Bottom Of The Barrel

Sort of blogging at 37,000 feet

Delta boosts wi-fi availability of some of their domestic flights. What they don't tell you is that in-flight internet is provided by a company called Gogo. To use Gogo's network, you can purchase a Gogo Pass for $9.99. This pass gives you internet access during the duration of the flight it was purchased on. Sure a cost is expected in a world where everyone, especially airlines, are trying to find ways to cut cost and/or increase revenue but limiting the connection to the flight your on might not sit well with someone who has a connection like I do today - Boston to Atlanta and then onto Myrtle Beach. The other little detail about their service may users may not be aware is their network shaping. The term this preservation of equitable passenger experience. What this means is they prioritize network traffic to control the amount of data that is flowing from their mobile internet router to individual laptops and other internet ready mobile devices. These items are listed content such as file sharing, gaming requiring high bandwidth, or streaming audio and video. These items are "given a lower priority and at times may not work consistently or at all." So if you think your going to watch 6 episodes of Lost in HD streaming from abc.com on your way from New York to LA you might be surprised to find that it may not be possible at all. So be careful when buying your Gogo internet services on your next flight.

As for me, I wrote this post in the air using notepad and simply posted it when we were back on the ground. Now I am off to watch a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory that I preloaded on my laptop.

Labels: Internet

posted by TheWino @ 4:10 PM