out their laptops, tablets and smartphones and tried to hop online. Unfortunately, a recent update caused unexpected performance issues, and Fly-Fi’s speed and consistency fell far short. When a flight attendant asked the woman seated in front if me if she had enjoyed her experience at the end of the flight, she responded with “not so much.” It wasn’t looking good for JetBlue.

I had booked my return to New York on the same aircraft, and following a 20-minute BBQ pitstop at AUS, I got back on board. The issues we experienced on the first flight — allegedly caused by an incorrect DNS-server listing on the network side — were completely resolved, making our three-hour hop back to Kennedy Airport much more pleasant. The experience was completely different, though we were offline for 30 minutes or so as we passed over Louisiana and Mississippi. Ultimately, Fly-Fi, which utilizes the ViaSat-1 satellite positioned over North America, was in line with the ViaSat service I’ve tried on the ground — when it works, it blows the competition out of the water. It’s as close as you’ll get to the internet you’re used to at home, and it certainly outshines connectivity in pretty much any airline terminal.

Filed under: Transportation, Wireless, Mobile

Comments

JetBlue’s next-generation WiFi service, powered by ViaSat’s super-speedy Ka-band satellite, is officially on track to launch this October. The FAA just issued a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for the airline’s Airbus A320, enabling a fleet-wide installation that’s set to begin immediately. In a statement, Chief Commercial Officer Robin Hayes said that several aircraft will be wired by the end of this year, with many A320s scheduled to come online throughout 2014. The rollout will then continue with JetBlue’s smaller Embraer 190, currently used on select regional routes.

(Photo credit: AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Filed under: Transportation, Wireless

Comments

After earning top marks from the FCC for its broadband performance, ViaSat has added yet another feather to its cap in the form of a Guinness World Record. According to the august organization, the ViaSat-1 satellite, which powers the 12 Mbps Exede Internet service, is the highest-capacity communications satellite in the world. The reason for the accolade? The orbiting spacecraft apparently provides around 100 times the throughput capacity of a Ku-band satellite and ten times that of a Ka-band, which adds up to more capacity than all North American communication satellites combined at the time of its 2011 launch. While its broadband service still has latency issues, the folks over at ViaSat must feel pretty confident of its recent accomplishments; the company is currently looking beyond its rural customer base and venturing forth into other enterprises, such as in-flight WiFi. Better watch your back, Gogo.

Filed under: Internet

Comments

Source: ViaSat