Originally Posted by
JimInOhio
Agree... any free WiFi allowed by UA is doubtful to include streaming (at least initially).
A lot of DL aircraft have the 2K version of Wi-Fi which *does* allow you to stream things when purchasing from GoGo. I definitely have watched hour long YouTube videos on the 738 and 319 a few times back in like 2017. Is it reliable? Not so much, but the aircraft does have the capability to do so (in theory). DL also offers free SMS texting inflight, but I've never got that to work either on the iPhone.
These days I'm super screwed because my work laptop I travel with has this obnoxious endpoint security software for the VPN that will often block out Wi-Fi transmissions. It works on PC's but handles terribly on the MAC and also tends to slow down the performance of the computer. And for whatever reason, it really hates Gogo. I can't imagine it would ever play nice with UA's Wi-Fi either.
Regarding internet video streaming: I'm surprised UA doesn't have this option considering how many aircraft are BYOD these days and how large the Wi-Fi antennas are on the top of the aircraft. Most of the UA streaming entertainment settings are controlled from an actual server onboard the aircraft, and that seems to be separate from the Wi-Fi.
IIRC, Android products have always been problematic with UA's app system for streaming entertainment, but seem to be OK on MAC. From what I understand, they've come a long way with the app and reliability with streaming entertainment but I can't imagine how a server can handle it if everyone is firing up their devices at the same time on an HD 777.