Charging my Noise Canceling headphones now for my flight next week. As if flying isn't annoying enough. Now we will be subjected to Zoom Teams FaceTime calls.
I had this guy leave me a voice mail at work so I called him at home and then he e-mailed me to my Blackberry and so I texted to his cell and then he e-mailed me to my home account and the whole thing just got out of control
Majority of folks don't choose a flight based on WiFi or its provider. I certainly don't, although I use it when available.
With all the talk about wi-fi, lounges, food, wine, seat back screens, etc. does anyone care about getting from one place to another anymore? LOL
I do not understand what the negativity around Leo is (besides that its rollout will not occur until 2028) - as far as I can see, there's been very little information released about it, yet I've seen multiple posts lambasting the service as "inferior" to Starlink. Even if the speed is 25% of the 100 mbps that Starlink seems to achieve, that (hypothetical) 25 mbps connection is going to be sufficient for 4K streaming on Netflix. Just about any use case is covered under that speed and the difference is not going to be noticeable to the end consumer. I think it's probably for the best that different airlines are selecting different services and hopefully avoiding the creation of a monopoly in the in-flight wifi space.
first, all of this recent hooplah about is because DL made the decision to be one of the few US airlines that is not going to use Starlink. It doesn't matter how good of a product Starlink is, it doesn't make sense for an entire industry to be beholden to one supplier; that is just as true with having healthy competition between Airbus and Boeing and should be true about WiFi providers. Musk simply can't stand that DL is willing to zig when everyone else zags.
second, DL has more aircraft serving more of the world with free high speed WiFi than any other airline in the world. They are turning on Viasat's new satellite on A350s aircraft by aircraft even as the 717s are getting Hughes WiFi at a rate of 3-4 aircraft per week. DL will very likely have all of its global network on all of its fleet complete by the end of the year. THIS YEAR.
third, not a soul has been able to quantify where faster WiFi exists as a purchase driver against all other purchase drivers. Not just whether WiFi exists but faster WiFi. No one doubts that LEO WiFi is faster than HEO but DL already has some aircraft w/ hybrid LEO/HEO WiFi in service and they will have hundreds more well before AA comes close to finishing its installations. The reason why DL will only equip about half of its fleet with Amazon LEO is because they will have better WiFi on the other half of their fleet than pure Viasat right now - and Viasat is improving its product.
All of this is just marketing about something in the future for one side that is not looking at the changes on the other side. Throw in Musk not being capable of being shunned and the reality in 18 months will be far less than the hype now.
DL reports earnings in 18 hours and will most certainly post the high water mark for earnings thanks to continued strong revenue which all of the industry is seeing but which DL has been better able to monetize than the rest of the industry. Add in the very substantial fuel cost advantage that DL has thanks to the refinery and DL has a massive financial advantage that will go far further than any product attribute.
Tim, for the last time, Viasat can't improve their product, unless they launch a LEO constellation. You can't fight the laws of physics. The latency kills GEO internet. Stop trying to think somehow Delta's Viasat airframes will somehow be competitive - they simply won't. And Amazon is years away unless they can somehow summon launch capacity that isn't available at the moment. I'm saying this as respectfully as I can as someone who has a 40 year background in network engineering and aircraft systems experience.
Smart move by AA and time is of the essence.
My only need for wifi on a plane is to use the airline's app to check on my connecting flight. I've downloaded all the streaming content I'll need. Wifi speed/latency is important to some, but I suspect most are like me and care little. I know that wifi ranks second to only price in importance (over food and ithers) in surveys. But, I suspect this is one of those cases where what we say we want doesn't mesh with actions.
Ben, the regional jets are getting SES, which leverages starlink for their LEO connectivity. The jets I have been on with SES have been just as good as Starlink (for that reason).