GoGo Wifi on DL Flights to Alaska
Jul 4, 2018, 2:40 pm
#1
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GoGo Wifi on DL Flights to Alaska
Question for anyone who has used GoGo Wifi between the US and Alaska (particularly if you've flown from the Pacific Northwest or West Coast up to Alaska). I tried a quick search via Google and the forum but "Gogo Alaska wifi", even adding "Delta" kept giving me results relating to Alaska Airlines' GoGo.
I did check the GoGo coverage map and it does show coverage along the corridors between SEA and Alaska. I have a flight soon (SEA-ANC) and am considering getting GoGo to do school work on the flight. Has anyone used GoGo on this route or a similar routing up to Alaska and if so, has it worked well (well about as well as GoGo usually works) or have they had issues?
ETA: I will be on a 737-900.
I did check the GoGo coverage map and it does show coverage along the corridors between SEA and Alaska. I have a flight soon (SEA-ANC) and am considering getting GoGo to do school work on the flight. Has anyone used GoGo on this route or a similar routing up to Alaska and if so, has it worked well (well about as well as GoGo usually works) or have they had issues?
ETA: I will be on a 737-900.
Last edited by ATOBTTR; Jul 4, 2018 at 3:11 pm Reason: Add Aircraft Type
Jul 4, 2018, 3:10 pm
#3
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Jul 4, 2018, 3:18 pm
#4
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Longer haul domestic aircraft have been getting 2Ku satellite Wifi which will work as you can see from map below
https://www.gogoair.com/commercial/i...t-systems/2ku/
DL aircraft refurb status --
Delta Aircraft Refurbishment - 2018 - Page 8 - Airliners.net
As you can see from above, all 739's have 2Ku wifi.
Older Gogo ATG systems (air-to-ground) use ground-based antennas mounted on towers which only have a range of about 100 miles -- there are no antennas in remote areas like northern Canada nor in the ocean. These are used on shorter haul aircraft like MD-80's.
https://www.gogoair.com/commercial/i...t-systems/2ku/
DL aircraft refurb status --
Delta Aircraft Refurbishment - 2018 - Page 8 - Airliners.net
As you can see from above, all 739's have 2Ku wifi.
Older Gogo ATG systems (air-to-ground) use ground-based antennas mounted on towers which only have a range of about 100 miles -- there are no antennas in remote areas like northern Canada nor in the ocean. These are used on shorter haul aircraft like MD-80's.
Last edited by xliioper; Jul 4, 2018 at 3:27 pm
Jul 5, 2018, 10:00 am
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Jul 5, 2018, 6:14 pm
#8
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I fly this SEA-ANC route 25-30 times per year on DL.... Gogo works flawlessly 90% of the time but sometimes when you have to fly far from the coast it can be spotty but is usually not for a long time.
Jul 5, 2018, 7:17 pm
#9
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If the signal cuts out because you are too far from the coast, you are flying on something with older ATG technology. OP is flying a 739 with 2Ku satellite which does not care about coastlines because the signal is coming from a satellite above, rather than a radio tower below.
Jul 5, 2018, 8:59 pm
#10
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2Ku will have service, even over Canada.
My suggestion would be to use FR24 in the days before the flight and cross reference the tail number with the wiki in the appropriate aircraft mods thread here in the DL forum to verify if the aircraft has it.
My suggestion would be to use FR24 in the days before the flight and cross reference the tail number with the wiki in the appropriate aircraft mods thread here in the DL forum to verify if the aircraft has it.
Jul 6, 2018, 1:36 am
#11
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Living in ANC my experience is that the SEA flights on the 737-800/900 tend to work very well for inflight wifi. (Actually GoGo works well on both DL and AS for this route in my experience). I'd say 95% of my flights on this route have had no issues. The wifi has gotten better when I take the MSP flight, but to me it's not as reliable on that route. I'm doing the summer nonstop ATL later on this month and I'm expecting it to be about the same as MSP or worse since it's the old domestic 767.
Jul 6, 2018, 1:41 am
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If the signal cuts out because you are too far from the coast, you are flying on something with older ATG technology. OP is flying a 739 with 2Ku satellite which does not care about coastlines because the signal is coming from a satellite above, rather than a radio tower below.
Jul 6, 2018, 12:20 pm
#13
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Living in ANC my experience is that the SEA flights on the 737-800/900 tend to work very well for inflight wifi. (Actually GoGo works well on both DL and AS for this route in my experience). I'd say 95% of my flights on this route have had no issues. The wifi has gotten better when I take the MSP flight, but to me it's not as reliable on that route. I'm doing the summer nonstop ATL later on this month and I'm expecting it to be about the same as MSP or worse since it's the old domestic 767.
Jul 6, 2018, 12:41 pm
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Jul 6, 2018, 2:50 pm
#15
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It should be good for a year from purchase, so you can always check the tail number etc on day of travel and make a decision then.