Wifi Speeds inflight : AA's new service is 10x as fast as Gogo Inflight
Mar 2, 2018, 1:25 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Boise
Programs: American AAdvantage PLT Pro
Posts: 9
Wifi Speeds inflight : AA's new service is 10x as fast as Gogo Inflight
I am pretty sure that there are only about 10 people who care about this, but nevertheless I continue ...
I am currently on the second leg of an American Airlines 2 leg trip from Boise to Tokyo, via DFW. I splurged and bought GogoInflight on the BOI->DFW leg, and a second pass for the DFW->NRT flight. I uploaded a file on the BOI->DFW leg and saw < 20kB/s (that Kilobytes/second!) upload speeds. More typically, 1-2 kB/second. On the second leg, I bought a pass for the new AA inflight service (more expensive - $19 vs the $12 for GogoInflight). But the speeds are about 10 times as fast as the GogoInflight.
Just thought I'd offer this as a data point ...
I am currently on the second leg of an American Airlines 2 leg trip from Boise to Tokyo, via DFW. I splurged and bought GogoInflight on the BOI->DFW leg, and a second pass for the DFW->NRT flight. I uploaded a file on the BOI->DFW leg and saw < 20kB/s (that Kilobytes/second!) upload speeds. More typically, 1-2 kB/second. On the second leg, I bought a pass for the new AA inflight service (more expensive - $19 vs the $12 for GogoInflight). But the speeds are about 10 times as fast as the GogoInflight.
Just thought I'd offer this as a data point ...
Mar 2, 2018, 5:44 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: KHOU/KIAH
Programs: AA EXP | Marriott Bonvoy Titanium| Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 11,222
AA has 3 different wifi providers
1. Panasonic Satellite Wifi (your DFW-NRT flight)
2. Gogo cellular ground based wifi (domestic aircraft)
3. Viasat Satellite Wifi (replacing Gogo)
1 and 3 are significantly faster. Gogo is basically connecting to a cell tower far below. Now imagine splitting cellular 3G/4G over an entire plane.
1. Panasonic Satellite Wifi (your DFW-NRT flight)
2. Gogo cellular ground based wifi (domestic aircraft)
3. Viasat Satellite Wifi (replacing Gogo)
1 and 3 are significantly faster. Gogo is basically connecting to a cell tower far below. Now imagine splitting cellular 3G/4G over an entire plane.
Mar 2, 2018, 7:46 pm
#3
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Chicago O'Hare
Programs: AA EXP, LT PLT 2.6MM, HHonors Lifetime Diamond, Hertz Presidents Circle
Posts: 678
I had a 2ku A320 late last year. It was amazing. That'dbe the fourth type, but an off spin of gogo (doesn't require a separate login/plan)
Mar 2, 2018, 8:50 pm
#4
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: SoCal to the rest of the world...
Programs: AA EXP with lots of BA. UA 2MM Lifetime Plat - No longer chase hotel loyalty
Posts: 6,698
The provider isn't new as others have said. GoGo had exclusive previously on the Non Long Haul fleet. This is now shared with ViaSat at present. Some GoGo aircraft have 2KU upgrades - but very few do. AA ended their domestic exclusive with AA and we now see ViaSat also.
The Long Haul fleet ALWAYS had Panasonic (initially brokered through T-Mobile/Deutsche Telekom for billing but now directly billed from Panasonic) - that has been live with those high speeds for 2+ years on a majority of the Long Haul fleet (some exceptions)
The new ViaSat on domestic is similar higher speeds but is on VERY few aircraft right now.
The Long Haul fleet ALWAYS had Panasonic (initially brokered through T-Mobile/Deutsche Telekom for billing but now directly billed from Panasonic) - that has been live with those high speeds for 2+ years on a majority of the Long Haul fleet (some exceptions)
The new ViaSat on domestic is similar higher speeds but is on VERY few aircraft right now.
Mar 4, 2018, 6:33 am
#6
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: AUS
Posts: 276
This site offers a listing of each aircraft along with wifi type, among other handy details.
https://sites.google.com/site/newamericanfleet/
https://sites.google.com/site/newamericanfleet/
Mar 4, 2018, 6:43 am
#7
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: USA & UK -- AA EXP 3.5MM, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Plat, Avis President's Club
Posts: 6,411
This site offers a listing of each aircraft along with wifi type, among other handy details.
https://sites.google.com/site/newamericanfleet/
https://sites.google.com/site/newamericanfleet/
Mar 4, 2018, 6:57 am
#8
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: AUS, GVA, and in between
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 178
A couple of sources - one is flightstats.com - search for a flight, then choose "See AAxxx flight details". The tail number is what you need.
Mar 4, 2018, 7:00 am
#9
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Apex, NC
Programs: AA EXP, Delta DM, Bonvoy Titanium, Honors Diamond, Hertz Presidents Club, National Exec something!
Posts: 103
How’s AA dealing with folks that have unlimited monthly Gogo plans? Are we gonna have to buy two different monthly subs? That’ll be a disaster.
Mar 4, 2018, 7:28 am
#10
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Chicago O'Hare
Programs: AA EXP, LT PLT 2.6MM, HHonors Lifetime Diamond, Hertz Presidents Circle
Posts: 678
Mar 4, 2018, 10:14 am
#11
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: USA & UK -- AA EXP 3.5MM, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Plat, Avis President's Club
Posts: 6,411
First, for the new Wi-Fi to be 10x faster than my most recent GoGo (ORD-LHR), it would only need to be about 1.0 Mbps. 
This sucks, especially if you bought an annual plan, expecting to travel on AA ... and they change the game while your annual plan has many months remaining.
Some enterprising company oughtta be able to make a tidy profit on selling "Inflight Wi-Fi Access, no matter which airplane you happen to stumble into".
Some enterprising company oughtta be able to make a tidy profit on selling "Inflight Wi-Fi Access, no matter which airplane you happen to stumble into".
Mar 4, 2018, 10:48 am
#12
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Chicago O'Hare
Programs: AA EXP, LT PLT 2.6MM, HHonors Lifetime Diamond, Hertz Presidents Circle
Posts: 678
First, for the new Wi-Fi to be 10x faster than my most recent GoGo (ORD-LHR), it would only need to be about 1.0 Mbps.
This sucks, especially if you bought an annual plan, expecting to travel on AA ... and they change the game while your annual plan has many months remaining.
Some enterprising company oughtta be able to make a tidy profit on selling "Inflight Wi-Fi Access, no matter which airplane you happen to stumble into".
This sucks, especially if you bought an annual plan, expecting to travel on AA ... and they change the game while your annual plan has many months remaining.
Some enterprising company oughtta be able to make a tidy profit on selling "Inflight Wi-Fi Access, no matter which airplane you happen to stumble into".
Mar 4, 2018, 10:58 am
#13
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 1,107
Mar 4, 2018, 2:56 pm
#14
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: IND/NYC/MEX
Programs: AA PPro BA Bronze SPG Gold HH GLD Hyatt Exp
Posts: 1,133
Mar 4, 2018, 3:13 pm
#15
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: USA & UK -- AA EXP 3.5MM, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Plat, Avis President's Club
Posts: 6,411
But some folks (myself included) work in I.T. so we figure out ways to get around this.
